Drink Another, Coin a Phrase

October 11, 2019 1:16 PM

Can you draw a perfect circle?
posted by chavenet (45 comments total)

91.2 %

And that was mostly achieved (after numerous attempts) by just being super reckless with my mouse, like just not trying too hard. If I focus I end up moving my hand in a very twitch-y way.
posted by Fizz at 1:26 PM on October 11, 2019 [2 favorites]

With a mouse? No.

With my finger on my iPad? 92.0%
posted by hanov3r at 1:30 PM on October 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

93.9, I actually think the numbers throw me off centering on the point.
posted by Carillon at 1:30 PM on October 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

Vasari also relates that when Pope Benedict XI sent a messenger to Giotto, asking him to send a drawing to demonstrate his skill; Giotto drew a red circle so perfect that it seemed as though it was drawn using a pair of compasses and instructed the messenger to send it to the Pope. The messenger departed ill pleased, believing that he had been made a fool of. The messenger brought other artists' drawings back to the Pope in addition to Giotto's. When the messenger related how he had made the circle without moving his arm and without the aid of compasses the Pope and his courtiers were amazed at how Giotto's skill greatly surpassed all of his contemporaries.
posted by Omon Ra at 1:36 PM on October 11, 2019 [11 favorites]

Manipulating a cursor using a mouse or trackpad makes this a lot harder than using a finger on a screen, or writing implement and paper.

I had a trigonometry teacher in high school who was able to consistently draw almost perfect circles on the chalkboard. The class was always audibly amazed whenever he'd whip one out.*

*get your minds out of the gutter, people!
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:39 PM on October 11, 2019 [3 favorites]

there is no perfect circle
posted by philip-random at 1:42 PM on October 11, 2019 [6 favorites]

95.7
posted by hypnogogue at 1:42 PM on October 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

I finally had a breakthrough when I realized that the color of the ribbon is telling you how far off of a perfect circle you are, and thereby also realized that I was slightly dipping my mouse up/in the wrong direction right at the start. 95.2 immediately after.
posted by penduluum at 1:46 PM on October 11, 2019 [2 favorites]

I got 88.4% by drawing a square.
posted by umber vowel at 1:47 PM on October 11, 2019 [32 favorites]

For some reason this reminded me of voar.io, RIP, which led me to find this somewhat inelegant descendant.
posted by mwhybark at 1:48 PM on October 11, 2019 [4 favorites]

97.1 but with my finger on my phone and as large as possible. I'll have to try from a tablet before I send a screenshot to Rome.
posted by cmfletcher at 1:51 PM on October 11, 2019 [2 favorites]

I got a terrible score, but it's probably from
standing too soon
posted by introp at 1:56 PM on October 11, 2019 [6 favorites]

It’s not very discriminating. I got 95.7% with a globby oblong that looks like a four-year-old tried to trace an apple.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 1:58 PM on October 11, 2019 [2 favorites]

97.7! Just did it a couple of times. This is addictive.
posted by stillmoving at 2:05 PM on October 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

Reminded me of this video of a teacher drawing a near perfect one. Magic starts at 0:35 in.
posted by msbutah at 2:08 PM on October 11, 2019 [6 favorites]

Hah, at first I was simply going to say "not with a mouse, I'll draw with my XP-PEN at home." Third try got 95.1 - at least by their metric. If I were trying to draw a "perfect" circle for any of my own artwork, this wouldn't count as an A+ but it'd be fine for my natural style.
posted by GoblinHoney at 2:13 PM on October 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

Nose on touchpad best: I didn't actually do this, but highly suggest it to any of you on the train.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 2:16 PM on October 11, 2019 [4 favorites]

msbutah's linked video shows the exact same method my HS teach used! It must be common knowledge among math teachers.
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:17 PM on October 11, 2019 [3 favorites]

Doing this on a trackpad sucks. The friction of my finger trying to hold it down prevents me from coming anywhere close to a good circle, let alone a perfect one. Will have to try on a touch screen.
posted by acidnova at 2:26 PM on October 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

I draw a really startlingly good horse.
posted by Wolfdog at 2:26 PM on October 11, 2019 [11 favorites]

msbutah: "Reminded me of this video of a teacher drawing a near perfect one. Magic starts at 0:35 in."

The backstory on this is ... delightful; it includes Giotto, a circleometer (and also Portugal).
posted by chavenet at 2:32 PM on October 11, 2019 [7 favorites]

and also Portugal

The man?

