Project #3: Experimental Clock

Description

Measuring time through tides and phases of the moon. The tide shifts from high to low and back every day, and the moon shifts phases every day. Each day is mapped to two seconds on this sped-up representational clock - every two seconds, the tide completes a full cycle, and the moon shifts a phase.

Design Process

I knew I wanted to synchronise the moon and the tides, so that together they represent a full month of time.

I wanted the moon to shift phases 30 times, to represent a full month. I used a bezier curve for the moon instead of a circle or arcs so I had more control over each point of the curve, and I mapped those to move across the surface of the moon every two seconds.

The bezier curves frustrated me more than once, since they only take four points at a time and make the most "efficient" curve they can out of those points - which meant it was near impossible to create an approximation of a circle. I ended up using them to draw a symmetrical ellipse, and then stretching the ellipse out length wise to form a circle.

For the waves, I used a similar technique of creating a bezier curve and using variables to change the x-position of points on the curve. It was a lot easier using them for the waves, since they did not need to be perfectly symmetrical or geometric. I used simple harmonic motion techniques we talked about in lab to create oscillating waves.

Reflection

The concepts introduced this week were very confusing for me in the beginning. As we get into the semester proper, I feel like the pace of every class is speeding up. Eventually, I feel like I did get the hang of them, but it was tricky.

I did have fun building my representational clock. The waves were pretty quick to come together, but it took longer to figure out the moon - in part because of the bezier curves, and in part due to the general mapping of it - but I got there in the end.