kaleidoscope

[T Paul]

Okay...just one more

I just figured out how to make the more complicated ones. Unfortunately I didn't use a very colorful photo. Perhaps next time.

-T

[sjm]

OK. these kalidescopes are just too much fun!...and addicting! My family is threatening an intervention!

Love the note card idea! Any other suggestions for these interesting images?

You think birdwatchers might be interested in my blue bird eggs?

Maybe Christmas ornaments? UUUMMMMM!

Personalize photographs?

[Jakaleena]

Originally posted by sjm
Personalize photographs?

I'm actually getting ready to offer that kind of service, and am considering this Kaleidoscope idea to add to my original one.

I have some frame shops that display samples of my work to refer their clients to. I'm getting ready to approach the owners and see if they want to collaborate on a "turn your favorite photo into a painting" idea.

Now I'm thinking it could be "painting or kaleidoscope"....

[T Paul]

sjm,

I love the birdnest kaleidoscope! What pretty blue eggs and such a nice balance of colors. It would make a wonderful print!!

-T

[jeaniesa]

T Paul - I'm glad you tried a more complicated version (meaning smaller angles, right?) I've been thinking about that too. I think that photos with smaller "pieces" would lend themselves better to the more complicated ones, since a large pattern in the photo might just take up the entire wedge and not be interesting at all. Definitely somehthing to play around with! When I get some time, I think I'll try one with 8 sections and one with 12 from the same area of a photo just so I can see the difference.

sjm - I LOVE that blue egg one! I don't think you have to limit your market just to birdwatchers! It's just plain beautiful!

Jak - I would definitely offer kaleidescopes as an option. Everyone I've shown them to are just blown away with how beautiful they are. (In fact, I get more comments about those than I do about my paintings. What's the deal with that? )

Jeanie

[jeaniesa]

Well, I've been playing around with trying to write an action for creating a kaleidescope. My problem is that I want it to be ultimately flexible - which I think I'm discovering doesn't lend well to actions. But, since I've never created an action before, it could just be that I don't have a clue!

My thought was that if I could get a 1/8 pie wedge selection shape, then I could move it wherever I wanted allowing for infinite possibilities per photo. My problem is that I haven't figured out an automatic way to then take the wedge and align one of the long straight edges either vertically or horizontally. So, I have to leave that to the user. Plus, I haven't figured out a way to move the pieces automatically AND precisely given that any given wedge is a different size than when I recorded the action.

So, perhaps this isn't really worth being an action, since most of the precision work still has to be done by hand. But perhaps I just don't know enough to make it work the way I want to. If anybody has any great ideas, I'd really appreciate some feedback.

This was created in PS7, but I think it should work in earlier versions. Feedback on that would be appreciated too.

Jeanie

P.S. Jak, please don't post this in your action thread yet since I don't think it's ready for "prime time". I'll let you know when it is.

6/12/02 - To reduce confusion with the various versions I've posted, I've removed the attachment to this poist. Please see this post for the latest version.

[jeaniesa]

Of course, while working on the action, I created a thousand kaleidescopes. (Well, perhaps maybe not quite that many, but it sure felt like it last night at 2:00am!)

So, I thought I'd share one. This was created from a photo that I took of my flowering Kalenchoe plant (which I've since discovered is poisonous to cats, so it's now found a new home. )

Jeanie

[DannyRaphael]

You kids are having way too much fun in this thread.

And that's a good thing, as Martha Stuart would say.

Jeanie:

For those of us still back in the PS 5, 5.5 world, how about converting your action to a text file and posting that as well. If you don't recall the obscure technique, here's a link to a thread where the keyboard shortcut + menu choice is detailed. See the first paragraph.

BTW: PS7 has a new feature called a "Scripting Engine," which should enable one with the applicable programming smarts to craft this type of thing to any degree of precision and variability. It will be interesting to see to what degree "script programming" moves forward.

