Some feedback from a beginner

audionerd commented 13 years ago

It's been a while since I tackled quadratic Bézier curves, so this was a really nice refresher course!

I had a few suggestions that might make it easier to follow.

Could it explain, somehow, the relationships between colors and variables? For example, knowing that "green" was C1 and C2.
Could there be control of the animation to scrub t back and forth? The animation was very nice, but sometimes it went too fast for me to think. Pause, and scrub, would be helpful. Maybe using Tangle? http://worrydream.com/Tangle/
Could hovering on the variables in the text (e.g.: P1C and CP2) highlight their corresponding elements in the animation?

Where I really got lost was this:

"you mark a real point at t of the C1C2 line"

For some reason, I wasn't realizing that t was the purple dot. If there was some relationship (either via hover, or purple colored variable text, or both) I think it would assist in understanding.

All in all though, this is a great teaching tool. Thanks!

antoineleclair commented 13 years ago

Thanks for the comment. I'll try to add some of your suggestions at a later time.

audionerd commented 13 years ago

I did find an example of something kind of similar that uses Tangle:

http://demo.criticalmash.com/bezier/

But it lacks the clear explanation that your demo provides.

And I found another one with draggable points, but – again – not nearly as clear of an explanation.

http://www.jasondavies.com/animated-bezier/

It would be a fun project to mash those together, to get an "Explorable Explanation" (http://worrydream.com/ExplorableExplanations/) with the clarity of your explanation, but the interactivity of the other two.

I'd like to hack on something like that myself!

antoineleclair commented 13 years ago

I'll definitely add draggable points and a slider for t if I get enough time. I'm sure it would help a lot.

antoineleclair / Understanding-Bezier-Curve

Some feedback from a beginner #1