3 ms·
> What I mean is they all repeat in cycles that are called incommensurable — they are not likely to come back into sync again. I remember a few years back ther
by kbenson 8y ago
> What I mean is they all repeat in cycles that are called incommensurable — they are not likely to come back into sync again.
I remember a few years back there was some quick guide to visual design that I saw that recommended this. To provide what appeared to be randomness over repeating samples (or at least prevent easy pattern matching in the brain which is distracting), take three images that can of different prime number lengths, then repeat each one and put them next to each other.
I believe the example used was the ruffles in a stage curtain, where there were a few layers. Each layer was a repeating image of length 3, then length 5, then length 7 (but the image itself had some variations between ruffles within it). You won't get a point where all the images all stop and start at the same point (a dead giveaway of the pattern) until length 105.
- emzo 8y agoHere's the article you're referring to - https://www.sitepoint.com/the-cicada-principle-and-why-it-matters-to-web-designers/ https://www.sitepoint.com/the-cicada-principle-and-why-it-ma...
- kbenson 8y agoI actually figured there was a good chance someone here would reply with it, since I believe I originally found it here either from a submission or a comment. Thanks!
- xinsight 8y agoI remember that article too! I used the same technique to make a convincing, non-duplicating flame-flicker algorithm for an led. 3 variables, all looping to different prime numbers and the sum of the 3 variables was the led intensity.