Intrigued by the the fact that reef knot showed up
on the front page of Everything2, I set out to draw
one using ASCII art.
It was harder than it looked (or maybe I'm
even stupider than I think I am).
I did end up with three (and a half?)
different styles, and I'm not sure which works best. So,
I thought I'd put examples of them here, and let people
comment.
The Warm Fuzzy
This is the one I used first (and, since someone thought
it was nice, I will just leave my reef knot the way I
made it). I used @ and : symbols for
the two ropes; this gives strong visual contrast, and
they are both fairly symmetric.
@@@@ ::::: @@@@@ ::::
@@@@@@ :::::::::@@@@@@@::::::
@@::::: :@@@@@ :::::@
::::@@@@@@@@@:::::::@@@
:::: @@@@@ ::::: @@@@
:::: @@@@
:::: @@@@@ ::::: @@@@
::::@@@@@@@@@:::::::@@@
@@::::: :@@@@@ :::::@
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ :::::::::@@@@@@@::::::::::::::::::
@@@@@@@@@@@@@ ::::: @@@@@ ::::::::::::::::
High-Altitude Fuzzies
I found a problem with this approach, however, when I
drew a Carrick bend: when a rope crosses itself, how
do I indicate which side goes over the other? I tried
to use a character that was similar but different to the
main character for a particular rope. This worked, but
not very well.
ooooo :::::::: oooooooo ::::::::::::
oooooooo::::::::::::oooooooooooo:::::::::::::::
ooo:::::: ::oooooo oo:::::::
:::::oo oooooo:: ::::::o
:::::ooo@@oooooo::::++::::::oooo
:::: @@@@@@oo ++++++:: oooo
:::: oo@@@@@@ ::++++++ oooo
::::oooooo@@oooo::::::++:::ooooo
:oooooo oo:::::: ::ooooo
ooooooo ::::::oo oooooo:::
oooooooooooooo::::::::::::oooooooooooo::::::::
ooooooooooo :::::::: oooooooo :::::
In this case, I tried to use @ as a "closer"
version of o; I couldn't think of anything
better than + for the "closer" version of
:. So, while I could figure out what I was
talking about, I didn't really care for this solution.
The Pipeline
I decided to try tracing the outline of the ropes,
instead of filling in the rope itself. This worked
pretty well:
______ ______ ______ ______________
| \/ \/ \/
|____ \ __ \ __ \ ____________
\ \/ \ \/ \ \/
/\ \ /\ \ /\ \
/ \ \/ \ \/ \ \
/ /\ / /\ / /\ \
| / \/ / \/ / \ |
| \ / /\ / /\ / |
\ \/ / \/ / \/ /
\ \ /\ \ /\ \ /
\ \/ \ \/ \ \/
___________/\ \__/\ \__/\ \____
\ \ \ |
_____________/\______/\______/\______|
However, I still needed a way to distinguish between
the two different ropes. I wanted a character that would
fit into the middle of the outline; as a first stab, I
tried using yet more slashes and underscores:
______ ______ ______ ______________
|_____ \/ \/ ____ \/
|____ \ \ __ \/ __ \ \ ____________
\ \ \/ \ \/ \ \ \/
/\ \ \ /\ \ /\ \ \
/ \ \ \/ /\ \/ \ \ \
/ /\ \/ / /\ / /\ \ \
| / \/ / / \/ / \ \ |
| \ / / /\ / /\ / / |
\ \/ / /\ \/ / \/ / /
\ \/ /\ \ \ /\ \/ /
\ \/ \ \ \/ \ \/
___________/\ \__/\ \ \__/\ \____
____________/\ \ \____/\ |
_____________/\______/\______/\______|
I found that just a little overwhelming, however, so I
settled on using a more sedate . (period / full
stop) instead. This is probably the format I like the
best for now:
______ ______ ______ ______________
|..... \/ \/ .... \/
|____ . \ __ \. __ . \ ____________
\ . \/ \ \/ \ . \/
/\ . \ /\ \ /\ . \
/ \ . \/ .\ \/ \ . \
/ /\ ./ . /\ / /\ . \
| / \/ . / \/ / \ . |
| \ / . /\ / /\ / . |
\ \/ . /. \/ / \/ . /
\ \. /\ . \ /\ \. /
\ \/ \ . \/ \ \/
___________/\ \__/\ . \__/\ \____
.............\ \ ......\ |
_____________/\______/\______/\______|
| 
