Final interactive Mouse Toy - Elastic Spiderweb

Final interaction. Pull the central circle back and watch it swing back to the center, depending how far you pull it back the more it will swing, and the longer it will take to get back to the center. Right click to change the velocity to a constant speed, causing it to consistently swing in the direction pulled.

The original inspiration and precedent behind my interaction is the idea of the strength and elasticity of a spider web. As they consist of many strands leading to a centre point that can be pulled and be pulled back to this centre point without snapping. I thought it would be interesting to play with the idea of elasticity as it can be very interactive playing with different distances, strengths and forces. My final interactive design represents a spider web, or net with a central point or circle that can be pulled and stretched to any point and then swings back to the centre at different speeds which cause it to wobble differently depending where it was let go. By right clicking with the central circle the force behind the swing is changed to one causing the swing to stay constant and never stopping, which can be a fun way to create interesting swings and loops.

developing code sketches are bellow in older posts

Developing Mouse toy codes

pull the ball away from the center, and watch it spring back.


pull the ball back and watch it bounce back to the center.


pull the ball away from the center, and watch it spring back.

ball that orbits and flashes when moved


elastic swinging, without the lines and a constant force, move the ball and watch it swing or orbit forever


pull the ball away from the center, and watch it get spring back.


pull the ball away from the center, and watch it get pulled back.

Mouse toy experiments

click somewhere on the screen to drop the box, and try hit the ball

move the two bricks by dragging the mouse along the x and y axis


left click to increase the weight, slowing down the speed
right click to decrease the weight, increasing the speed

Initial precedents

cool physics simulation

http://dan-ball.jp/en/javagame/dust/

142 Final 8 structure sketches

The idea of structure I used behind me designs was that structure is can be thought of as balance and symmetry even if something is completely random or made up of random objects. Symmetry can create order and structure out of shapes and objects by bringing them together in an equal harmony. This can be seen in many pieces of art and paintings where colours shapes and patterns are brought together in a harmonious structure through symmetry and balance. I also tried to explore how using this symmetry and balance through code can cause simple 2d shapes and lines to create 3d structures and shapes that can be clearly recognized. With my designs I wanted to clearly show these structures being created through shapes and lines coming together through this balance and creating forms. I also took inspiration from organic forms especially sea creatures as they have a natural flow in their structure and in the way they move. My sketches incorporate these organic structural ideas created by the many lines, as you can see they somewhat resemble sea creatures such as sting rays and fish in structure and movement. Each of my sketches use the same code with different shapes used and variables changed, resulting in many different structures and forms created. Each uses these shapes differently to show how structure can be created through symmetry and balance.

Devlopment sketches