A community project

[handrawn]

This is afterall a Xara forum.

Hi Larry

Mr Shifter is correct here... the 'Challenges' forum is [and always was] in the 'General Graphics' section of TG, which is not Xara specific

It was set up that way deliberately, although it has been common for thread posters to request their challenge be done in a particular program/way.....

[Antspants]

exp_1.swf exp_2.swf exp_3.swf

I'm really struggling with this:
can't get any of it smooth enough,
can't get the 'Rotate-' command to work.
The 'GoTo' command keeps jumping.

I keep getting good ideas on effect but it involves loads of 'layers' in each frame and I can't work out how to reach the bits in the middle which require different levels of transparency for each frame?

Found out some stuff I didn't know while experimenting so maybe useful for other bits in the future.

My eyes have gone all funny, so taking a break from this. Will try again later.

[Mike Bailey]

Your tractor image, converted into a nozzle and drawn onto the canvas using Symmetry (Painter 12 kaleidoscope mode). The colors on this image are a bit muddy looking. But the possibilities are endless.

[Mike Bailey]

Another quick one done with Zbrush. X,Y, Radial symmetry.

[wizard509]

Tony,
Be careful of your monitor after all we don't want you suffering from a broken monitor and a knotted head like Rik. And if the worst should happen please don't send me an invoice.

Mike thank you for your efforts. It is plain to see that you have been hard at work on the problem.

Steve, guilty as charged. I found out the hard way. I suppose I really should have started this in a Xara specific section because of my desire to gets many Xara users as possible contributing their ideas to a common goal I really didn't think of that aspect.

So Shape Shifter, you were correct and I was wrong, please accept my humble apologies.

[wizard509]

Here is another I did yesterday using a different photo, both photo and what I did below.



Basically what I did was used a circular transparency on the image and then made two squares, one to the back and the other rotated 45deg. and cut off the top half.
Put this resulting triangle onto the transparent image and interected shapes and made a bitmap copy and then cloned 3 times and fitted together to form somewhat of a kaleidoscopic image. on the black background. Named each triangle so I could easily tell which one was selected, then one at a time moved in the required direction 10 clicks. Next frame same movements in next repeated in the next frame. After 9 frames I got antsy and wanted to see the result and didn't take it any further. This was the result. I know the result is dark and perhaps too transparent but it sort of worked. So here is the result of this particular experiment. Because I named each section seems like it could be tweened and run as a flash too although this one is a gif. I will continue my experiments.

[ODdOnLifeItself]

Hello Larry,

I've thought about this quite a bit, and I can't think of any way that you'd be able to do this strictly in Xara. The places where the individual pieces come together (the axis of reflection) has to be like a black hole...the pixels that hit this line need to disappear. As long as any of the pieces have priority (ie. are higher either in stack or in layers), they will be on top. How will you make the uppermost piece "stop" when it hits the axis of reflection? Are there active layer masks that can exist for each layer? It seems this would be necessary in order to make it work. I would like to be proven wrong, though!

It seems like a really cool effect.

It's late here, and I didn't have much time, but is the following the basic look that you are after?

http://www.jamesalexander.de/Kaleido.html

Peace

James

[Hwy101]

Very Nice indeed James! Well done! Tom aka Hwy101

[wizard509]

Yes James that is pretty close. All I know is if it can be done in Gimp, then it seems like we should be able to do it in Xara. My latest idea is to use an image larger than the final image so the pie shapes would much larget then resulting would be then fitting some pie shapes together forming the basic figure. Then each slice then named for easy identification and each move in x number of clicks. When that was done trim off the overlapping parts of each triangular piece then the same senario repeated over and over on each frame untill the anim was finished. A lot of work I know but in my mind at least it has the possibility of working.
Now I just have to do the math to try and figure out the sizes. and angles. For convience I think I'll stick to 4 triangles forming a square. In reality I don't expect anyone to go through with this nightmare senario except me. Stay tuned cause this might take awhile.
So if solicitors don't get me, and, I don't end up in a mental ward eventually I hope to have a working kaleidoscope.

[ODdOnLifeItself]

Thanks, Tom

As a kid, I always loved kaleidoscopes. Staring into them was always mesmerizing.

Larry's energy towards trying to get this to work, is like Larry's normal energy, ie. inspiring!

In Blender, the solution was trivial. It literally took less than 5 mins to set the scene up. (about 10 mins to render all the frames in the quick example that I made)

I just created a triangle, extruded it upward to make a 3-sided column and set the camera at the top in the center. The triangular column was made into a perfect mirror and the camera was aimed at one bottom corner. As soon as the frame is rendered, it is kaleidoscopic. By merely moving that bottom image around, it mimics an actual kaleidoscope turning.

I hope Larry gets to the bottom of this in Xara, but I don't think it will be an easy ride...

Thanks again,

James