MEGA Tree Calculator

[Photovor]

I made a small calculator for calculating various dimensions of a mega tree, given information like length of string, or diameter of base, or height of pole.

I was tired of having to use the Pythagorean theorem to figure out some of my dimensions. Pretty easy tool to use to get a quick idea of how big you need to make your tree.

Here it is: http://www.altoonalights.com/mega/mega_calc.php

I'll be making it prettier. Suggestions are welcome.

[DennyMo]

Very helpful! Could you add a "Clear" or "Reset" button?

[Photovor]

Very helpful! Could you add a "Clear" or "Reset" button?

No problem. Done.

[BuzzKill]

Phooey on the "prettier. It is perfect as it is.
Excellent design. You can bring up the page and get your calc in a few seconds. Great graphic to explain wha the variables area.
It works great! What more could you ask for?

[Photovor]

Phooey on the "prettier. It is perfect as it is.
Excellent design. You can bring up the page and get your calc in a few seconds. Great graphic to explain wha the variables area.
It works great! What more could you ask for?

As a web programmer, I shudder at the page. Though minimal, and simple to use, but ugly. On that note, don't visit www.altoonalights.com either. Way ugly. It's getting re-done this year to give information on my display only. I guess that's why i'm a web programmer and not a web 'designer'.

[Filament]

I like it the way it is; simple and easy to use. There is no need for "eye candy" to make it look pretty. It is for quick and easy calculations for a mega tree it does it fast. It allows for a DIY's to check and adjust many build plans.

Thanks for taking the time to design this esp since I am going to build a mega tree in the year coming.

[djulien]

Suggestions are welcome.

How about an additional, optional target h-to-D ratio? To me, some Mtrees look too "fat" (short and wide), others look too "skinny" (tall and narrow). I've noticed that trees falling within a certain height-to-width ratio look "nicer" (for me, that's about 2:1 to 2.5:1).

Another useful parameter might be a double-up parameter. For example, if you have 30' strings but you only want a tree that is about 15' high, you would double-over the strings. I suppose you could just divide by 2 mentally before you enter the string length parameter, but there are actually some other combinations to consider. For example, you could double-over the vertical part of the string but not the horizontal part (if you use a horizontal part to get back to the middle), or vice-versa, in order to get the string length you wanted. I had to do this, since I got some 30' strings last year, but this year I could only find 24' strings, so I needed to "economize" by not doubling-over the horizontal part of the string. That gave me my target 11' tree. Doubling over the entire string would have made the tree too short (9'), not doubling would make it too tall (20').

In addition, a dynamically drawn "visualizer" panel would help to show what the Mtree would look like. Maybe just draw colored lines onto a black rectangular background at the appropriate places.

don

[Photovor]

I added a 'preview' image once a tree is created. Not sure I want to get into calculations for doubling up strings, etc... I want to keep the complexity simple- if that isn't an oxymoron.

Thanks for the preview suggestion though.

[Josh]

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[Photovor]

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do you remember what specs you put in?