Re: patternTransform -- and toroidal wraps

On 04-10-11 03:35, David Dailey wrote:
> ...
> While on the topic of patterns and transforms, a thing has troubled me for some time about patterns:
> 
> Wouldn't it be nice to have the ability to allow a shape within the pattern space to "wrap"?
> 
> That is, instead of having sharp edges, suppose we had the option of making pattern tiles toroidal.
> Like in the game of Asteroids, the top of the rectangle and the bottom are identified (wrapped), as are the left and right edges, so that the user can specify that any content on the edge wraps around. This allows for the creation of seamless tilings that are the mainstay of wallpaper, counter-tops, carpet, etc. I have some examples laying about here or there if my meaning isn't apparent. At least four centuries of "ornamental design" are submitted as use cases. If type="wrap" is in the spec, I haven't seen it.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean, patterns are tiled, which
effectively identifies the left and right, as well as the top and bottom
edges. Or do you want to be able to do something like this and have it
look like a series of parallel, unbroken, lines (as opposed to a series
of line segments laid out in a grid pattern):

<pattern width="1" height="1">
  <path d="M 0,0 L 0.8,0.8 z" />
</pattern>

(The rationale is that if you have a truely toroidal space, the shortest
path from 0.8,0.8 to 0,0 is through 0.9,0.9.)

Actually, it might make more sense to immediately go to the famed
"wallpaper groups". Googling should get you some examples, and if you
want to experiment with these, Inkscape can create tiled clones in
patterns corresponding to these groups. (And again, virtually all have
been used in the past in actual wallpapers or other decorations.)

Received on Tuesday, 4 October 2011 07:41:08 UTC