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@Sophie@dice.campWhy hasn't anybody made an epicycle clock yet? (yes there are clocks with epicyclic mechanisms, but I mean the display!)
For your consideration, one with just an hour and a minute epicycle, and also one with a seconds epicycle just for fun.
Honestly, I think this would be easier to read than a traditional clock.
What's that? Figuring out a mechanism so each hand spins at the end of the previous one? Eh, not my problem :p
I guess the only downside is the minutes in the middle of each hour will feel like they are going slower since the end of the hand isn't moving as fast?
honestly though who cares about those minutes? I want HD time at the start and end of the hour!
Okay, I have a working prototype (which spent way too long to make, why am I coding on an iPad???)
I have quickly realised that the hour markers are not in the wrong place because of a bug, I just misunderstood how the thing would work.
I’ll look into a fix tomorrow but for now (as you can see), it’s late. I need sleep.
Okay I couldn’t sleep so I just solved the issue. Rotation needs to be based on ‘parent’ epicycle rotations, which is not really a behaviour of epicycles usually but whatever, this makes a cool clock. I’ll fix it up with numbers tomorrow and share it.
I did it! I made an epicycle clock!
Check your loopy time here:
https://sophiehoulden.com/randomstuff/epitime/
If you enjoy things like this, consider supporting me on patreon!
I'm currently working on an epicycle art app, and a super in-depth jigsaw puzzle app!
https://www.patreon.com/SophieHoulden
quick evening update: 24 hour mode, and also a seconds cycle (it does not improve readability! :P)
Saw that my epicycle clock was getting noticed a bit again, so I finally took the time to make it use vector graphics - you can zoom in and it still looks good!
https://sophiehoulden.com/randomstuff/epitime/
Fun bonus: Animated time offsets, watch it go spinny!
Epicycle Clock Update!
- Dark mode
- Options are tidier
- I made those little minute dots overlap where the loops cross!
edit: here's a link!
https://sophiehoulden.com/randomstuff/epitime/
@Sophie So is that 5:05 or 12:25?
@oscherler it's 12:25
@Sophie Incredible work!
@Sophie your site doesn't work with a VPN, is that deliberate?
@alextually nope, tbh that's news to me. I'll make a note to look into it.
@Sophie the clock is cool though!
@alextually @Sophie
Works fine with my vpn.
@Sophie I love the way the loops of the second hand expand and contract as part of the epicycle! It's there in the minute version, but harder to see. 
Oh hey! What a cool clock, this looks surprisingly like an idea for a clock I came up with to demonstrate to people who have no difficulty reading analogue clocks how it feels to read clocks if you are me. Though mine was wheels within wheels, rather than arms on arms, but feels similar. Love this.
@Sophie my brain hurts. well done :)
@Sophie this is silly <3
@Sophie This is awesome. Just imagine how much worse it would be if it went another layer deep and had 365 days as the outer circle 
@Sophie No, the inverse of readability would be an Aztec QR code Unix Epoch clock. In hex.
@Sophie can I get a x,y readout of the final vector’s position so I can extra annoying and only specify the time in that format?
@skotchygut haha if you really wanted to, but every hour it will hit one point twice so it’s got quirks!
@Sophie Could you provide an option to specify the color of the hands? Because when they overlap, there isn't much differentiation ...
J’aime bien cette horloge qui martyrise l’esprit…
Tu devrais aimer, @camilieroart
@Sophie I really can’t express with words how much I love this :) (And how much I’d love to have it up on my wall as a physical device… as daunting as engineering those arms would be.) :)
@Sophie I accidentally took the fourier transform of my clock.
(source: XKCD https://xkcd.com/26/ )
@Sophie Lovely work.
I was about to submit it to Hacker News, but I worry about "The Hug of Death".
Could your server cope with the load?
Do you mind it being submitted there?
Regardless, fabulous work.
@ColinTheMathmo eh it’s a pretty light page but if I do hit my host’s limit for the month it’s no big deal another month starts soon anyway :). Thanks for the consideration tho :)
@Sophie Cool ... thanks.
Submitting shortly ...
@Sophie Hah!
it was submitted 35 days ago and the dup-detector rejected my submission.
*sigh*
Never mind. Have you seen the "wobbly clock" by @christianp ??
@ColinTheMathmo haha, guess my webhost managed after all lol.
That clock is also really cool! I feel like I’ve seen it before but my memory can be a little unreliable. Thanks for sharing, it is adorable :)
@Sophie Do you by any chance know whether it is possible to define recursive z-depth vector graphics? I.e. can you define a fractal in a vector graphic?
@nico Simple answer: yes, long answer: maybe. Basically, if you’re looking at any true rendered fractal then it was absolutely defined mathematically. So it’s completely possible. If you’re asking if it is possible using just common standards like SVG in a web browser and not having to code anything yourself? I don’t know. It would be *relatively* straightforward to implement something like that, but if something already exists in the open I don’t know.
@Sophie I absolutely love this, but also want these dots to line up...
@Sophie completely unrelated to your post and awesome looking tool but i just need to say that the word eigen-clock popped out as soon as i started reading it and it feels important and cool. sorry and thank you.
edit: sooooooo pretty 
@Sophie I hadn't even thought of that and now the side by side dots bother me in 24h 
@YinYinFalcon unfortunately there’s not much I can do about those without making other things even more annoying. Please try to forget you ever noticed it! 
@Sophie @YinYinFalcon it's just how them maths 
...
petitions the world to make half-minutes the standard measure for 24h clocks so that we can have nicely aligned dots on the 24h epicycle clock 
@Sophie ooo, the dots overlapping where the loops cross is so fun
@Sophie I love love love weird clocks
@Sophie very cool!
@Sophie A friend commented that if the curve were inside out, then the hands would be coincident on the hour and opposite on the half-hour. This might feel more natural. Maybe?
(All the analog clocks in my house are counterclocks, so it’s not like I can be sure what feels natural.)