The Highest Point for bouncing Mac Application Icons

In summary: All you need is a fast enough interpolating function. In summary, Mac application icons bounce around a bit when they're docked, but their velocity stays at 0 at their highest point.
  • #1
dakota224
19
1
When Mac application icons are bouncing in the dock, does their velocity = 0 at their highest point?

Here's what it looks like when you open a new application for Mac if you're not familiar.
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Another way I'm thinking about it: What if you have a strip of LED lights and its on a chase pattern going back and forth. Would the velocity of the 'whatever' going back and forth drop to 0 when it switched direction? And isn't that essentially what the app icon is? LEDs lighting up/down?

One answer I've gotten in discussion: "So let's say you capture every frame of the icon moving up and down. You flip through them one at a time. You may or may not see two identical frames where the icon stays put. But if you could render at an infinite frame rate, eventually you would find two identical frames where the icon hadn't moved. I think the simplest answer is graph velocity vs time. When moving up you have a positive velocity and when moving down you have a negative velocity. Move your finger along that graph from the positive to the negative and never cross through zero. Good luck with that."
 
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  • #2
dakota224 said:
Another way I'm thinking about it: What if you have a strip of LED lights and its on a chase pattern going back and forth. Would the velocity of the 'whatever' going back and forth drop to 0 when it switched direction? And isn't that essentially what the app icon is? LEDs lighting up/down?
Why overcomplicate things?
Like the answer you've received states, to transition from positive to negative velocity you must pass through zero.
That is,a bouncing ball moving upwards must come to a stop before it can move downward. And of course that is the highest point the ball reaches and it could be shown by integrating v(t) to get d(t), the maxima and minima of d(t) will coincidence with the points where v(t)=0.
 
  • #3
dakota224 said:
When Mac application icons are bouncing in the dock, does their velocity = 0 at their highest point?
Ho do you define velocity for dicrete cases like this? You could argue the velocity is 0 at every frame, for the duration of a frame, and then switches to the next frame.
 
  • #4
The sampled motion can (ideally) be reconstructed in your brain (or by computer) using the samples to create the effect of continuous motion again. All that's necessary is for the sampling to be at a high enough rate (see Nyquist criterion). An appropriate low pass filter is the required (interpolating) function to perform on the samples and it can produce a point in the motion that is actually higher than the two points on either side. The same principle applies to all signal sampling and reconstitution - spatial (digital photographs) , temporal (digital music) or both together (digital TV).
 
  • #5
dakota224 said:
But if you could render at an infinite frame rate, eventually you would find two identical frames where the icon hadn't moved.
I just read this again. You don't actually need to sample this fast to be able to get perfect reconstruction. It would be way over the top, to send or store so many samples. (GB/s, when kB/s would do).
 

What is the highest point for bouncing Mac application icons?

The highest point for bouncing Mac application icons is the point at which the icon reaches its peak height during the bouncing animation.

Why do Mac application icons bounce when launched?

Mac application icons bounce when launched as a visual feedback to let the user know that the application is opening and to grab their attention.

Can the highest point for bouncing Mac application icons be customized?

Yes, the highest point for bouncing Mac application icons can be customized by modifying the code in the application's launch file or by using third-party software.

What is the purpose of having a bouncing animation for Mac application icons?

The purpose of having a bouncing animation for Mac application icons is to provide a visual indication that the application is launching and to make it more noticeable to the user.

Is there a limit to how high Mac application icons can bounce?

Yes, there is a limit to how high Mac application icons can bounce. This limit is set by the operating system and cannot be changed.

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