Spline Your Name (by SuperfectAgoras)

Task 1: Readying the letters

1.1: Observations on cursive fonts and handwriting

During brainstorming, we thought of using the Pacifico Font. But after several more discussion, we decided to use most of Waqi's sister cursive font and few from Pacifico Font as reference to the fonts that we plot using spline. Below is how the cursive font looks like for both uppercase and lowercase letters of the two fonts;

Here's how some of the plots we made looks like; (add photos of the letters we made)

1.2: Observation on splines

The start point of each curve plot of letters looks a bit sharp while the end points are more curvy that it would go beyond the point.

To make the letter point sharper and less curved for sharp turns, we add additional points. Depending on each additional point we plot, it will creates a loop effect. The more closely two points are spaced(1 for the initial point and 1 for the additional point), the sharper the curves seem.

For back-and-forths, imagine drawing on-going lines between points and when we connect them, the spline shifts back and forth between these points. It's like a zigzag motion as the spline links them together.

1.3: Applying the observations

We standardized the dimensions of lowercase letters to 2by2 and uppercase letters to 4by4. This was done to facilitate clear distinction between letter sizes.

We determine the x and y coordinates for each point by envisioning the anticipated appearance of the plot. Some of us even utilized graph paper to visually identify the points for plotting each letter more conveniently.

To enhance the sharp corners, an repeated point was incorporated to create a loop effect, given for the inherent curve nature of spline.

For lowercase letters, mostly begin at x=0 and end at x=2, while uppercase letters end at x=4. This ensures proper alignment of letters on a line when constructing words and consistent starting and ending points for most letters.

Task 2: Creating letters_database.m

To store the coordinates of the letters, we have decided to use a dictionary! This dictionary is put inside the letters_database.m function. The input is the letter that we want to find the coordinates for. The output will be both the x and y coordinates of the letter.

• The file is letters_database.m for reference

To use a dictionary, we need to have a key and a value array. How it works is that a key is paired with a value, and the pairing is depending on their index on their respective arrays.

Our keys are the letters that we will be accepting, being both uppercase and lowercase alphabets. We had to store them inside a cell because if we use an array instead, the letters will be joined together, which will not be ideal for use as keys for dictionaries.

Our values will be the x and y coordinates for the letter. To store both of them inside an index, we have to put the pair inside another cell. The first array in the inner cell will be the x coordinates, the second array in the inner cell will be the y coordinates.

Task 3: Creating plotWord.m

• Breaking strings into chunks of words
  • We split strings using the split() function with the delimiter as '//'
  • This is so that we can make more aesthetically pleasing structure in our plot sentences.
  • We also run this through strip() to remove any whitespaces at the start and end of each chunk of lines
• The file is plotWord.m for reference

Task 4: Making words/sentences (continuation of Task 3)

• The structure of the loops

  • First, we iterate through the chunks of lines we got from Task 3
  • And then for each chunk of line, we iterate through the characters

• Translating the coordinates to the right

  • We find the max value inside the current letter's x coordinates first
  • Then we compare with endpoint variable. If max value is bigger than endpoint, then replace endpoint with max value.
  • This is used for shifting all coordinates of the next letter by the value of endpoint.
  • This will ensure that the very first point of the next letter will start at the very end of the current letter.
  • If the letter happens to be space (' '), we will add 2 to endpoint to create space without checking letters_database().

• Breaking lines by shifting coordinates to the top/bottom

  • First, we count the number of lines that we got from Task 3, store it into lines
  • Then, we use y = y + 8 * (lines - 1) so the first chunk of lines will be at the very top.
  • We reduce lines by one every time we iterate through the first loop.

• Adjusting the axes to clearly show the plot

  • We check the max and min of x and y coordinates of the whole plot
  • Compare them with max_x, max_y, min_x, min_y variables.
    • If max value of x surpasses max_x, replace max_x with that max value
    • If max value of y surpasses max_y, replace max_y with that max value
    • If min value of x surpasses min_x, replace min_x with that min value
    • If min value of y surpasses min_y, replace min_y with that min value
  • Use these variables for axis() to adjust the plot axes accordingly.

Contributors

• Waqi 💻 ✨
• Ros 🥀
• Fizah ⛅ 🌌
• Wana 📚 💊