Using Processing to automatically generate the forms of connections of regular polygons instead of manually drawing them as I had two weeks ago.
Here are three screenshots of the animations at different point-number (8, 50, 200, respectively) definitions. Each of these “animations” runs with the same number of starting points and animates by upping the number of points it skips before drawing a line.
30 June 2009
//set the number of frames
int frameR=2;
//set the number of sides (or points) to draw from
int sides=8;
//the rest is the same as the other files.
void setup(){
size(345,345);
frameRate(frameR);
}
//start the next iteration (connection) at 1.
int nextIt=1;
//switches for animation purposes
boolean itUp=true;
boolean looping=true;
void draw(){
//mark the centers to measure the distances from
int x=width/2;
int y=height/2;
//start angle at 0
float angle=0;
background(204);
smooth();
//radius is distance between center to side of the screen minus 10 to give some padding
int rad=x-10;
//define old and new values to be connected later
float oldx=0,oldy=0,newx=0,newy=0;
//get arrays to hold the point values
float[] xValues=new float[sides];
float[] yValues=new float[sides];
//set rotation angle for each turn.
float rot=360.0/sides;
//store the values of the points in an array
for(int i=0;i<sides;i++){
oldx=x+rad*(cos(radians(angle)));
oldy=y+rad*(sin(radians(angle)));
xValues[i]=oldx;
yValues[i]=oldy;
//rotate the angle and then get new values from the same formulas as above
angle+=rot;
newx=x+rad*(cos(radians(angle)));
newy=y+rad*(sin(radians(angle)));
}
//get the points in the array and connect them a particular way depending on the iteration
for(int i=0;i<sides;i++){
if(i<sides-nextIt){ //to prevent referencing a value in an array that goes beyond the number of sides as it tries to connect
stroke(0);
line(xValues[i],yValues[i],xValues[i+nextIt],yValues[i+nextIt]);
}
else { // if i gets into the territory where i+nextIt is greater than the number of sides
//just adding a color to the last stroke to see how it connects
if(i==sides-1){
stroke(255,0,0);
}
else {
stroke(0);
}
//when the lines return to the start of the array values
line(xValues[i],yValues[i],xValues[i-(sides-nextIt)],yValues[i-(sides-nextIt)]);
}
}
//setting up the connection iteration direction (++ or --) depending on the current nextIt value
if(itUp==true && nextIt<sides){
nextIt+=1;
}
else if(itUp==true && nextIt>=sides){
itUp=false;
nextIt-=1;
}
else if(itUp==false && nextIt<sides && nextIt>0){
nextIt-=1;
}
else if(itUp==false && nextIt==0){
itUp=true;
nextIt+=1;
}
//for local coding only. spits out a screenshot named by the sides value and the framerate value
if(nextIt==round(sides/3)){
saveFrame("output-"+sides+"at"+frameR+".png");
}
}
//clicking starts and stops the animation, controlled by a switch
void mouseClicked(){
if(looping==true){
noLoop();
looping=false;
}
else{
loop();
looping=true;
}
//set the number of frames
int frameR=10;
//set the number of sides (or points) to draw from
int sides=50;
//the rest is the same as the other files.
void setup(){
size(345,345);
frameRate(frameR);
}
//start the next iteration (connection) at 1.
int nextIt=1;
//switches for animation purposes
boolean itUp=true;
boolean looping=true;
void draw(){
//mark the centers to measure the distances from
int x=width/2;
int y=height/2;
//start angle at 0
float angle=0;
background(204);
smooth();
//radius is distance between center to side of the screen minus 10 to give some padding
int rad=x-10;
//define old and new values to be connected later
float oldx=0,oldy=0,newx=0,newy=0;
//get arrays to hold the point values
float[] xValues=new float[sides];
float[] yValues=new float[sides];
//set rotation angle for each turn.
