Difference between revisions of "Tiling tool"

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(category "Proposals" is probably a better choice than "Developer Discussion")
(Redid the whole interface, now it actually makes sense... Also added new features)
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== Symmetry and Tile tool ==
== Tiling guide and dialogue ==


The current tile interface is hard to use. The current proposal for Symmetry and Tiles tool seeks to expand upon its uses while proposing an interface that is easy to use. This proposal proposes 4 modes or sub-tools:
The current tiling interface is hard to use. The current proposal attempts to solve that by dividing the problem into two parts:
# Tiling guides (tool): this creates a guide object, which helps the tile creation process and sends coordinates for tiling.
# Tiling dialogue: where you apply the tiling. In fact, users can add one of 3 options: Pattern Along Path, Radial Tiling, Wallpaper Tiling.


{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
! | Tool
|+
! | Description
! scope="col" width="180"| Type
! scope="col" width="500" | Description
|-
|-
! Symmetry
! Wallpaper tiling
| This tool is destined for users who just want some basic symmetries. Use cases include pattern design and technical drawing.
|-
! Tiling
| This tool allows users to use the 17 wallpaper types.
| This tool allows users to use the 17 wallpaper types.
|-
|-
! Radial clones
! Radial tilings
| This is for radial designs, and uses polar coordinates.
| This is for radial designs, and uses radial coordinates.
|-
|-
! Clone along path
! Clone along path
| Clones are created along a path. This can be used to create a string of decorations, for repeating frill designs, for page borders etc.
| Clones are created along a path. This can be used to create a string of decorations, for repeating frill designs, for page borders etc. Could be called Path tiling?
|}
|}


== General behaviour ==
The tile creation process is quite simple:
# Copy a base tile and a guide (optional) to clipboard.
# Select a target to apply the tiling to (you can also just choose the original base tile)
# Open the tiling dialogue ("Shift + Ctrl + C" perhaps, as C stands for clones) and add a tiling type: Pattern along path, Radial Tiling, Wallpaper Tiling
# Choose options and apply.
 
This proposal also includes an interface that lets you define seamless tiles with edge-tile scenarios using a single base tile.
 
[mockup]
 
In case anyone asks why the title is "tiling tool": this is due to a previous version that attempted to stuff even the tiling functions into the toolbar. Let's just say it didn't fit....


Applying any Symmetry or Tile results in the following behaviour:
== The components ==
* If the object isn't a group, a group is made out of the selected object. This allows the user to enter the group and add extra elements.
* A corresponding guide is generated. This guide can be edited with the Tile and Symmetry tool. All guides can be resized or rotated, but further transformations depend on the guide type.
* Copies are generated from the original object.
* The original and its copies can be selected and grouped, and a new transformation can be applied to the group. This allows, for example, for a user to create a symmetrical pattern then use it as a tile.


== Symmetry or tiling options ==
This current proposal is a combination of several separate features that can be programmed separately:


