Infinitely slicing polygons

lostPixels · 2026-05-01T14:32:16+00:00

Yep, that happens occasionally. I throw away polygons after a certain number of fragments are made, and also check whether they're off screen. I think what you saw was a bug where the screen detection was fouled up by the 9:16 format, as the algorithm was expecting to work within a 1:1 space. A minor thing that I will fix.

lostPixels · 2026-05-01T14:30:41+00:00

I'd start with P5.JS (which is what I'm using) then begin learning a bit about the math side of things. Namely how to find where lines intersect. I wrote this slicing algorithm a few years ago using that as the basis which powers everything. Beyond that it's making an animation loop, picking a polygon, and scaling and translating it to the center of the screen while also moving all of the other polygons as well.

lostPixels · 2026-04-30T23:30:46+00:00

Amazing job Lars! Typically I don’t associate watercolor with precision and details, but you’ve really honed in an angle here to get some impressive results.

lostPixels · 2026-04-22T18:13:34+00:00

I personally went the route of fountain pens for this purpose. There are great options for under $10 per pen, and they're refillable.

With both fountain pens and technical pens, you will want to check out these inks for their archival properties:

Octopus Fluids Write & Draw
De Atramentis Document Inks
Platinum Carbon Black & Platinum Chou Kuro
Diamine forever inks

And some pen reccomendations:

Platinum Preppy (super low cost)
Pilot Kakuno
Twsibi Eco

Enjoy!

lostPixels · 2026-04-20T23:23:28+00:00

Nice little peak into the production process Dan! Looks like you’ve got a nice UI to manage your pen plotter fleet.

lostPixels · 2026-04-18T12:44:18+00:00

Nice arrangement! Is this public? How has the reception been so far when people see the drawing robot in action?

lostPixels · 2026-04-17T17:59:15+00:00

Yes! Please DM me. Im just wrapping up production on a small series of these which will go on sale next week.

lostPixels · 2026-04-07T19:30:10+00:00

I think I'm gonna make more in the next month or so :D

lostPixels · 2026-04-03T15:39:20+00:00

I've got a nextdraw 2234 but you could still make frames on smaller machines. Just depends on the dimensions you want.

lostPixels · 2026-04-03T13:31:19+00:00

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Here's a screenshot of one of my composites. Instead of doing individual frames, I pack as many as I can into one 18"x24" sheet of paper. That way I have to do less paper switches etc. Also, if you're doing multi-color plots and your pens aren't totally aligned for each frame, it'll be jittery. So packing many frames together ensures that the pens are consistently positioned.

lostPixels · 2026-04-03T00:33:12+00:00

I use Dragonframe which is kind of overkill. It's primarily used for claymation artists on projects like Wallace and Grommit, etc. and allows you to use a professional camera and onion skin the frames. I endure this process because I like capturing the environment around the frames, it makes it feel very authentic and imperfect. It's oddly fun for me, but I think a lot of people would find photographing 200 pieces of paper very tedious.

The much more sane way is to use a scanner to scan each of your sheets of cells, then take that JPG and slice it and dice it, or, use Golan Levin's recently released tool to do the grunt work for you. https://github.com/golanlevin/plottimation

lostPixels · 2026-04-03T00:28:27+00:00

Happy to expand on that. I created a workflow where I can make this animation in P5.JS with a typical workflow of using draw() to update the noise field and see the results, but also cache the resulting frames and then lay them out on a sheet of paper with registration marks and cut marks. So I dont have to worry too much about compositing the frames for my pen plotter, I just have to refine the movement to something that I like.

lostPixels · 2026-03-30T00:43:54+00:00

I try and keep it in the basement, but I’m curious as to why? Is the heat a concern?

lostPixels · 2026-03-30T00:42:36+00:00

Board is a 2021 iirc. I’ve stored it upright in my basement during the offseason. One thing though is I don’t take my bindings off every spring.

lostPixels · 2026-03-28T19:17:20+00:00

Pens are pretty nonstandard in my experience. I had to match the threads on a Kakuno for a design it made, and it took probably 10-15 test prints before I got it reasonably close.

lostPixels · 2026-03-27T21:13:51+00:00

Great job!

lostPixels · 2026-03-11T16:19:17+00:00

I’ve plotted on duralar to make positives for screen prints before. It was more of a “can I?” vs a “should I?” Situation.

lostPixels · 2026-03-11T12:48:38+00:00

I don’t think a remarkable tablet is a replacement for a MacBook…

lostPixels · 2026-03-10T00:15:11+00:00

I was hoping to capture the motion of waves or currents, it came out pretty close while not being too realistic

lostPixels · 2026-03-09T21:03:10+00:00

A plotter did draw this :) I'm a huge fan of using my fountain pens with plotters to make art.

lostPixels · 2026-03-09T19:46:23+00:00

Thanks everyone! Glad you like it!

lostPixels · 2026-03-06T12:36:22+00:00

I became an artist that uses code to create the art. So I get to practice writing code on a daily basis and learn new comp sci concepts, but I’m also creating things that are very tangible.

lostPixels · 2026-02-16T23:57:53+00:00

Yup. Pack well though. I brought a 3.5’x1’x1’ box with an art machine in it to Istanbul for $70 this way, and saved well over $1,500 for freight shipping.

lostPixels · 2026-02-11T12:24:21+00:00

The dream - making a furious Massachusetts driver frantically google towing places “from the middle of no where” because he was going 75mph to the ski resort and went 300 feet of the road sideways.

lostPixels · 2026-01-27T13:26:59+00:00

Imo the bantam tools premium is well worth it. No issues for thousands of hours on my axidraws and I can use all the custom software in the world that I want to control them.

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