How to use it
- Choose or drop a photo. Colourful pictures with detail, such as flowers, fruit or city lights, work best.
- Choose the number of Segments.
- Turn the pattern with Rotation and change its scale with Zoom (below 100 % shows more of the photo, above 100 % less).
- Move the Centre sliders to pick the part of the photo that fills the mirrors.
- Download the square result.
How it works
For each pixel of the result the tool measures its angle and distance from the centre. The angle (minus the rotation) is folded into the first segment: with n segments each segment is 360° / n wide, and in every second segment the angle is mirrored. The distance is divided by the zoom. That angle and distance are then laid out from the chosen centre of the photo, and the pixel takes the colour found there.
Example
With 8 segments each one is 45° wide. A point at 30° stays at 30°. A point at 60° lies in the second, mirrored segment, so it becomes 90° − 60° = 30° and shows the same colour as the point at 30°. A point at 100° folds to 100° − 90° = 10°.
Tips
- 6 or 8 segments look like a classic kaleidoscope; 16 and more make fine, lace-like patterns.
- Small changes of the centre sliders give completely new patterns, so try several.
- For a seamless background, run the result through the seamless pattern maker.