Endless Patterns

Wave patterns: Lissajous figures

Draw rows of waves from the curves of trigonometry and signal processing, in lines or filled bands. Every repeat holds whole waves, so its edges always meet.

Lissajous figures

Wave

Each figure traces one wave across against another down, at the ratio you pick. Lines set how many figures fill the repeat.

Colors

Lines and bands alternate the line and accent colors. Filled bands are outlined in the background color.

More palettes
Printing

Sources

  • Jules Antoine Lissajous, Mémoire sur l'étude optique des mouvements vibratoires, Annales de chimie et de physique, 3rd series, 51, 1857. The Lissajous figures in the wave pattern maker are named for his study of two vibrations at right angles.
Acknowledgements