Mesh Tool - 2. Tiles Parameters

Category A) - Blackwork

Sample is tiled seamlessly to fill whole mesh object.

Blackwork Tiles

Single Layer - see detailed description of Single Layer setting at the end of this chapter . Single Layer option is not available for all blackwork samples. Samples which allow the single-layer stitching are marked.

Scale control allows to adjust size of the samples and consequently the density of mesh paths.

Category B) - Tessellation

Tessellation mosaic

A tessellation is the covering of an area using one or more geometric shapes with no overlaps and no gaps.

Controls affecting the tessellation are:

Kind - select the tessellation pattern. Fill colors of individual geometric shapes indicate whether the shape is large enough to be subdivided into smaller shapes (see Subdivision / Threshold parameter). Shapes large enough for subdivision are filled with green color, smaller shapes are filled with pink color.

Average Size of Cells / Size - average width of the empty space between edges. The actual gap varies above and below this value.

Distortion / Range - sometimes good looking effect can be obtained by distortion of the mesh. Set non-zero value to this control to randomize the mesh fill.

Randomly distored edges

Split - new patterns can be obtained by splitting the existing pattern into smaller parts. There are several methods of how smaller parts are made from the larger one. Their effect is depicted on respective method's icon.

Currently available split methods are: Corner Spokes, Edge Spokes, Inscribe, Inset, Shrink

Split methods explained on a 6-sided shape: 1. Corner Spokes, 2. Edge Spokes, 3. Inscribe, 4. Inset, 5. Shrink.

Inscribe, Inset and Shrink methods produce an inner shape (yellow) and outer shapes (blue).

Split / Threshold - this threshold divides geometric shapes in the pattern to those that are split into smaller parts, and those that are not. Shapes with area larger than the threshold value are split using selected split method. Select 0% threshold if you want all shapes to be split. Shapes smaller than split threshold are rendered in pink color in the tessellation pattern box. Shaped equal or larger than split threshold are rendered in green color.

Split / Outer Lines - some split methods (Inscribe, Inset and Shrink) create inner shape inside of the parent shape and several small shapes around this inner shape. This switch allows to delete outer shapes. In some cases it produces nice new patterns.

Split / Offset - some split methods are parametrized with offset value. This control is disabled in case of split methods which are not using offset.

Edges Result of tessellation is mesh of edges, which can be further modified by following parameters:

Edges / Extrude - expands edges and produces a decorative star-like objects in some patterns, especially those containing 8-sided polygons (octagons)

Same pattern with increasing edge extrusion. Left to right: 0%, 50%, 75%.

Edges / Bend - replaces straight-line edges with arcs, creating a more organic-looking mosaic.

Arched edges