Constructions Help

Use this control panel to create knots from various families of knots.

Torus knots

   --- create N/M torus knots, if `auto set' is selected, KnotPlot will try to
       just the minimum number of beads needed to correctly represent that knot
       type.  Unselecting this and explicitly changing the `ntor' slider can be
       fun, but first display as `beads & cyls' (use the button on the Main 
       control panel).  Because of aliasing (errors introduced when undersampling
       a periodic function), you can get many interesting `sculptures' when ntor
       is too small. More fun with aliasing can be had using the `stick things'
       demo on the DemoA panel.

Lissajous knots

   --- a single mode Lissajous knot is created if nk = 0.  If nk is non zero, the
       a two-mode Lissajous knot is created.  

   --- phi values are in radians

Chains

   --- a chain of `N' unknots is created

   --- `K' sets the number of beads per component

   --- `twist' is the number of half twists in the chain


For all of the above, it is interesting to select `auto create' because you 
instantly see the result as a slider or roller value is changed.

Braids

   --- a-k are positive generators, A-K are negative

   --- if you are using braids to create knots, then select `cheapo', which
       tries to use as few beads as possible.  if you want nice looking braids,
       the select `luxo'.

   --- the KnotPlot download page has a tutorial on using the braid command,
       which is much more powerful than the controls on this panel.

 