Magic Motion

• Start with reference position. I have used 272 pixels of left offset and 185 pixels of top offset. This centers the animation on the WebTV screen.
• Define parameters.
  n = part of your number for the radius.
• r++ increases value of r by 1 each repeat.
  r-- will subtract 1 with each repeat.
• You can use sin or cos trig functions .. if both are the same and all other numbers are the same, you will make a spiral. I do not recommend the use of tangent, cotangent, secant or cosecant trig functions.
• The % number controls 'tightness' on turns. Bigger number makes the outer turns group more closely.
• You can get all sorts of shapes and patterns by adjusting any of the numbers and changing the trig functions. If you start with large n and r, use -r*Math.sin(n/#); and let it work its way in.
• The last line contains your stopping point and the speed control. In this example, as long as n is less than or equal to 4096 the script repeats itself every 20 milliseconds.

"The last line contains your stopping point and the speed control. In this example, as long as n is less than or equal to 4096 the script repeats itself every 20 milliseconds."

1) Stopping point - does this mean number of micropixels(?) out from the starting point? I've noticed that to make smaller forms, the stopping point needs to be, say 1000, compared to 4000 which would make a much larger form.

2) Also, the number of milliseconds for repeats: the smaller the number, the faster the action goes?

3) Paulie used tangent one time and that's the one that blew the Viewer out, but interestingly webbie just allowed the movement to go off screen at the top and bottom. I did find a tangent plus certain other settings combo that kept Paulie's script within the webbie viewing area. But I forgot to write that down and have had no luck finding it again.

4) I also tried cotangent, but that put everything clear over to the left in a vertical line.

5) I don't remember anything about secant and cosecant at all, lol. I just barely squeaked by in trig, so have almost totally forgotten it all. Thanks again so much for giving us this wonderful script.

Blessings,
Flo

Dear Flo,

N is adding to itself every repeat ... the stopping point is time when n gets out of the specified range.. so if n ever hits 4096 + anything the script stops.

The timeout number is in milliseconds, so the smaller the number the faster the script tries to repeat itself. That timeout is probably accurate on most PCs but webby is very slow...   most scripts run well in the 20 to 50 range ... some will do OK at much smaller values, and after you get to about 500 you can see the individual moves (half seconds).

Sine and cosine vary from -1 to 1 and just make fractions ... so when you use them to multiply by another number, you are essentially starting at zero and going up (or down, depending on sign). The other trig functions can go to infinity ... that is why they are not very suitable for this ...

I have been playing around with some other math formulae, but they are not easy to explain or do a tute on ... just algebraic and geometric progressions, etc .... I may create a page or two with other math.

Blessings,
tom