Flash Bestiary / Mandalas / Phyllotaxy

Phyllotaxy

This program takes the idea used to make the animated background in the last movie, and extends it by using more sprites and a more interesting coloring method.

The sprites are arranged in a logarithmic spiral involving the golden ratio - similar to plant phyllotaxy - e.g. the way seeds are arranged on a sunflower. This gives us an optimal distribution for the sprites, and makes for interesting patterns.

The color of each sprite is determined by a cyclic function involving time and the sprite's polar coordinates [d,a]. (its Distance from the center, and its Angle around the circle).

Sine waves are used to affect the:

• number of 'spokes' in the pattern (it's radial frequency)
• degree of twist
• color palette used