Here is a description of this toy and how it is used: Original Instructions in PDF

This program uses trigonometry to figure out how to draw these designs. Without getting too technical this is how it works:

To draw a design, the paper is rotated a full circle. The position of the pen moves around due to the motion of the gears. The program takes many samples and asks, where is the pen at this point? Because the number of pixels is not infinite (typical computers have 1024 by 768 or 800 by 600) a finite number of samples is all that is needed to get the maximum possible accurate drawing. The length of the two arms is known and the position of the pegs (which are those pins standing on the gears) is calculated relative to a common center. Then, one of the possible two points where the circles made by those two arms swinging around their pegs (imagine that the arms were not connected to one another) intersect, is where the pen is located at that moment. This becomes a colored pixel.

The following is snapshot of the computer program. Pieces of it and how it is used are on the HELP PAGES.

 

Free Download: HELP PAGES    Basic    Advanced    Common    Button operations    Status Line and Keyboard    Notes Users are invited to email to me their saved designs (as MGS files). I will add them to this site. Thanks.

OTHER PAGES Physical Parameters of the metal designer Programming Details including Math I would like to know who my user community is:  Andrew Katz's Email --> Browser Version of Magic Designer <-- Coming soon is a computer program which generates a different class of complex curves shapes. My other stuff on the Web My Employment Resume Ken Katz's book on Science and God Peabody The Penguin's Curve A Graph: