Spreadsheet that draws compound circle (flowers) patterns

Right - Basically I've made a spreadsheet in which you can enter values for a few variables such as arm/poi lengths/directions, and number of spins, and it will draw a few graphs of the trails left by poi doing compound circles. I know there's already a lot on here about flowers, so I haven't gone into any detail about how to do them. I also know people have posted pictures of a few different types of flower, but thought it would be good if you could change all the variables yourself. Here are a few threads that it may be worth looking at as well if you want to get full use out of it:

http://www.homeofpoi.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/629752 has some nice pictures and explanations.

http://www.homeofpoi.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/335783 has some nice ideas that you can model with the spreadsheet.

http://www.homeofpoi.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/363078. As does this one.

http://www.homeofpoi.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/371218. This one tells you about how to actually do flowers.

It's a bit limited at the moment. Firstly you need excel to open it. I don't know much about computers so I don't know how to turn it into a web page or make it as a stand alone program. If anyone does let me know and I'll try and do it.

Also I'd like to be able to animate it. Not sure how to do that either.

It's also limited with regards to the type of compound circles it can model. For a start, they're all in one plane, and they don't change direction mid pattern. There's lots of nice patterns that involve changing direction. This model doesn't do that. It just does one rotation of each arm in the direction(s) you specify. It also only models arms/poi going at a constant speed - So it doesn't do lockouts or anything like that. Still, if you play around, there are countless possibilities even with these few variables. Before i made this i never really considered the different patterns made by changing your poi length - It actually makes a remarkable difference. You'll soon start to see that flowers are only a special type of compound circle, and that lots of other patterns that look nothing like flowers are possible.

Anyway here's the link: http://users.ox.ac.uk/~wadh2520/Compund%20Circles.xls

There's probably a few bugs, if you spot them let me know. Also general comments would be appreciated, especially ways to improve it. Also if you find interesting patterns, let me know, or maybe post a picture of them on here, with the values you need to make it.
have fun

Not trying to burst yer bubble here but this is pretty cool. Have you seen the anti-spin simulator?

http://www.homeofpoi.com/ubbthreads/show...5/o/all/fpart/1

wow if i'd known that was there i wouldn't have bothered. though it only does 1 poi and has set lengths which is a shame, as thats where lots of the weird patterns arise

ya but the guy said hes going to be adding another poi and hand and who knows what else, its pretty fun to mess around with.

yea i had a play its good fun. I like the weird effects you get when they're spinning really fast. i suggested he should have a length option on the next one. I'm not sure how he made it but i reckon it should be fairly easy to add one. much easier than me learning how to make animations at least. we'll have to wait and see.

BTW, I can't get yer spreadsheet to open up, the link takes me to a 404 error

sorry i'd accidently put a space in the middle of it. it should work now

thats pretty cool, yer right, the other one does need length and a second poi. Good work mang, how long did that take you??

errr not too long, a few hours. The maths is relatively simple so the basis of it didn't take long. It took me a while to work out how to use excel so i could make the little drop down menus and stuff. I spent most of the time playing with it, making sure all the special cases made sense and looking for patterns when you change the variables. mainly out of curiosity though. Length is definately good to play with. Short poi gives you little to no overlap, so you just get an outline. The longer they get the more they overlap so the more layers of petals you get. Until the hole opens in the middle and it starts to look like a donut. Then you can fill the hole with the other poi. the poi phase angle is good as well cos you can line the two patterns from each poi up however you like. I had a look on a website about how to make flash, it looks hard though An animated version is definately needed

really egger to view your spread sheet, i cant the link seem to be broken. another thing do you know the mathematical equation of compound circle

I have it somewhere. Drop me a pm with your e-mail address.

is there anyway to view that spread sheet the link seems to be broken

Try here.

It should be up till at least the end of the year. After that I can make no guarantees.