Thanks for sharing your .ATN -- and to the rest of you for sharing your Magical Mystery Tour art!

~DannyR~

[T Paul]

Jeanie,

Absolutely stunning! Great colors and such a beautiful pattern! Outstanding job as usual.

-T

[jeaniesa]

Thanks for the nice comments T!

Danny, I should have thought about the text version myself. Sorry about that. Here it is.

Wow - the Scripting Engine. I hadn't even THOUGHT about that. I thought I was doing well to figure out actions! Guess I'm going to have to dust off the cobwebs in the part of my brain that used to do programming and check that out. That might have to wait for a couple days though. I'm WAY behind on "work".

Jeanie

6/12/02 - To reduce confusion with the various versions I've posted, I've removed the attachment to this post. Please see this post for the latest version. (The text version is included in that attachment.)

[jeaniesa]

OK, I reworked the action after I had the bright idea of trying to move/transform the image rather than the selection. Makes it a LOT easier, though perhaps a little less flexible. In any case, there's only a couple of stops in this one and no "fine tuning" needed once the action gets going. Seems like this will be a LOT more usable (at least for me)!

Again, created in PS7. This time I've included the text file of the action in the zipped file.

Jeanie

6/12/02 - To reduce confusion with the various versions I've posted, I've removed the attachment to this post. Please see this post for the latest version.

[jeaniesa]

I sent the action file to my sister, who has never used an action before, and I'm happy to say that she successfully ran the action and was very happy to have a new toy to play with. She's running PS6.

I'll see if my husband will let me load PS5.02 on his machine and I'll try to redo the action for earlier PS versions.

Jeanie

[jerry]

Hi Jeannie

Thanks for working on the kleidoscope action. I just downloaded it and tried it one time using ps 7.0. It is really cool and I can see a lot of fun playing with this action. I am working on learning actions with Danny's help, now yours and appreciate the effort.

I attached my first attemt using your action. This is my friend "Bubba". (He's a macaw if you can't tell)

Jerry

[jeaniesa]

Hi Jerry,

Thanks for trying out the action. I'm glad it works for you! Be careful, it will be come addictive because they're so easy to make! I'm working on a slightly improved version given some feedback from my sister (who's also using it) and will post it after she's had a chance to try it out. I feel like I'm hogging this thread - I hope that I'm not boring everyone.

I like the idea of making a kaleidescope using pictures of animals. I did one using a picture of my cat, and while it's not one of the "wow"-type kaleidescopes, it kind of sucks you in as you stare at it - more of a subtle approach.

Your bird one looks pretty neat. Are the white lines caused by a cage or something else?

Jeanie

[jerry]

Hi Jeannie

The white lines are his cage. To tell the truth, I really didn't think that I would be that successful on my first try. I just picked a picture at random. I attached it to show how good it came out for a total novice. I will be more selective on future attempts.

I wouldn't worry about hogging the thread. People are like sponges when it comes to things like this. We don't care about threads and such as long as we are learning and having fun..

I will look forward to your future action.

Thanks again
Jerry

[Jakaleena]

I can't use it ... Snif....

PS 5.5....



Since it's gotten rave reviews, would you care to donate it to my Actions thread?

Here's the link

I'm starting go feel like one of those blind guys sitting on the street with a tin cup...

"Hey buddy, can you spare an Action??"

[jeaniesa]

Jak,

I haven't found the time yet, but hopefully in the next couple of days, I'll load PS5 on my husband's computer and redo the action for the earlier versions of PS. Then you'll be able to play too!

And, I WILL donate the action to the action thread just as soon as it's "stable". I'm still getting feedback on how to make it better, so I want to wait until the "final version" is out.

Jeanie

[jeaniesa]

SJM, I plan to work on a "readme" file to go along with the action tonight and will post when I get it done. My sister had never even heard of an action until I sent mine to her with a long e-mail on how to run it. She was hooked in literally minutes! So, all is not lost - if you wait a few hours, I'll get you some instructions that can't fail. (But if they do, I hope you'll give me some feedback! I really want to make this as fool-proof as possible.)

