Mandala Creator

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This Demonstration simulates the creation of a mandala sand painting.

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You move the Locator on the right board like you would move a straw filled with colored sand.

Hit "stop" to change the controls "distance" and "symmetries". Hit "draw" to select point size, opacity, or color and then go on drawing.

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Contributed by: Karl Scherer (January 2015)
Open content licensed under CC BY-NC-SA


Snapshots


Details

How to draw a chain of dots:

Move the Locator to the starting point of your new chain. Select a "distance", the minimum distance between adjacent dots. Click one, two, or three symmetry controls. Click "draw".

Now select a point size, a color, and an opacity for your chain.

Move the Locator slowly around the board while holding the mouse button down. Note that you can always amend point size, color, and opacity at any time later. You cannot change the "distance" and "symmetry" controls once you have created a new chain.

Click "stop" to finish your new chain.

Move the Locator to the starting point of your next chain. Select "distance" and "symmetry" controls as above. Click "draw" again and so on.

Controls:

"mandala" pop-up menu

Select the mandala you want to work on (mandalas 2, 3, and 4 are given examples).

"<"|">" mandala selection

Select the previous or next mandala.

"save"|"restore"|"reset" buttons

Lets you save the mandala, restore to the previously saved mandala, or reset the selected mandala.

"chain" pop-up menu

The mandala consists of chains of points. Each chain has a fixed point size, distance (between consecutive points), opacity, color, and set of symmetries.

The chain controls "(point size)", "(opacity)", and "(color)" can be changed at any time (as indicated by the brackets); the controls "distance" and "symmetries", however, cannot be changed later.

The number and length of the current chain is displayed.

"<"|">" chain selection

Select the previous or next chain of dots.

"delete chain" button

When in stop mode (see below), click the "delete chain" button to delete the currently edited chain of dots. You cannot delete the last chain.

"stop"|"draw" toggle

"draw" mode: Draw the mandala by moving the mouse pointer on the right board. When you switch from "stop" mode to "draw" mode, a new chain will be created.

"stop" mode: Only in "stop" mode can you change the distance (minimum distance between adjacent dots) and delete a chain.

"(point size)", "(opacity)", "distance", "(color)" pop-up menus

"(point size)" controls the size of the points.

"(opacity)" controls the opacity of the dots in the current chain.

"distance" controls the distance between points. For example, distance = 1 means that the mouse pointer must have traveled at least 1 unit (on the 20x20 board) before the next point is painted. The control "distance" can only be changed when in "stop" mode.

"(color)" determines the color of the dots in the current chain.

"background"

Controls the color of the background.

symmetries: "horizontal", "vertical", and "point" buttons

If you select "horizontal" symmetry, every point you draw at {x,y} will also create a point at {-x,y}.

If you select "vertical" symmetry, every point you draw at {x,y} will also create a point at {x,-y}.

If you select "point" symmetry, every point you draw at {x,y} will also create a point at {-x,-y}.

Note that the symmetry controls cannot be changed while you are in "draw" mode!

"mark center" button

Marks the center with a brown dot.

"help lines" button

Displays a few additional lines.

"show locator" button

Click to hide the Locator. Click the board anywhere to make the Locator reappear.



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