Hi all,

I'm trying to create the "Explosion" as depicted in the Tips-Tutorial (Help -> Tutorials -> Tips and Tricks). To start, I created the basic shape, and chose a 1 x 6 tiled clone, rotating each clone 60 degrees (click for a larger version). Oh by the way, I used the "P1: simple translation" as mentioned in the tutorial, and an x-shift of -100% per column.



The result is almost as I expected, but why are the points of the shapes not directed towards the centre of the circle they are all on? In other words, I expected the 4th clone to be directly opposite the original shape (and first clone).

Furthermore, how can I change the radius of the circle they are all on? And how can I change the size of the shapes as a function of the radius, like in the explosion example? Thanks

The tiled clones will be rotated around the centre of rotation. If you click on an object twice, you should see the handles change to the rotation handles. In the middle there is a cross shape, which can be moved to adjust the point where the object is rotated around. See Tavs book or The floss manual. Then insure that the rotation centre is in line with the point of the drop shape.

If you are using the rectangle method, ensure that you use the Align and distribute dialogue to keep the drop in the center of the rectangle.

To vary the radius and size of the droplets, play around with the "scale" tab. You can also create a more realistic blast effect by including a bit of randomisation to the values in the "scale" and "rotate" tabs

Note: make sure that you don't resize the page (or change its orientation) before using the 'Tiled clones…' dialog (… or create a new layer after adjusting the page size and draw the base tile in the new layer).

[workaround for a known bug that scatters/displaces the tiled clones if done inside transformed groups (or layers)]

Thanks for the explanation, you can create some nice graphics with this function .

nice fireworks!

Is this how you would all do it ?

I think Shift X Per Column should be -100.00
and Shift Y Per Row should be -100.00

(that's negative 100%)

And I would put the rotation at 100% randomize.... Unless you want the explosion to be....off-kilter....or lop-sided. I suppose that might be realistic, if you were making a sky full of fireworks, to have 1 or 2 lop-sided.

This original message was posted long ago. More recently, we started a challenge to draw fireworks at IC: http://forum.inkscapecommunity.com/inde ... opic=145.0 I wasn't super happy about my results. But I did learn a whole lot along the way - which is the purpose of doing the challenges, after all

Somebody posted the explosion image from here on google+ and asked how its done.
It seems nobody has posted a real explanation so i bumped this thread.

brynn wrote:I think Shift X Per Column should be -100.00
and Shift Y Per Row should be -100.00

You dont need to do that when you check the exclude tile box.

Interesting.... I've never noticed those checkboxes before. I know I've seen the Alternate and Cumulate. But I don't remember ever seeing Exclude before. Either it must be new, or it just never caught my attention.

Is this the only use for those options? Or what other uses do they have? {sneaks a peak at the manual....} Wow - always learning more about this program! But I know I've read the tutorials referenced in the op, and .....well, I learned how to do that by reading a tutorial. I thought it was that one. This feature must be new since that tut was wriitten, because I don't see it mentioned there.

Maybe I should make a little bug report to add that to the documentation (if there isn't one already). ~suv, are you here?

brynn wrote:Maybe I should make a little bug report to add that to the documentation (if there isn't one already). ~suv, are you here?

This is by far not a new feature, and is documented in the release notes for Inkscape 0.46 (Other changes and improvements):

• The Shift tab of the Tile Clones dialog has two new options:
  • Cumulate: when checked, each tile is shifted by the normal amount plus the cumulative shifts of all previous tiles. This is useful when placing tiles that are being scaled by a uniform amount.
  • Exlude tile: when checked, the tile width or height is not automatically included in calculating the tile's shift. This is useful when using the dialog to place clones on a circle or spiral (rather than using a shift of -100%). It is also useful when positioning tiles using the Exponent parameter.

as well as in the manual.

As far as I understand, the tutorials shipping with Inkscape are not meant to serve as a substitute for a manual, or a comprehensive user documentation (in their current form, they do not - nor ever can - document all available options or all features added since the tutorial was originally written). It seems to me that for the existing tutorials we should mostly focus on fixing possible errors (or things that actually had changed since the tutorial was written). Since both methods work equally well for the described trick (setting shift to -100% or excluding the tile), I don't think this minor update would be of high priority. On the other hand, if - based on your experience in providing user support - the missing detail (the later added alternative option) is crucial for new Inkscape users to understand how to use Inkscape's 'Tiled clones' feature in their own projects - feel free to file a report …

Oh no, certainly not a high priority at all!

On the other hand, if - based on your experience in providing user support - the missing detail (the later added alternative option) is crucial for new Inkscape users to understand how to use Inkscape's 'Tiled clones' feature in their own projects - feel free to file a report …

I would Not say it's "crucial" for new Inkscape users to know this, at all. Actually I don't consider tiled clones to be for novices anyway. I would call it an intermediate to advanced skill, and would not suggest that tutorial for beginners. For the intermediate to advanced group, I would go so far as to say (acronym GSFATS??) this is "important".

Even though these tutorials are not meant to replace the manual, they are, afaik, the only learning resources that "go with" Inkscape (wherever it goes), whether the user has access to the internet or not. The user seeking help does not have to search the internet, or know about Release Notes -- only find the Help menu. So I think it's especially important for those to be as correct, and as full of info as possible.

The "fix" would be as simple as

Choose the P1 symmetry (simple translation) and then compensate for that translation by going to the Shift tab and setting Per row/Shift Y and Per column/Shift X both to -100%.

change to

Choose the P1 symmetry (simple translation) and then compensate for that translation by going to the Shift tab and setting Per row/Shift Y and Per column/Shift X both to -100% (or leave at 0, and check boxes for Exclude Tiles options, at bottom of tab).

A few months ago there was a message on one of the mailing lists (I forget which) about forming a documentation team, one of whose jobs would be updating those tutorials and even writing new ones. I don't remember the reason why it couldn't happen right away, but for some reason, it's a plan for the future. But I look forward to that, so these important resources can be brought up to date.

Well anyway, it's just a matter to use the bug report, so this tiny detail, that's easily "fixed", and now that is recognized, doesn't get forgotten.