The Kaleidoscope Tool is a new design tool allowing the user to simulate a kaleidoscope effect.
The tool can be accessed from the Tools Palette.
How to use it:
- Create a new document or open a design
- Activate the tool and drag a square over your design to designate the tool activity area
- Decide the number of cells you want in your design (between 2 and 20).
Choose the initial angle (0 will start as a verticle line, other angles will start to move the line)
Choose the duplication type. This will determine whether to also mirror the drawing inside the first cell (mirror), or whether all painted shapes should be rotated around the centre of the kaleidoscope square (rotation).
See below example where the left image has mirror selected, and the right has rotation.
- Use your creative tools to begin painting inside the tool activity area. The Kaleidoscope works nicely with the Brush Tool, however the following design tools will work as well: Erase, Spline, Spray, Pencil, Dodge & Burn, Smudge, Splatter, Morphing Brush etc).
Tip:
If you draw with the Silhouette brush or Three Point spline you can get a bit more control over the strokes making up your Kaleidoscope design, see example below.
Using the Silhouette and Three Point spline tools.
Note: The Kaleidoscope effect will persist across tool changes. To leave it and return to the standard painting mode you can to do one of the following:
Select the kaleidoscope tool and click outside its active area or click the Reset button in its settings panel; this will initialises the other tool setting.
If you want to keep the Kaleidoscope area and settings but draw normally in the area you can go to Views menu and choose ‘Kaleidoscope off’ then ‘Kaleidoscope on’ when you want it back or Click the toolbar item Hide Kaleidoscope.