Sorry, it's Friday afternoon and I have simply had it with productivity.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 2:35 PM on October 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

A+ for the Murmur reference
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 2:35 PM on October 11, 2019 [8 favorites]

I personally prefer Tool as my preferred Maynard James Keenan vehicle, but I celebrate our differences.
posted by Mayor West at 3:13 PM on October 11, 2019 [2 favorites]

14.2% - for those aiming at the low end I find not closing the circle leads to the best low scores.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 3:13 PM on October 11, 2019

97.3 trackpad
posted by gkr at 3:26 PM on October 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

How are you folks getting such low scores? I'm trying and the best I can manage is ~50%. There must be some technique to getting it lower without failing out for going the wrong way
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 3:34 PM on October 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

Update: I've vastly improved my effort by making a wide diagonal ellipse that immediately departs from their desired circle and never crosses back into it. Having trouble penetrating the single digits, however.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 3:38 PM on October 11, 2019 [2 favorites]

96% with a thumb trackball. Not bad!
I guess those years of doing patch drawing exercises for figures were useful after all..
posted by nat at 3:49 PM on October 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

When the messenger related how he had made the circle without moving his arm and without the aid of compasses the Pope and his courtiers were amazed at how Giotto's skill greatly surpassed all of his contemporaries.

I, too, know how to hold a pencil in my fingers while spinning the paper under the heel of my hand.
posted by The Tensor at 4:00 PM on October 11, 2019 [4 favorites]

Just in case anyone's wondering how squares etc can get highish scores: it looks at how close the line is to the radius of the starting point and averages it over the full 360 degrees. A square doesn't massively stray from the correct radius (lots of green), so it can easily get 80%+.

(Why this approach? It means it can score as you draw, the centre point doesn't have to jump around, and 100% represents a perfect circle without fudging the maths. It's an idea I've kicked around for 5 or 6 years, then 2 or 3 weeks ago I worked out how to make it into a decent game)
posted by malevolent at 4:08 PM on October 11, 2019 [13 favorites]

I teach math. When I have 3 minutes left at the end of class, I've been known to invite students up to the board for a circle-drawing contest. (I'll sometimes say I'm going to go last -- unfair, they say, since my board circles are too good. Then I'll draw a lumpy bean on purpose.)

For those who know LAT_EX, you can gamify Detexify: draw your favorite symbols and see how low a score you can get (0 = perfection). Major demerits if the symbol you were trying to draw isn't the one Detexify thinks you were trying to draw.

Just in case anyone's wondering how squares etc can get highish scores: it looks at how close the line is to the radius of the starting point and averages it over the full 360 degrees. A square doesn't massively stray from the correct radius (lots of green), so it can easily get 80%+.

PRO TIP: This strategy works poorly in the dimension N version of the game for large N.
posted by aws17576 at 4:24 PM on October 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

malevolent: "It's an idea I've kicked around for 5 or 6 years, then 2 or 3 weeks ago I worked out how to make it into a decent game"

Wow. I've added the "by MetaFilter's Own malevolent" tag.
posted by chavenet at 4:28 PM on October 11, 2019 [4 favorites]

chavenet, that is indeed delightful. Thank you.
posted by mwhybark at 4:38 PM on October 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

First attempt 96.9%

Every subsequent attempt: FUCK THIS
posted by Caxton1476 at 7:31 PM on October 11, 2019 [4 favorites]

96.3% so far, my numbers went up as soon as i changed direction. (My mouse hand seems to prefer circles to the left.)

Also, I only managed to close the tab for entering US cities on map (last week on the Blue) an hour ago, why are you doing this to me?!
posted by bigendian at 7:36 PM on October 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

Seems like a spiral is my lowest score. 23%
Highest 95%
posted by poe at 7:43 PM on October 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

Using the say in the stay green thinking, I pulled a 96.1.
posted by Oyéah at 8:13 PM on October 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

According to this fucking thing that I hate with all my heart, no.
posted by bondcliff at 8:14 PM on October 11, 2019 [3 favorites]

95.3
posted by Jubey at 11:44 PM on October 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

96.8 I keep going back to try again... Omg I hate this game.
posted by AlexiaSky at 2:03 AM on October 12, 2019 [1 favorite]

I can draw perfect circles in MacPaint.
posted by mazola at 8:11 AM on October 12, 2019 [1 favorite]

(𝑥−ℎ)^2+(𝑦−𝑘)^2=𝑟^2

Is the best I can do...
With a mouse 93%. I did better with a mouse if I didn't have my wrist resting on the desk.
posted by njohnson23 at 11:25 AM on October 12, 2019 [1 favorite]

Best post title is best!
posted by epj at 5:33 PM on October 12, 2019 [1 favorite]

I assumed a spherical rabbit, then drew a bunny.
posted by axiom at 11:13 PM on October 12, 2019 [2 favorites]