float rot=360.0/sides;
//store the values of the points in an array
for(int i=0;i<sides;i++){
oldx=x+rad*(cos(radians(angle)));
oldy=y+rad*(sin(radians(angle)));
xValues[i]=oldx;
yValues[i]=oldy;
//rotate the angle and then get new values from the same formulas as above
angle+=rot;
newx=x+rad*(cos(radians(angle)));
newy=y+rad*(sin(radians(angle)));
}
//get the points in the array and connect them a particular way depending on the iteration
for(int i=0;i<sides;i++){
if(i<sides-nextIt){ //to prevent referencing a value in an array that goes beyond the number of sides as it tries to connect
stroke(0);
line(xValues[i],yValues[i],xValues[i+nextIt],yValues[i+nextIt]);
}
else { // if i gets into the territory where i+nextIt is greater than the number of sides
//just adding a color to the last stroke to see how it connects
if(i==sides-1){
stroke(255,0,0);
}
else {
stroke(0);
}
//when the lines return to the start of the array values
line(xValues[i],yValues[i],xValues[i-(sides-nextIt)],yValues[i-(sides-nextIt)]);
}
}
//setting up the connection iteration direction (++ or --) depending on the current nextIt value
if(itUp==true && nextIt<sides){
nextIt+=1;
}
else if(itUp==true && nextIt>=sides){
itUp=false;
nextIt-=1;
}
else if(itUp==false && nextIt<sides && nextIt>0){
nextIt-=1;
}
else if(itUp==false && nextIt==0){
itUp=true;
nextIt+=1;
}
//for local coding only. spits out a screenshot named by the sides value and the framerate value
if(nextIt==round(sides/3)){
saveFrame("output-"+sides+"at"+frameR+".png");
}
}
//clicking starts and stops the animation, controlled by a switch
void mouseClicked(){
if(looping==true){
noLoop();
looping=false;
}
else{
loop();
looping=true;
}
//set the number of frames
int frameR=30;
//set the number of sides (or points) to draw from
int sides=200;
//the rest is the same as the other files.
void setup(){
size(345,345);
frameRate(frameR);
}
//start the next iteration (connection) at 1.
int nextIt=1;
//switches for animation purposes
boolean itUp=true;
boolean looping=true;
void draw(){
//mark the centers to measure the distances from
int x=width/2;
int y=height/2;
//start angle at 0
float angle=0;
background(204);
smooth();
//radius is distance between center to side of the screen minus 10 to give some padding
int rad=x-10;
//define old and new values to be connected later
float oldx=0,oldy=0,newx=0,newy=0;
//get arrays to hold the point values
float[] xValues=new float[sides];
float[] yValues=new float[sides];
//set rotation angle for each turn.
float rot=360.0/sides;
//store the values of the points in an array
for(int i=0;i<sides;i++){
oldx=x+rad*(cos(radians(angle)));
oldy=y+rad*(sin(radians(angle)));
xValues[i]=oldx;
yValues[i]=oldy;
//rotate the angle and then get new values from the same formulas as above
angle+=rot;
newx=x+rad*(cos(radians(angle)));
newy=y+rad*(sin(radians(angle)));
}
//get the points in the array and connect them a particular way depending on the iteration
for(int i=0;i<sides;i++){
if(i<sides-nextIt){ //to prevent referencing a value in an array that goes beyond the number of sides as it tries to connect
stroke(0);
line(xValues[i],yValues[i],xValues[i+nextIt],yValues[i+nextIt]);
}
else { // if i gets into the territory where i+nextIt is greater than the number of sides
//just adding a color to the last stroke to see how it connects
if(i==sides-1){
stroke(255,0,0);
}
else {
stroke(0);
}
//when the lines return to the start of the array values
line(xValues[i],yValues[i],xValues[i-(sides-nextIt)],yValues[i-(sides-nextIt)]);
}
}
//setting up the connection iteration direction (++ or --) depending on the current nextIt value
if(itUp==true && nextIt<sides){
nextIt+=1;
}
else if(itUp==true && nextIt>=sides){
itUp=false;
nextIt-=1;
}
else if(itUp==false && nextIt<sides && nextIt>0){
nextIt-=1;
}
else if(itUp==false && nextIt==0){
itUp=true;
nextIt+=1;
}
//for local coding only. spits out a screenshot named by the sides value and the framerate value
if(nextIt==round(sides/3)){
saveFrame("output-"+sides+"at"+frameR+".png");
}
}
//clicking starts and stops the animation, controlled by a switch
void mouseClicked(){
if(looping==true){
noLoop();
looping=false;
}
else{
loop();
looping=true;
}
}