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hi Folks,
I used Paint Shop Pro for years and they had a great Kaleidoscope generator effect built in to the program.
Switched to Pshop a couple years ago, and have been sorely missing the Kaleidoscope thing.
I've searched high and low on the 'net and there seems to be nothing out there. Some freebies made for PC but nada for Mac. (yes, i know there's some lame videos about how to do it in awesome awkward steps using mirroring and rotation and blah, blah, blah, but no, Martha, I'm not buying it.
Is it really a difficult programming feature to cook up one of these things? I mean, hey, people are doing amazing stuff with fractal generators and computers, isn't about time someone coded a simple kaleidoscope plugin for Pshop on Macs?
thanks for any inspiration.
Gary
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Not too hard to do with an action using Free Transform step & repeat.
New square image - say 1500 x 1500 pixels
View > New vertical guide 50pc (50%)
View > New hirizontal guide 50pc
I'd also centre the grid to centre image
Select the Polygon tool from the Shapes tools, and decide how many sides (it needs to be an even number to allow for mirroring)
Start the Polygon from the centre, hold down the Alt (Opt) key, and rotate to keep the botton edge square to the image with help of the Guides.
Make the Polygon with no fill and a 1 pixel stroke (from the options bar.
Now you have a guide to make your first segment
Draw that segment with the Pen tool, load it as a selection, and fill with white in a new layer
Lock the transparency for that layer. (This is the layer you draw your coloured shapes etc. on.)
OK. Now you need to record your action so open the Actions panel.
Select your segment layer, and Click on new Action > Give it a name, and shortcut (optional)
Copy the layer (Ctrl j or Cmd j)
Free Transform > select the centre top handle from the 3x3 grid left end of the options bar, and enter an angle (45° for eight segments) > Enter to commit
Shift Ctrl Alt t (Shift Cmd Opt t)
Repeat the above seven times
End the action.
OK. Delete all the new segment layers, go back to the master segment, draw on it with fancy coloured brushes.
Run the Kalidascope action.
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hi Trevor,
thanks for taking the time to outline this, much appreciated. if I can muster up the patience, I will give it a try. I have been porting my PSD's out to my old PC, which still has PSP loaded on it and doing my Kaleidoscope work there and re-exporting them back to the Mac.
what I need the ability to do, is work with a number of geometrical selections (ie, circles of varying edge-feathering), positioned in various locales on an image, because then they 'gather' their 'spokes', angles, and variations from specific areas, and using the K controls, I can very the angle, vert & horiz reference point, the 'suction' at the center, and on and on, until I obtain a very balanced and precise mix of color, shape and geometry. And I can visually see the preview of the selected area instantaneously and adjust parameters accordingly.
What you describe above may yeild an interesting result, but to change and preview the changes would be major work (i think).
Funny that there's no Mac equivalent for this. Maybe the young generation just doesn't appreciate the term "psychedelic" any more!!
Gary
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Hello, I'd like to suggest CS6's scripted fills: http://www.adobe.com/technology/projects/DecoScriptedPatternsInPhotoshop.html
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thanks PEC, the fills are interesting textures, but aren't quite what I had in mind. Kaleidoscopic effects manifest a very specific color-and-geometry array that samples excluisvely from specific areas of an image (adjusted by variable parameters), and applied to the specific region selected with a marquee, or the entire image if desired.
Most people aren't familiar with the practical application of rendering this type of "abstraction" on an image, so here's an example if you want to check out some kaleidoscopes that are rendered with a very specific balance of detail and geometry: http://www.flickr.com/photos/75575178@N00/9158066274/ ...
gary
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Maybe this old Script can help, but it’s not a proper plug-in.
http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/index.cfm?event=extensionDetail&loc=en_us&extid=2145022
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Gary,
I need an intervention. Kaleidoscopes are highly addictive. Here's a link for PS.MikeW Photoshop Actions Free Downloads
I use a different one but I don't know where it came from since I found it a couple of years ago. Hope this helps.
Cheers.
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To create kaleidoscope in Photoshop you can try the Animated Kaleidoscope Photoshop Tool:
https://graphicriver.net/item/animated-kaleidoscope-photoshop-tool/12650952?ref=psddude
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I can't remember how I even found it but I found an action years ago for kaleidoscopes. I don't know how to attach it here, but if you're still interested, let me know. There is also a stand alone program (Scopeworks) that is really good but it makes small files.
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Here's a plugin called KALEIDOFx
http://www.humansoftware.net/kaleidofx
Lots of kaleidoscope type filters for Filter Forge
https://www.filterforge.com/filters/search.html?q=kaleidoscope&h=r
Unfortunately, it seems all the free kaleidoscope plugins are on the windows side.
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I have adobe elements 15. Just ordered Kaleido FX. To download it says I have to belong to the Creative Cloud which has a monthly fee and I don't want. Also heard that the Creative Cloud doesn't work with Elements. Is there a way to use it w/o getting involved with the CC. I'm trying to cancel the $59 program. Any help much appreciated.
Jean
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https://forums.adobe.com/people/crystal+energy+images wrote
I have adobe elements 15. Just ordered Kaleido FX. To download it says I have to belong to the Creative Cloud which has a monthly fee and I don't want. Also heard that the Creative Cloud doesn't work with Elements. Is there a way to use it w/o getting involved with the CC. I'm trying to cancel the $59 program. Any help much appreciated.
Jean
You know that Elements is different to Photoshop, and that the latter is part of Creative Cloud, and that Elements isn't? You need to ask about a Kaleidoscope plugin for Elements on the Elements forum. I can't find one via Google, but this tutorial appears to be current
Good luck
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Yes, I know now. Ordered it after reading a reference to it in this thread. Tried to cancel payment with PayPal but it was too late. I emailed support and haven't heard back yet.
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Where did you order the Kaleido FX plugin from?
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Ordered it through Adobe Add-Ons. Other places it was $19.90 for an another version, maybe that's what I should have purchased. Am transitioning to a MAC and have a great kaleidoscope program that is for windows only. Thanks! Jean
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Mehdi have one, I not sure if still works.
Or "manual"
https://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/create-a-kaleidoscope-effect-in-adobe-photoshop--cms-26650
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Thank you, I will check it out.
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A great application to make all kind of tiles and kaleidoscope for mac is GraphicConverter, I love this app you can do so many things with it. I have an old mac so I have an old version but is great. You can download a newer version (10.7) via torrent.
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Hello, a new way to do it, for free, is to use the secret Capture "create from image" in-app app, that you will find at the bottom of your libraries panel (the + might have moved to the right, compared to the link below)
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