Animating a circle to move along an curve

Question

Basically, I want to move a graphic (such as a circle) along a given path (such as sin(x)). I was thinking that the trick might be making the x and y coordinates of the circle vary based on the equation, but I have not been able to make anything except a circle that just sits there.

Have a good look at the help for Manipulate and Circle and Graphics. Also, the demonstrations site is bound to yield some relevant code... — Yves Klett, Jan 03 '13 at 12:31
In addition, it is always a good idea to post the code you´ve tried already so we get an idea how to best help you out. — Yves Klett, Jan 03 '13 at 12:38
Thank you! I'll make sure to post my erroneous code in the future. And I'll definitely be spending time on that demonstrations site, it's awesome. — kneu93, Jan 03 '13 at 12:41
You could (and should) still add your code to the question - this will help future visitors to make more quickly sense of this thread and see how PlotRange can help them in similar situations. — Yves Klett, Jan 03 '13 at 13:39
The techniques discussed in this previous question would seem to be relevant to this question. — m_goldberg, Jan 03 '13 at 14:25

score 4 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 03 '13 at 15:55

4

You need to specify the PlotRange:

f[x_] := Sin[x];

Manipulate[Graphics[{Circle[{x, f[x]}, 0.5]}, PlotRange -> {{0, 5}, {-2, 2}}], {x, 0, 5}]

edited Jan 03 '13 at 15:55

Yves Klett

15,383
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answered Jan 03 '13 at 12:31

nickjamesuk

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Thank you, the missing PlotRange was exactly my issue. Thanks so much for the speedy response! – kneu93 Jan 03 '13 at 12:44
I'm new too, and that was exactly the problem I had! – nickjamesuk Jan 03 '13 at 12:45

Animating a circle to move along an curve

1 Answers1