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Alex_Sisyphus OP t1_iwmtlf8 wrote

Reply to comment by ATSmithPB in Zen Sand Table by Alex_Sisyphus

Thanks! The track shown here was made in grasshopper with THR code. I personally make my tracks in Adobe illustrator and convert it to an SVG file for the table to read it. Everything needs to be one continuous line, and I need to be conscious of how thin/thick I make certain areas so that when the shadows cast it will show what I intend. If the sand in my table is too thin, it looks fine, but the shadows aren't as deep and the art looks flatter/thicker sand loses detail work. It was definitely a learning curve, but it's a lot of fun! Its very meditative for me.

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Barnowl79 t1_iwo0v8r wrote

For those of us who don't know what thr code is, could you enlighten us? Is this basically a very fancy version of the turtle program in the 80s, where you could say "turn right 90°, forward 2, etc..."?

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Alex_Sisyphus OP t1_iwq5yif wrote

Yeah actually you basically got it. So THR is THeta (circle) and Rho (straight lines). So I tell the table to spin, then go forward/backward or curve to a certain degree. I'm not the best at code, so I find it a lot easier to draw in illustrator and make the file a SVG. Everything needs to be one continuous line, otherwise the ball gets lost in the sauce

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