Jeanie

[Blacknight]

I've been checking it out. Seems to work just fine. I run a levels and sharpen after all is done.

Such fun!

[jeaniesa]

Very cool BK!!

Yes, I've also noticed that sharpening helps to make the kaleidescope jump off the page. I also use levels/curves/saturation/etc. to increase the "pop".

Also, I've taken to filling the background layer (left over at the end of the action) with a color I select from the image - to make a mat of sorts. Also, sometimes I add an inner shadow and outer glow (both at low opacities) to add a little depth to the final version.

Jeanie

[jeaniesa]

OK, here's the latest verion of the action - plus a "readme" file to help those who aren't familiar with actions. (I sure wasn't until just a few weeks ago!) My sister reports that she is getting a slight error in PS6, but she ignores it and it seems to run just fine. I'll try to figure that out tonight on my mother's computer (she's also running PS6). And I know I still have to come up with a PS5 version - that will have to be tomorrow.

I apologize for all of these versions. I'm pretty much learning as I go - sorry to drag the rest of you through it.

Jeanie

P.S. I'm not really sure which version I attached to this post, so I deleted it. Please see this post for the latest version.

[jeaniesa]

SJM - the *.atn should look like gibberish if you try to look at it in Notepad or some other text editor - it's not a text file. Do you mean it looks like gibberish when you load it into the actions palette? I honestly don't know if an action created in the Windows version of PS works on a Mac. Does anyone else know? If not, you may have to recreate it from the action text file that I've attached. This allows you to view all of the steps, but won't load in the actions palette that I'm aware of.

Looking at what I sent earlier - not even sure I sent the correct version. (I apologize again for making this so difficult and confusing.) So, here is everything again including a text version of the action.
Jeanie

[sjm]

IT WORKS on my MAC!

[jerry]

Thanks Jeannie

I just downloaded v.4 and ran it on ps 7.0. It runs smooth as silk. Your new transform feature is really helpful and allows many variations of one picture. I've been firing thru kleidoscopes at a break neck pace looking for "that special one". When I get it I will post it.

In your text notes you mention using "outer glow" and "inner shadow". Are these filters or must you construct these effects.

I am having a good time with this thanks to your efforts.

Thanks again
Jerry

[jeaniesa]

YEAH SJM!!! I'm so glad you finally got it to work! The kaleidescope looks GREAT!

Jerry, I'm glad you like v.4 - thanks for that feedback. The "inner shadow" and "outer glow" are layer styles (Layer->Layer Style), so you'll want to have the kaleidescope layer selected when you apply the styles. (Feel free to try other effects too - I'm playing around with emboss to see if anything interesting comes from that.)

Have fun!

Jeanie

[OhThatGirl2001]

I know this is off topic ... but I'm worried about you Jeanie. What are the reports like about the fire? Will you have to evacuatate?

Lisa

[Jakaleena]

Hey Lisa!

Jeanie's got a thread called Wild Fires over in the Salon you might check out. Her last post said the wind had changed, the fire was moving back on itself and there was a 30% chance of thunderstorms. That was a couple of days ago. Maybe when she wakes up and gets online, she'll post us an update...

[OhThatGirl2001]

Thanks Jak - I'll go over and check to the salon and check it out!

Lisa

[jerry]

Hi Jeannie

After playing with your action, I came up with this kleidescope. I started with a macro picture of a silk flower arrangement and used several layer styles including outer glow and texture and satin (I think). I could picture these matted and framed at an art show at a large size.

Thanks
Jerry

[jeaniesa]

Jerry, that's absolutely beautiful!! Great job! I like how you took the kaleidescope "further" by adding some filters. Very nice effect. Yes, I can definitely see that matted and framed!
Jeanie