trigonometry

[jbum]

Here's a sample .fla to start you off.

There is a single movieclip in the library which is exported as 'diamond' which looks like a diamond on it's side.

Here's the script:

code:

---

kCenterX = Stage.width/2;

kCenterY = Stage.height/2;



kSpinSpeed = .0005;  // controls speed of rotation

kPulseSpeed = .001;  // controls speed of expansion/contraction

kMinAmplitude = 50;  // controls minimum contraction distance

kMaxAmplitude = 200; // controls maximum contraction distance

kDiamondSize = 50;   // controls overall diamond size



moveDiamond = function()

{

     // a (angle) is the position on the circle

	a = this.phase + getTimer()*kSpinSpeed;

    // rad is the distance the diamond will be drawn from the center

	rad = kMinAmplitude + Math.sin(getTimer()*kPulseSpeed)*(kMaxAmplitude - kMinAmplitude);



	this._x = kCenterX	+ Math.cos(a)*rad;

	this._y = kCenterY	+ Math.sin(a)*rad;

        // we set our rotation to corespond to our angle

	this._rotation = a*180/Math.PI;

}



// this is the loop where we setup the diamonds



for (i = 0; i < 5; ++i)

{

	var mc = _root.attachMovie('diamond', 'diamond_' + i, i);

        // each diamond is given a phase offset corresponding to 1/5 if the circle - so they spread out around the circle

	mc.phase = i*2*Math.PI/5;

        // this assigns the animation function for each diamond - it is called each frame

	mc.onEnterFrame = moveDiamond;

        // i drew my diamonds too large, so here I reduce their size

	mc._xscale = mc._yscale = kDiamondSize;

}

---

You can also create additional sets of 5 diamonds which have different colors, and an offset added to the phase, to cause them to be interleaved with the others.