Making perfect loops with Excel

[rickets007]

looks like the entrances and exits have to be made by hand

[Azu]

I hope to see an update with loops && spirals=p.

[Lággy]

looks like the entrances and exits have to be made by hand

At least it's better then doing the loop by hand

Edited December 19, 2006 by Guest

[Kamahl]

looks like the entrances and exits have to be made by hand

oh well, i guess we can all live with that, you already made the hard part!

entrances and exits wont take as much time as the whole thing.

[rickets007]

Two things.

First, I found that the correct name for this shape is a helix. A spiral is actually a 2D shape.

Right now the helix generator works very well for small heights but the road pieces do not line up properly when the height is very large. Think of a helix that looks like a strand of RNA(single helix) or DNA(double helix). I think it would be pretty neat, but I'm unsure how tough it would be to drive on.

[Azu]

Sweet. Gonna release it soon?

[rickets007]

As soon as I get it working correctly. It's pretty close.

w00t!

[darkdreamingdan]

Deoxyribonucleic acid!

[SDK]

Aaah, DNA

looks fun to drive down in that pic

[Sprinter]

lol @ that last pic

[Kray-Z]

WHOA!

that one's awesome!!

[Azu]

As soon as I get it working correctly. It's pretty close.

w00t!

That's hot. =P

[The Beyond]

Damn that stuff looks really nice.

Maybe, could you explain the theory of the calculations, so I can make it to a web-based generator?

[rickets007]

Maybe, could you explain the theory of the calculations, so I can make it to a web-based generator?

That would be cool. What exactly would you do to make it?

[The Beyond]

With the most used website-making technique (PHP, and I know pretty much about that language) you can do wonderfull things. My idea is: You get a form where you have to fill in some stuff (like in the excel sheet). When you press the "Generate" button, you recieve a personalized .map file.

I can do that, I just need the theory

[BTH]

With the most used website-making technique (PHP, and I know pretty much about that language) you can do wonderfull things. My idea is: You get a form where you have to fill in some stuff (like in the excel sheet). When you press the "Generate" button, you recieve a personalized .map file.

I can do that, I just need the theory

That is much better to do with Javascript.

[The Beyond]

With the most used website-making technique (PHP, and I know pretty much about that language) you can do wonderfull things. My idea is: You get a form where you have to fill in some stuff (like in the excel sheet). When you press the "Generate" button, you recieve a personalized .map file.

I can do that, I just need the theory

That is much better to do with Javascript.

I agree you can do it with javascript too. But do you really think its much better? I think the PHP functions are better for this purpose.

And, I don't know javascript as well as I know PHP

Just let me know if you need me...and it's also a challange for me to maken such a tool, never done anything before (have only made personal site's before)

[BTH]

With the most used website-making technique (PHP, and I know pretty much about that language) you can do wonderfull things. My idea is: You get a form where you have to fill in some stuff (like in the excel sheet). When you press the "Generate" button, you recieve a personalized .map file.

I can do that, I just need the theory

That is much better to do with Javascript.

I agree you can do it with javascript too. But do you really think its much better? I think the PHP functions are better for this purpose.

And, I don't know javascript as well as I know PHP

Just let me know if you need me...and it's also a challange for me to maken such a tool, never done anything before (have only made personal site's before)

It's better to do things client-side(as long as there is no security risk), that way you save bandwidth and time(for the user).

Edit: here is a great site for learning Javascript: http://w3schools.com/js/js_intro.asp

[The Beyond]

With the most used website-making technique (PHP, and I know pretty much about that language) you can do wonderfull things. My idea is: You get a form where you have to fill in some stuff (like in the excel sheet). When you press the "Generate" button, you recieve a personalized .map file.

I can do that, I just need the theory

That is much better to do with Javascript.

I agree you can do it with javascript too. But do you really think its much better? I think the PHP functions are better for this purpose.

And, I don't know javascript as well as I know PHP

Just let me know if you need me...and it's also a challange for me to maken such a tool, never done anything before (have only made personal site's before)

It's better to do things client-side(as long as there is no security risk), that way you save bandwidth and time(for the user).

Edit: here is a great site for learning Javascript: http://w3schools.com/js/js_intro.asp

Well I know some javascript, but not all 100%. And the bandwidth, i think that's not a reason why I should do it with PHP. That's so minimal it isn't a point

But thanks for the message.

[rickets007]

I just finished up my finals so I will be able to finish the helix tool soon. I'm trying to build a single program that can build both tall and short Helices. If not I can just release two separate tools.

[Azu]

Good to hear! You're doing a wonderous job!

[rickets007]

Alright, here is the tool that makes short helices.

MTA Helix Generator

I want to see some of the maps people are making with this tool.

[The Beyond]

Damn you can just make wonderful tools dude.

[The Beyond]

I've just finished the online creator. The design is downloaded, i've converted the excel sheet to a website by hand.

It isn't tested yet (there need to be some checks, you can fill in empty forms now ), but it works. I will work it out soon. And, maybe i will fix the loops too (it's now for helix)

BUT! Only if I get your permission

MTA Loop generator

[rickets007]

Very nice.

I think the output, however, should only include the code for the actual objects. Most of the time you will be pasting code into an existing map. There is no need to generate an entire map file for each helix.

I am interested in seeing the code you wrote. Especially the part that preforms the calculations and the section of code that controlls the output. you can e-mail it to me at

[email protected]