[[File:Tiling_Tool_Toolbars.png|thumb|left|700px|UI proposal for tiling toolbar]]
# '''Guide management'''. See the existing proposal here: [https://blueprints.launchpad.net/inkscape/+spec/guides-improvement Guide improvement and management Blueprint]. I will assume that in fact, guides are a type of objects that can be:
<br clear="all"/>
#* Grouped with an object (the base tile in fact)
#* Moved and transformed along with said object (within certain constraints)
# '''Tiling guides''': This allows you to add a type of guide specific for a tiling type (a wallpaper transformation, a radial transformation...):
#* A pop-up will help you choose the type of tiling with visual references
#* Just like any other guide object, they don't have any filters attached. Their only purposes are to:
#*# Help you position your base tile elements and
#*# Communicate certain boundary information to the tiling tool that'd be too painful to input manually
# '''Guide points for seamless connection''' (extra feature on tiling guides): for a wallpaper tile for example, adding a guide point on one side will generate counterparts on all other sides to help you place nodes for seamless transition. This requires the guides themselves to be a bit more complicated though: rather than just objects, they'd have to specify to which other sides they link to and in what direction.
# '''Tiling dialogue''': Here's where you apply a tiling, basically. I chose the dialogue format because tiling is something you may want to edit, but at the same time, you wouldn't want to edit it often enough to justify a separate tool (besides the options wouldn't fit).
#* Extra feature: This could connect to a more general "Add effects" dialogue for stacking effects.
# '''Cut excess''': this feature is actually a simple Cut operation. For "interior" tiles, Inkscape cuts along certain guide lines and deletes the extra. That's it. This will require some fixes to the cut operation and implementation of boolean operations to groups, though:
#* [https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/166302 Bug #166302: Cut Path looses some segments ]
#* [https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/171379 Bug #171379: Boolean Operations on Groups ]
#* [https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/701819 Bug #701819: Copy/Cut a Part of a Grouped Object ] (scenario of above)
#* [https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/408551 Bug #408551: Cut Path with a grouped object does nothing ]
# '''Fuse paths''': A new mode which is basically just a "select all nodes / join" operation. Combined with "cut exterior" and careful design, this allows you to create seamless tiles while retaining edge scenarios.
# '''Improved interface for dynamics''' : See later. Also has presets.
# '''Pattern management''': I don't know how .svg specifies patterns, but if wallpaper groups are allowed, the user has the option to save the tiling as a pattern or apply it directly as a target  pattern fill (like... a character's t-shirt)
# '''Line pattern management''' : In this feature, Inkscape saves the line pattern properties much like it would for patterns. There could be a dock where you choose all the line patterns you've saved.
 
Hopefully the above description divides the proposal into more manageable parts. What's more, the different tiling types (wallpaper, radial and clones along path) can be implemented separately.
 
== The tiling guide tool ==
 
=== Guide types ===
 
When you want to add a new guide type, you click a button that opens a floating window with a list of guides and a visual preview (especially for those confusing wallpaper transformations). We could use the previews created by Thorsten Wilms for Inkscape: [http://thorwil.wordpress.com/2010/08/30/inkscape-tiled-clones/ Inkscape Tiled Clone previews]


=== Symmetry or tiling type ===
The guides fall into the following groups:


{| class="wikitable"  
{| class="wikitable"  
|+ Tool comparisons
|+  
! scope="col" width="8%" | Tool
! scope="col" width="180"| Type
! scope="col" width="12%" | Available options
! scope="col" width="500" | Description
! scope="col" width="35%" | Guides
! scope="col" width="45%" | Notes
|-
! Symmetry
|
* X Symmetry
* Y Symmetry
* Point Symmetry
| Inkscape internally keeps track of an X-axis and a Y-axis, using their intersection for point symmetry. The X/Y axis group can be rotated.
|
* Inkscape generates an X and Y axis, aligned by default to the bottom-right of the object's bounding box.
* The 3 symmetry types can be simply toggled on and off. They can all be chosen at the same time.
|-
! Tiling
| All 17 tiling options available.
| Inkscape generates a guide specific to the transformation type upon application of the tiling. This guide remains editable on-canvas with the Symmetry and Tiling tool.
| Because the 17 tiling options use different guide shapes, tiling does not give an option to select existing guides on-canvas.
|-
|-
! Radial Clones
! scope="row" | Wallpaper tiling
|
| These guides corresponds to the different wallpaper categories
* None
* Simple symmetry
* Symmetry + rotate
| Inkscape generates an angle guide that by defaut is centered on the object's center of rotation. The user can control both the center and the angle of the guide. Two default orientations are available.
|
* By default, the Radial Clone type is "none." Just Select simple rotation or Symmetry + rotate to apply desired radial clone.
* Rather than specify a base angle, the toolbar asks you to specify the number of times the sphere must be divided by (example: 60). The reasoning behind this is that it's more intuitive for most users, and avoids rounding problems.
* You can enter a number of copies higher than the number of divisions (for example, when Dynamics are applied)
* All advanced transformations are according to polar coordinates.
|-
|-
! Clones Along Path
! scope="row" | Radial tiling
|  
| These are to create radial patterns. They're basically an arc segment with an implicit direction.
* Fixed distance
|-
* Clone at each node along the path
! scope="row" | Clones along Path
| A path must be selected when "Clones Along Path" is applied
| This is defined by a central axis, an attach point and 2 tile bounds. The central axis represents the path to which the tile will attach, basically a visual normal offset. The tile attaches to a specific node (say, the first node of the path) from the attach point, basically a visual tangential offset. The two bounds decide where the tile cuts off save for edge scenarios.
| By default, the point at which the clones snap to the selected path is its rotation center. All advanced transformations use Normal/Tangential coordinates.
|}
|}


