SVG files

OK, this is a file with some interesting layout issues.....

I'm trying something new--posting SVG files of my creations.... I'm not sure what's going to happen. Bloggers interface wasn't happy to upload the svg file so I'm trying messing directly with html version interface.  I'd rather upload the svg file rather than cut and paste the svg file into the html.  Cumbersome but fine for now.

Deja vu

I feel that I have already posted this one...  And just right now I figured out why.  The previous pattern was called jungle from 2006  and was made with a simple zig-zag augmentation to my original pent program.

pent { sides 5 ifon none { paint blue 5 { create pent right} } }

I guess it was a while back and my older stuff isn't saved to picassa so it's harder for me to find.

This ones nicer anyway.

Seeing Double

This is a simple pattern yet it has some appeal. Although it seems like disconnected, the local patterns are connected.  The touching pentagons have the same orientation which means that a regular pentagon would fit between them.

Somehow the colouring I choose has an interesting effect of seeing double.  I originally choose the colours to visually explain that the touching pentagons are related by an invisible pentagon (not by an arbitrary angle).  Then I noticed this doubled effect was kind of cool.  Perhaps the two sizes of triangular gaps add a bit the distortion effect.  Whatever the biggest contributor to making this pattern interesting, I'm happy with the end product.

Mesmerising Maze

This is a bit of a maze of local patterns. Probably the easiest way to break it down is to focus on the 3-way propellers because they are unique.  The Y gaps seem especially difficult to figure out since there are so many slightly different versions in the overall pattern.

I'm a big fan of the pattern.  It took me a while to incorporate the Y gaps with the triangular gaps. Sometimes it's a matter of walking away and coming back with fresh eyes.  I'll probably revisit these local patterns again. Maybe tomorrow I'll look for a perspective that will make the pattern of construction a bit more transparent. I'll start by looking for a way to augment a triangle grid....

Herons

I'm stuck on pentagons and triangles.  Here, I'm looking at the gaps that don't look like Ys.  I call them herons.  They have 6 different orientations in this arrangement.  It always takes more time to write the code than I expect.
 
I may look into a faster to generate the code. Currently, I play with Tileland for ideas then as soon as I understand the repeating pattern, I transcribe it into PolygonR&D.  It might not be too bad to grab a selection of polygons in Tileland and then create the shortest polygon path which would give parts of the code that could be then augmented with programming structures to make code with loops and branches. It would save me lots of time with transcription....but it's debatable whether it's worth the effort since currently I'm the only PolygonR&D coder I know :)

Probably right now, I should just worry about porting Tileland to Android...but first another distracting pattern :)

Hidden Ts

Here's a pattern with some mesmerising content. I continued tinkering with the arrowhead from the last entry. Aside from the calmer colours, I find this one more elegant.

At first, I focus on the the spaces in the pattern: the big spinners, the arrowheads, the reverse italic I, and the boxy capital Y. In the world of regular polygon paths, often the spaces are more interesting than the polygons. In a way, the spaces help us group polygons into chunks of the pattern. Perhaps this is part of the mesmerising aspects--your eyes end up grouping polygons in overlapping groups which can keep you busy mentally reorganising every time your eyes wanders from one space to another.

Then, I like to play with the colours. Different colourings enhance or create connections among the polygons. With this pattern, the colours help show the structure of the polygons. At the low level, there are either single green pentagons or a triplet of triangle-orange pentagon-triangle, which I'll call a wedge. Recognising this breakdown simplifies the pattern and allows for an easier understanding of the next higher level. At the middle level, we can see that three wedges surround and arrowhead and along with three green triangles make a T structure. Every part of this pattern is part of a T. At the high level, we can see how these Ts fit together to form the big spinners, the arrowheads, the reverse italic I, and the boxy capital Y. The Ts end with three green triangles: the top two corners and the bottom of the stem. It's interesting to see how each top left corner overlaps with the bottom stem of another T forming spinners. The remaining top right corners of the Ts do not overlap other Ts but come together to form the boxy Y structures.
The colouring definitely helps see the grouping and the underlying pattern. But here's a slight altering of the pattern can give an equally interesting grouping that focuses on the green triangle. Notice here, instead of a wedge, we have green and olive crowns. I still prefer the one with the spinners rather than this one.

Oops. I was going to have some sort of pun on Hidden Tease.  I guess my next entry should be something like Strip Ts.

Vortices

More polygon doodling has produced this pattern.  I have created the local patterns before but I believe this is a new one.  I may try a bit more variations using the arrowheads.  I do have a bit of race conditions when filling the centre of the vertices (the things that look like the plastic piece that you would put in 45 records--OK, I'm old).  I would prefer a bit more regularity but for this small patch it's not a bit deal.

I like the way my mind flips between the purple and green patterns, the vortices, and the arrowheads...