Tessella Quickstart


Tessella is invoked from Illustrator's Window menu. The following floating pallette comes up.

The pallette is divided into sections which correspond to the processes involved in creating artwork with Tessella.
Tessella window

Stage 1 : creating a tile

1) Select a tile type from the Tile type menu. Here we've selected Double Rhombic Mirror.
Tessella Create Tile
2) Then either hit OK or select one or more unclosed paths and hit Create From Paths. Here we've selected a wave and used the latter option. Tessella Create Tile 2

Stage 2 : Modify the tile

1) Select Stop editing under Escher Edit.
2) Use Illustrator's normal path manipulation tools ( Group selection tool, Add Point Tool , Delete Point tool , Direct Selection Tool ) to modify the art : you can also scale, move and rotate the object. As one edge of the tile is modified another changes also to maintain the properties of the tile.
3) Select Stop editing under Escher Edit.For this example we're not modifying the tile at all.

Stage 3 : Creating the lattice group

1) Select the tile and any other art ( of any type ) to be associated with the tile. Here we've filled the tile with yellow and selected both it and a red circle.
Tessella Create Lattice
2) Hit OK. The tile is replicated to form the lattice group ( the scale's been reduced in this example ). Tessella Create Lattice 2
Change any colours as you see fit : also you can modify any art except the original tile. Here we've changed the colour of a couple of circles to green. Tessella Create Lattice 3

Stage 4 : Lattice asymmetry

An optional step : see the manual for details.

Stage 5 : Replicate lattice

Just hit OK and stand well back!
Tessella Replicate Lattice

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