What is a ring-shaped string art picture?
A ring-shaped picture is a round string art picture, as sold by many suppliers, in which the nails are arranged on the outside in a circle (ring-shaped). The string is stretched between these nails to create the motif. Because the nails are only placed on the outside edge, very few nails are used overall and the resulting picture effectively has a much lower resolution. However, the advantage is that it is much easier to make than a WireStyle string art picture and is therefore also suitable for making by hand at home.
Difference between a round picture and a WireStyle string art picture
The main difference lies in the number of nails used and therefore the level of detail that can be achieved. While ring-shaped pictures typically use approx. 200 - 400 nails, a WireStyle string art picture consists of approx. 3000 - 12,000 nails, depending on the size. Because WireStyle does not just place the nails at the edge, the laid string can change direction at very short intervals and therefore follow contours better. This creates a much more photorealistic impression.
Petros Vrellis, the inventor of the ring-shaped pictures
In 2016, Petros Vrellis, an internationally renowned computer artist from Greece, published an algorithm with which he was able to calculate the optimal string connections of a Ring String string art picture. He describes this on his website. He sells his self-made round string art pictures through Saatchiart .
Other suppliers of round string art pictures
As Petros Vrellis has disclosed his algorithm, there are now numerous providers of ring-shaped string art pictures. With these providers, you can upload your own picture and receive a finished round string art picture as a result. You can also buy DIY kits that contain all the necessary materials as well as an app that allows you to convert a photo into a nail list that you can then trace with the string. With a lot of patience, you can create a round string art picture.
If you want to produce several round string art pictures, you can also buy ready-made machines that automatically rotate the round plate and pull the string around the next nail, producing the picture fully automatically after a short time.
Petros Vrellis' algorithm has now been taken up in several open source projects and published on Github .
Some of these projects also offer a free calculation option that runs directly in the browser without the need to install any software. This means that anyone can calculate their own ring-shaped image from a photo as a template free of charge. One of the most convenient programs for this comes from Jérémie Piellard.
Another popular free program is the String Art Generator by Halfmonty:
In addition to round string art images, some of these programs also offer the option of calculating rectangular or oval images. Here too, the nails are all on the outer edge, resulting in a very similar, low-detail look to the round images.
WireStyle machines in comparison
While production machines for ring-shaped string art pictures can be bought ready-made and there are also numerous DIY projects, WireStyle's machines have been developed entirely in-house. The main reason for this is that with ring-shaped pictures the nails are only on the outside of the plate, so it is sufficient to turn the plate to reach all the nails. With a string art picture from WireStyle, all nails are placed at individually calculated positions. This means that the head of the string-pulling robot and the nail robot must be moved in at least 2 axes in order to reach all positions. Although you can buy CNC routers, plotters and surface gantries that can move in two axes, these cannot drive nails and are not suitable for navigating between the nails at high speed due to their low acceleration.
The software for calculating the optimal nail positions and the path of the string was also programmed by WireStyle itself, as these calculations are much more complex and the algorithms programmed for ring-shaped pictures are not sufficient for this.
In comparison: (left) round string art picture with 288 nails and 4000 connecting lines, calculated with the String Art Generator on Github. (right) The same image with the self-programmed software from WireStyle calculated with 6598 nails and 53753 segments with a total of 912 m of string.
We have summarized more information about the production of WireStyle string art pictures here.
You can try out your own photos in the configurator, where you get a preview of how the picture will look later as a string art picture.
