Oscilloclock.com

Handcrafted Scope Clocks with circle graphics

Category: Features

  • Timedrops in Spring

    Spring… a beautiful time of year! I particularly enjoy the warm rains, with the soothing effects of raindrops pit-pattering into puddles outside my window.

    But no longer do I need to look outside! Inspired by a recent post on Hackaday, a suggestion from [A-Nonamus] in the neonixie-l group, and by Spring itself, I can now enjoy Timedrops on my Oscilloclocks:

    See this in HD, and find more exciting videos on my YouTube channel
    Music credits: Space Bazooka by Kirkoid (c) 2013 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/Kirkoid/43005

    Assembly?!

    A sprite engine
    A sprite engine

    The current Oscilloclock firmware is written entirely in PIC 18F Assembly. The Timedrops feature leverages a Sprite Engine module, first developed for Halloween Seasonal Treats and later utilized in the Santa’s sleigh feature.

    To display Timedrops, the sprite engine is initialized with 10 sprites – 4 digits for hours and minutes, a colon, and 5 ellipses as ‘ripples’. The 5 characters are set at the top of the screen with a randomized negative velocity. When a character reaches the bottom boundary, the sprite engine’s default explode sequence is started, and the associated ripple sprite is made visible and set to expand. When the explosion sequence for a character sprite is complete, the sprite is reset at the top of the screen.

    Looking for the source code? Sorry – refactoring is still under way, and the latest revision with the Timedrops feature will be uploaded in the near future.

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  • Just a second!

    Here we see the original Oscilloclock Prototype leaping for joy with the glorious Leap Second! The Hourly XY Bump screen-saver even bumps the screen twice, just for added effect.

    Note: Flicker is due to camera effects and is not visible to the human eye.

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  • When Time Stops…

    It’s singular.
    It’s exciting.
    And it’s coming very soon.

    On 30 June 2015, for exactly one second, time will stop!

    Really?

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  • Santa in your Clock!

    Santa in your Clock!

    The world-renowned Santa Claus. How does he get in your house to deliver presents? Does he go down the chimney (if you have one)? Does he shrink and squeeze under your door? Of course not! What silly ideas.

    Santa simply converts himself into pure energy and beams in!! I’ve seen this glorious event myself, and now you can too – with the latest Seasonal Treats enhancement from Oscilloclock.com.

    Beam me in, Santa!
    Beam me in, Santa!

    Not only can you watch Santa on his travels, but you can even control where he drops his presents! Can YOU help him deliver the gifts?

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  • Circle Graphics – Lissajous figures

    Circle Graphics – Lissajous figures

    By the time you read this post, you must have seen the term “Circle Graphics” in a thousand places across the site.

    In fact, “Circle Graphics” is not an official term – I just use it to describe how shapes are drawn on these clocks:

    Everything you see on this screen is made up of CIRCLES! Blank out part of a circle and you get an arc. Squish an arc and you get a line. This clock simply draws circles, lines, and arcs of different sizes at various points around the screen. It does it quickly. And it does it very, very well!

    The effect of using circles is beautiful – shapes are smooth and precise, with no jagged edges or pixelation.

    Beautiful circles with no jagged edges

    Making “perfect” circles

    I carry on as if it were some incredible new concept or discovery, like the Higgs boson. But in fact, the analog technique of constructing perfect circles, ovals, and lines on a CRT is very, very old. These figures are really part of a class of shapes called Lissajous Figures.

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