My inspiration to make two circular charts came from a day dream on secret coded messages. The idea for a Matoran translation medallion connects to an idea having to do with pen pal connections. I thought about how you send letters to a friend and how easily someone else could just pick up your letter and read it. That led to an idea of writing coded letters..and if your pen pal is a Bionicle fan, what better choice than to use Matoran. Now lets say your friend is a bit rusty in Matoran, and you want to be sure they can read your special coded letter? That got me thinking, why not make a special medallion for translating Matoran to English, both numerical and alphabetical. It will not only make the decoding experience more interesting, but also serves as a special treasure your friend can wear around their neck, knowing your words are understood only by those who know the code. The medallion itself is a future project, and I'll try to make reference back to this page once I make, and post the completed work.
To make the charts, I used some methods of sacred geometry (example right) and a protractor (example left). For the alphabetical chart I went through several design stages, just so I could get a perfectly divided 26 spaced circle. The math involved made my head hurt, but it was worth it. As for the 10 point numerical chart, that was fairly simple, all I had to do was follow the book on how to make ten with the star shape. The lines of the chart I added in later through Photoshop.
(Below)- This was my very first design chart, to get the general concept out on paper. I was working on trying to get 26 lines, but later settled for spaces. Since this was just a chart, I went ahead and wrote out the letters to get a general feel for what I wanted. Looks very similar to the finished chart, only the letter alignment is just a tad bit different.
Photos of translation medallion still to come, so stay tune for the future product. Till then, have a great week. ^_~
