Bumping into Nathan Friend’s spirograph simulator inspirograph today reminds me the vivid joy of making the intriguing patterns when I was a small kid. Spirograph toys first taught me vaguely the concept of periodicity, but I have to admit I never completely understand how it worked before the toy faded away. As I played it few times today, my mechanics-trained brain began to digest it itself: the complexity of the mechanism of a spirograph is far less than that of the patterns it produces. More importantly, since I’ve been sharpening my Abaqus Python scripting skill in visualization recently, I can’t help myself to realize such a good nail that I can try with the hammer. So this becomes my first Abaqus as a hammer note.
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