New subject: [Inkscape-devel] NEW: Tile clones

6 Dec 2004


      Before getting deep into the boring stuff planned for 0.41, I decided
to do some eye candy...
http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.41-CVS-linux-tiles1.png
http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.41-CVS-linux-tiles2.png
* The new powerful "Tile clones" dialog implements all 17 plane
symmetry groups, allowing you to easily create all sorts of symmetric
patterns, Escher-like tesselations, ornaments, etc. Since the pattern
is made out of clones, you can freely edit the original tile and the
entire pattern is updated live. This feature puts Inkscape into
competition with software such as the free Arabeske or commercial
SymmetryWorks.
** Apart from selecting the symmetry (and uniquely to Inkscape), you
can also set the shift, scale, rotation, and opacity of the clones in
the pattern, per row and/or per column. Any of these parameters can
also be randomized to any degree. This produces "object fields" that
can be arbitrarily distorted, skewed, slanted, "faded out," or
"magnetized" like iron particles in a magnetic field.
** To create a clone pattern, simply select something, set the number
of rows and columns, and click Create. You can then change some
parameters in the dialog and click Create again; this will remove any
existing tiled clones of the selected object and recreate the pattern
anew. Or, you can just remove the old pattern by clicking Remove. To
protect a pattern from deletion by this dialog, group it or move it to
another layer.
** Initially, a pattern is created based on the bounding box of the
selected object. For symmetries that involve rotation to an angle
other than 180 degrees, the rotation point is usually in the middle of
the right-hand side of the bbox. After the pattern is created,
resizing the original tile does not move the clones away, so you can
make the tiles overlap. Also, when the pattern is created, the current
bbox of the original tile is remembered; later, if the "Use saved tile
bbox" checkbox is on, the same bbox will be used when you click Create
again, which means you can vary the pattern parameters without losing
the overlapping of the tiles.
** It's best to use a group as the original object for tiling, because
you can then enter this group (right-click, "Enter group") and draw
inside it. Any changes or new objects added to the group will show in
the pattern immediately.

NEW: Tile clones

bulia byak

Alan Horkan

MenTaLguY

Bryce Harrington

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