=== Break tiling ===
[mockup]
<br clear="all"/>
 
The direction matters for a tiling guide: it will decide the direction in which the tiling occurs.
 
Note: when applying a type of tiling, you do not necessarily have to choose a guide of that type (though Inkscape may still constrain to certain types). You can do a P2 transformation with a P1 guide, for example. However, Inkscape can't guarantee the results in that case.


By default, all tiles generated are clones of the original. 3 actions are available to the generated clones:
=== Guide editing ===
* Unclump: all generated clones are unlinked from the original. Subsequent transformations to the original no longer apply.
* Combine: Union ('Ctrl' + '+') is applied to the object and all its generated tiles (note: this option may not be useful...).
* Fuse paths: All end nodes located on guide points (see Guide Points for seamless tiling) are fused into a single node.


[[File:Break tiling.png|thumb|left|700px|UI proposal to break tiling]]
Guides will actually behave a lot like normal objects. You can scale them and rotate them, duplicate them and even group them with existing objects. They will be managed separately as already proposed in [https://blueprints.launchpad.net/inkscape/+spec/guides-improvement Guide improvement and management Blueprint].
 
Options in the toolbar will depend on the type of guide. Some of the code at least can be taken from existing tools (rectangle etc). You can also potentially change the type of the guide (?).
 
This can be a component of a more generalized "guide" tool which also has categories for other types of guides: composition, perspective, etc.
 
[mockup]
<br clear="all"/>
<br clear="all"/>


=== Guide alignment ===
Note: The same "Create Guide" floating dialogue can be accessed both from the toolbar of the tile guide tool and from the tiling dialogue:
* When creating a seamless tile, the user doesn't necessary want to apply a tiling, just create a design.
* On the other hand, it should be easy for those creating tiles to find where to make guides. Once a guide is created, double-clicking the guide opens up the guide editing options (so directs you to the tool, basically).


* See also [https://blueprints.launchpad.net/inkscape/+spec/transformation-anchors Transformation anchor].
=== Seamless guide points ===
* Rather than serve as transformation anchors though, the guides get aligned to the corresponding corner (they're just to make alignment faster).
* However, although the guide gets aligned after a command, it can still be freely moved and transformed.
* Why no starting angle for Radial tiles? Well, save yourself a bit of trouble and make the starting pattern vertical.


=== Guide lock ===
When a guide point is created on one side of a guide, counterparts are automatically created on all other sides of the basic guide. All changes to the original will be reflected onto the new tile.


* '''Guide locked to object''': the guide moves and scales with the object. For example, if a vase is made by applying a symmetry to half a vase, moving the original will also move the other half, so the whole vase is moved. In the same way, scaling a tile scales its guide. If an on-canvas axis or node was chosen to apply a transformation, a copy of the resulting two axis are created and move with the object.
What's more, you can click and drag this guide to create a guide segment. By snapping a node on a guide point and snapping its handle to the end of the guide segment, and by repeating the operation with the node's counterpart, the user can create smooth transitions from one tile to the next.
* '''Unlocked guide''': the guide is absolute, so if the original gets moved, the copy will also be re-positioned according to the original guide position.


[[File:Tiling_Guide_Locking.png|thumb|left|700px|Guide locking behavior]]
[mockup]
<br clear="all"/>
<br clear="all"/>


=== Guide visibility ===
See this [http://www.cgl.uwaterloo.ca/~csk/software/penrose/ javascript program] for an approximate idea of how it'd behave.


