kaleidoscope

[blondie]

I'd love to read an article about creating kaleidoscopes in PSElements. I took a photo-editing class last fall and no one in class (including the prof.) had any clue how to create one other than with 4 images rotating and flipping. To make an interesting kaleidoscope, you need 6-8 triangles (or a shape close to a triangle). You'd need to have a way of measuring/calculating degrees of the angles; 8 45-degree angles to equal 360 degrees for example. There is a program that creates kaleidoscopes for you, but I think it would be much more interesting to create your own.

[Wendy]

Now that is a good idea for a tutorial ...


Wendy

[kerriann85]

Yeah, get right on that tut Wendy!
I think I've seen what she's talking about on some of the Grant Challenges, right? Thay are so cool!

[Wendy]

Kerri,

I think I know the ones you mean ... they were done using a plug in. Not sure who did them but I do remember that they were done on a Windows machine. (Mainly because I tried to get the plug in ... only to find that it was Windows only :()


Wendy

[MikeH]

You can get a free kaleidoscope plug in (and some cool other ones) from http://www.mehdiplugins.com :)

Several people in the Challenge have used mehdi plug-ins...

Mike

[Wendy]

But for Mac users ... and anyone else that wants to do it manually:


Open any image and using the Elliptical Marquee whilst holding down shift ... draw a perfect circle.
Edit>Copy
File>New ... and just accept the settings it gives you
Edit>Paste and Edit>Paste again (switch off the eyeball of the bottom circle ... we will need that later)
Make a new layer above your circle
Switch on the grid and click on the move tool ... that shows you the centre point so use the paint brush and mark the centre
Use the rectangular marquee (and the grid to divide the image into a half circle and delete one half)
Make a quarter circle the same way
Next it gets tricky ... use the grid to line it up and using the lasso divide it once again
Now we just have one eighth of a circle!! ... At last!!. Don't worry if its not perfect ... it won't show.

Filter>stylize>Glowing Edges then
Duplicate our section seven times
Switch on the bottom circle and use it to line up your sections
Image>Rotate>Layer 180%/90% left and 90% right will help you to do some but sadly not all :)
When they are all in place ... merge the 8 section

All I did next was increase the canvas size and create a black background
Create a new layer
Select the circle
Choose a bright colour and do Edit>Stroke on the new layer
Then put a bevel on the stroke

... and there you have it

Just hope it all works :)

Here is one I did

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?pic=10mBwJp7I3tLtISOaGgmZlpWNbgQ4


Wendy
PS ...Its much easier using the plug in !!

[Jodi Frye]

I briefly had painter 8 installed last year which includes the kaleidoscope filter. It was fun for a while ( 3-4 play images) but the fun wore off quickly. I guess I'm not much into filters that do everything for me. Would be fun to do it all manually step by step..maybe once ;)

[Wendy]

Jodi,

Once was enough for me !! :(

Wendy

[Jodi Frye]

...and it's cool ! I'd save that for a Christmas time ! circle crop it...sphereize it a little and there ya have it ! ... An Christmas ornament !

[Wendy]

Jodi,

Well I never thought about that ... :)

Wendy

[ladybug]

I use the filter to help me make my doilys
http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1kVPVceAIN9Bo3Bf9LdSCdR6EHVen_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1kVPVceAIN9Bo3Bf9LdSCdR6EHVen)

[Tina_B]

I use the free plugin by mehdi to make my Kaleidoscopes. I use it to make background papers and frames. I do not have the patients to sit and create the needed sections to complete a kaleidoscope. It is for free and you can find the plugin here http://www.mehdiplugins.com/. I will see if I can find some examples of how I use it and post them. I also have a proigram called Kaleicoscope Kreator that I use as well.

Tina B

[Tina_B]

Here are a couple of examples.

I made the frame around the butterfly photo from the free plugin. The one of my grandaughter is from the Kaleicoscope program that I purchased. I have one other example in my gallery of a butterfly mat that I made from the mehdi plugin. It is a Monarch butterfly near the bottom of the gallery.

Tina B

[LauraE]

I am afraid of downloading filters or plug-ins. I always think I am going to mess up everything. However, I love tutorials. I think you learn a lot by just following them. The kaleidoscopes tutorial looks interesting so I will add your tutorials to the once I already have.

[jo]

Wendy, thanks for the tutorial. It didn't exactly take me where I thought it would, but I kind of like what I got.

[ladybug]

Tina and Jo very nice. It is neat seeing how others are using the kaleidoscope filter and tutorial. Thanks Wendy.

[jo]

Here's one using Mehdi's kaleidoscope filter on Queen Anne's Lace. It had such a nice star shape in the middle that I decided to cut out the center and put an orbed version inside.
The kaleidoscope has lovely possibilities for frames. :D