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Truly Tangent Logo -- what does it mean?

logo paint thicker transparent.png

The logo looks like a modified infinity symbol, which is no coincidence.

The inspiration was my model train layout I built when I was 11 years old

—a figure-8 with crossover capability when traveling in both directions.        

Track.png

But even without any physics education, I knew there was a problem at the TRANSITIONS between the straight and curved track pieces :  The train cars would JERK sideways at that point.

I would later learn that the train sees an instantaneous acceleration change at that point.

From zero when straight to centripetal acceleration of v^2/r

Sal Kahn can explain that better.

Did you know that JERK is a real physics term? It's the derivative (change) of Acceleration vs Time.

In my youth, the solution was to lay my own flexible track and create 'softer' transitions.

It also looked much better with fewer splices and more 'true' to how track is placed.

Today, I tried to write an Excel model to continuously reduce the radius of curvature and see what kind of shape I get. It seems like JERK is getting close to minimized here so 'good enough' to trace it in CAD (lower right quadrant of the original Figure-8)

Excel model.png

After drawing the 2D shape, I was wanting more 'depth' of the logo. I finally settled on offsetting the shape in the Z-axis and tilting the camera view up slightly to give the feel of a ribbon. 

A little cleanup in MSPaint and it's done for now.  <---- "Progress over Perfection".

Some day it will be an SVG so I can enlarge cleanly, vinylcut, or eggbot print the logo. 

*Pro-Tip for those wanting a transparent background-- MSPowerpoint can set a transparent background and then save the picture as a .png file that retains that transparency...MSPaint will not.

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