Guide visibility can be toggled on and off, so the user can edit the original object with other tools with the guide is still visible.
Note: programming-wise, the guide points don't actually do anything, they're just visual references. When Inkscape creates a "Fuse path" tiling, it just joins the nearest nodes. This means you can introduce slight dynamics and still have lines link up, though Inkscape can't guarantee the results in this case.


== Guide editing ==
=== Tiling dialogue button ===


=== Guide transformations ===
A button in the tile guide tool opens up the Tiling dialogue, which can also be opened on its own (Ctrl+Shift+C perhaps? C for Clones?).


Available transformations depend on the guide type:
== The tiling dialogue ==
* All guides save symmetry axes can be resized. All guides can be rotated. Toggling occurs by clicking again as with the Transform tool.
* The angle for the angle tool for radial clones can be edited on canvas, like for the Circle tool.
* Skew is available for some tiling options using parallelogram guides.
* Input of numerical values could be available by double clicking a guide corner?


[[File:Tiling_Guide_Editing.png|thumb|left|700px|UI Proposal for editing guides for tiling tool]]
[mockups]
<br clear="all"/>
<br clear="all"/>


=== Guide points for seamless tiling ====
=== Add tiling type ===
 
Work sequence:
# Select a target (optional, if no target is selected then "Tile's current location" is selected, and "fill" options are unavailable)
# Add a tiling type to it: Pattern along Path, Radial or Wallpaper tiling.
#* For Rotate, simple rotate and symmetry + rotate are then available. Symmetry + rotate first creates a symmetry using the guide's first rotation axis, creates a new base tile of double the angle of the original, and applies the radial tiling accordingly.
#* For Wallpapers, all 17 wallpaper groups are then available.
 
You'll note the "Help" tab. The help tab will have text along the following lines: "To create a tile, copy a tiling and a guide and apply the desired operation. You can find more in-depth explanations of the tilings here: (page created specially for this purpose)"
 
=== Guides ===
 
Guides are optional. If none is selected then Inkscape uses the base tile's bounding box.
 
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Tool comparisons
! scope="col" width="180"| Guide
! scope="col" width="500" | Default behaviour
|-
! scope="row" | None selected
| Inkscape uses the object's bounds
|-
! scope="row" | One guide selected
| Inkscape uses the one guide selected
|-
! scope="row" | Multiple guides selected
| Choose the right one from the drop-down box that's there for this purpose
|}
 
=== Mode ===
 
One of 3 modes are available:
* Create group of copies
* Create group of clones
* Fuse path
 
Fuse path selects all the nodes in all the tiles and makes a "join" operation. If the user chose to make seamless tiles beforehand, the result would be seamlessly joined tiles.
 
=== Target ===
 
"Target" determines where you render your tiling.
 
For wallpaper tiling:
* Tile's current location: render tiling where the base tile is.
* Over selected object: Covers an area, a rectangle for example. But can be anything.
* Inside selected object: Since a base tile has edges that can make the final result bigger than the selected area, this option forces the whole result to be no bigger than the desired area.
* Border around selected: option to easily make page borders?
* As pattern to selected object: if svg somehow allows it, the pattern becomes the selected object's fill pattern.
* As new pattern: a name pops up, asking you the name of the new pattern.
 
For radial tiling:
* I think people usually want to define a radial tile just where the base tile is, but I could be wrong.
 
For Clones along path: (a separate path Must be selected before applying)
* On selected Path. Note: this can be a closed path.
* As selected path's line pattern: takes the selected path and makes the Clones along path its new pattern.
* As new line pattern: if clone patterns can somehow be saved somewhere.


