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A little about the Lissajous

A project log for LissaJukebox (aka dedicated Lissajous machine)

This is my attempt to build a device that will trace Lissajous curves on a CRT with input from the user.

emily-velascoEmily Velasco 02/11/2019 at 05:420 Comments

Between Sparklecon, and some other things that have come up, I haven't had much time to do much work on the hardware for for the Lissajukebox lately. I have gotten some work done on the case, but nothing to show off yet. 

In the meantime, here's a little background on Lissajous figures. 

If you've seen a Lissajous figure anywhere, it's probably somewhere in the background of a TV show. Sometimes they get trotted out to make a computer monitor look like it's doing something important and high-tech. 

Here's one the appeared in an episode of MacGyver.

An especially prominent example appears in the intro to the original Outer Limits

Ok, but what's really going on with Lissajous figures besides looking neat? I could try to explain them, but I think a couple of gifs will explain it better. 

I don't know who the creator of this really excellent one is. If anyone does, please let me know and I'll provide credit.  It's nice because it clearly shows how ratios create the many different Lissajous figures that are possible. 

And here's another good one created by Grant Trebbin.  

More progress coming soon!

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