PREVIOUSThe Spiral Palette gives you access to some of MandalaMaker's most powerful features. Using Spirals, you can create many effects which would be time consuming to make by adding one shape at a time.
Open the Spiral Palette by selecting "Show Spiral Palette" from the Window Menu. To view the effects of the Spiral settings, you must click on the "Preview" checkbox. When this option is checked the Spiral Preview is drawn on the Canvas.
To get the most out of the Spiral feature it is important to understand how MandalaMaker draws Spirals. Essentially the Spiral feature draws a series of shapes one after the other. Starting with the shape defined by your choices in the Shape Palette and Ringshape Palette, each subsequent shape is a modification of this shape based on the settings you select in the Spiral Palette. The number of shapes drawn is determined by the "# of Steps" attribute. If you set this attribute to "10", ten shapes will be drawn. The other attributes available will vary depending on the shape you are working with. Suppose that you have selected a "Circle" with a radius of "60." In this case, the only attribute available other than the "# of Steps" will be the "Radius Step." If you set the Radius Step to "-2" and press the "Add Spiral" button, MandalaMaker will draw shapes as follows:
With more complex shapes the range of attributes available for modification will be increased. You can modify as many attributes at once as you want. The best way to learn how the attributes effect the spiral is to play with different combinations and watch the preview. Spirals often work best with unfilled shapes, though working with filled shapes can sometimes yield interesting results. Below is a brief description of each attribute and button on the Spiral Palette.
This attribute sets the number of shapes drawn by the Spiral. With "# of Steps" set at "10", The Spiral will consist of the original shape plus nine modified shapes for a total of ten shapes.
The "Radius Step" attribute modifies the shape's radius dimension. This attribute can be either positive or negative, positive makes the radius larger, negitive makes it smaller. Setting the "Radius Step" to plus or minus one lets you draw shapes with heavy line weights. With "Ring of Shapes" this attribute modifies the radius of the ring. To modify the radius of the shapes in the ring use the "Size Step" attribute.
These attributes modify the Star's "Sharpness" attribute and the Flower's "Petal Length". The Step can be either positive or negative. Positive settings increase the star's sharpness or the flower's petal length, negative settings decrease the the attributes.
The "Size Step" attribute is available only for the "Planet" and "Ring of Shapes." It modifies the "Radius" attribute of the Ringshape. In other words it changes the size of the individual shapes in the ring. This attribute can be positive or negative, with positive values increasing the ringshape's size, and vice versa. When used with a "Rectangle" Ringshape the "Size Step" modifies the width and height of the rectangle equally.
The Direction buttons set the direction of the "Rotation Step" attribute. In the default Clockwise (CW) mode, each step moves the shape in a clockwise direction by the amount of the "Rotation Step." Counterclockwise (CCW) mode moves the shape in the counterclockwise direction.
The Reset button resets all the attributes on the palette to zero.
Use the "Add Spiral" button to add the Spiral to your mandala. Note that if you press the "Add Shape" button on the Shape Palette it will add only the shape defined by the Shape and Ringshape Palettes, even when the Spiral preview is active.