Tutorial Request: drawing multi sided polygons w/ Bezier Curves



  • Hello!

    I'm still a bit new to programmatic drawing and I was curious about writing scripts to make multi-sided polygons such as triangles, hexagons, etc. using the BezierPath() method.

    My math skills are rather rusty at this point so I'd love some pointers.

    Thanks!



  • hello @micahmicah,

    regular polygons can be described using vectors.

    a vector has a length and an angle.

    in regular polygons:

    • all sides have the same length
    • the sum of all external angles is 360°

    here is a simple example in code:

    # define polygon parameters
    x, y = 300, 200
    sides = 5
    perimeter = 1640
    angleStart = 0
    angleTotal = 360
    autoclose = True
    
    # calculate side length & angle
    side = perimeter / sides
    angleStep = abs(angleTotal / sides)
    
    # convert angles to radians!
    angleStep = radians(angleStep)
    angleStart = radians(angleStart)
    
    # create the polygon shape
    B = BezierPath()
    
    angle = angleStart
    for i in range(sides):
        # this is the crucial part:
        # use trigonometry to calculate point B
        # from point A, angle, and distance
        x += cos(angle) * side
        y += sin(angle) * side
    
        if i == 0:
            B.moveTo((x, y))
        else:
            B.lineTo((x, y))
    
        angle += angleStep
    
    if autoclose:
        B.closePath()
    
    fill(0, 1, 1)
    strokeWidth(30)
    lineCap('round')
    lineJoin('round')
    stroke(1, 0, 1)
    drawPath(B)
    


  • bonus: Turtle

    from turtle import *
    
    x, y = 300, 200
    sides = 7
    side = 100
    angleTotal = 360
    
    angleStep = abs(angleTotal / sides)
    
    Screen()
    t = Turtle()
    
    for i in range(sides):
        t.forward(side)
        t.left(angleStep)
    
    done()
    

    ↳ run this script in Terminal or SublimeText



  • Thank you so much!