Stage 1: AI? The Big Wheel?!
In this saga, we are building a new SketchWave class, SWWheel, by composing existing components from the SketchWave library. The goal is to see how quickly we can get a new shape class up and running with the help of AI, specifically GitHub Copilot(Claude Sonnet 4.6), which has full context on the component classes we'll be using.
Stage 2: SWCross!
Stage 2 introduces inheritance: SWCross extends SWWheel.
Four locked arms, no rim, no hub — plus a new initialRotation
property that pre-tilts the shape before animation begins.
Stage 3a: Troxler’s Effect
A grid of faint SWCross crosshairs surrounds a central
fixation dot. Stare at the dot and watch the peripheral plus signs fade
from view — a classic demonstration of Troxler’s Effect.
Stage 3b: Troxler’s Effect — Spinning Grid
A 9×9 grid of neon-red SWCross crosshairs spins as
a single rigid body using a canvas transform. Three yellow dots at
equilateral-triangle vertices fade from view while the grid keeps
your gaze locked to the central green fixation dot.
Stage 4: Lingelbach Effect
A dense, touching grid of thin SWCross crosshairs
in swMedGreen fills a swNavy canvas.
SWYellow hubs at each cross center sport unusual 'dark spots' when viewed indirectly. This is a grid-based optical illusion &
view — based on Elke Lingelbach’s 1994 colored-grid illusion.
Stage 5: Hermann Grid Illusion
A dense, touching grid of thick white SWCross crosshairs
on a pure black background. No hub dots — the illusion arises
from the corridor geometry alone. Relax your gaze and faint gray
ghost spots appear at the white corridor intersections, caused by
lateral inhibition in retinal ganglion cells.