* Double-clicking on the side of a guide creates a guide point for seamless tiling. Copies of this guide point are automatically created at the relevant location on all concerned sides of the guide.
What's more, for Clones along path, you can choose from several "start" options:
* These points can be moved around. All the other copies move as well.
* Path start: the first node of the path.
* Shift-drag on a guide point creates an angle guide, so users can better create smooth transitions.
* Path end: the last node of the path.
* '''When "Fuse paths" is applied, all end points snapped to guide points are fused, forming a single continuous path.'''
* Selected node


[[File:Tiling_Guide_Points.png|thumb|left|700px|UI Proposal for Guide Points for Seamless Tiling]]
The orientation of the guide matters, so if you want to change tile directions, you can flip the guide. All tiling options also have a "both directions" option. In the case of Pattern along Path, for example, you can "fan out" from a selected node, and in the case of Wallpaper tiling, your tiles can shrink as they get further away from the center.
 
=== Exclude excess for interior tiles option ===
 
This is in fact a simple cut operation followed by a deletion of "excess" for "inner" tiles:
 
[mockup]
<br clear="all"/>
<br clear="all"/>


What's more, ctrl-clicking on a guide point creates a new guide point that forms a guide point pair with the first one.
When combined with guides for the creation of seamless tiles, you can easily obtain seamlessly joined tiles.
* '''When "Fuse paths" is applied, the segments between these two nodes gets deleted, and the resulting open nodes are joined with the corresponding nodes on the next tile.'''
* Separating guide points and guide point pairs is necessary because Inkscape does a bad job of recognizing two separate lines as defining the borders of a single object.


[[File:Tiling_Guide_Points_Pairs.png|thumb|left|700px|UI Proposal for Guide Pairs for Seamless Tiling]]
This option is available to all tiling types.
<br clear="all"/>


== Advanced transformation options ==
=== Advanced transformation options ===


The "Dynamics" button opens up a separate dialogue with transformation options corresponding to the current tiling interface. Major differences are:
The "Dynamics" button opens up a separate dialogue with transformation options corresponding to the current tiling interface. Major differences are:
Line 148: Line 214:
[[File:Tiling_advanced.png|thumb|left|700px|UI Proposal for tiling tool dynamics]]
[[File:Tiling_advanced.png|thumb|left|700px|UI Proposal for tiling tool dynamics]]
<br clear="all"/>
<br clear="all"/>
== To-do ==
Think up an interface for Clone Along Path that allows a more advanced version of Pattern Along Path thanks to using guide points on a basic tile. The main issue is that all the tiles, including the original, gets deformed along the path, so editing the base tile must be done separately.
[[Category:Proposals]]

Revision as of 15:29, 12 March 2012

Tiling guide and dialogue

The current tiling interface is hard to use. The current proposal attempts to solve that by dividing the problem into two parts:

  1. Tiling guides (tool): this creates a guide object, which helps the tile creation process and sends coordinates for tiling.
  2. Tiling dialogue: where you apply the tiling. In fact, users can add one of 3 options: Pattern Along Path, Radial Tiling, Wallpaper Tiling.
Type Description
Wallpaper tiling This tool allows users to use the 17 wallpaper types.
Radial tilings This is for radial designs, and uses radial coordinates.
Clone along path Clones are created along a path. This can be used to create a string of decorations, for repeating frill designs, for page borders etc. Could be called Path tiling?

The tile creation process is quite simple:

  1. Copy a base tile and a guide (optional) to clipboard.
  2. Select a target to apply the tiling to (you can also just choose the original base tile)
  3. Open the tiling dialogue ("Shift + Ctrl + C" perhaps, as C stands for clones) and add a tiling type: Pattern along path, Radial Tiling, Wallpaper Tiling
  4. Choose options and apply.

This proposal also includes an interface that lets you define seamless tiles with edge-tile scenarios using a single base tile.

[mockup]

In case anyone asks why the title is "tiling tool": this is due to a previous version that attempted to stuff even the tiling functions into the toolbar. Let's just say it didn't fit....

The components

This current proposal is a combination of several separate features that can be programmed separately:

  1. Guide management. See the existing proposal here: Guide improvement and management Blueprint. I will assume that in fact, guides are a type of objects that can be:
    • Grouped with an object (the base tile in fact)
    • Moved and transformed along with said object (within certain constraints)
  2. Tiling guides: This allows you to add a type of guide specific for a tiling type (a wallpaper transformation, a radial transformation...):
    • A pop-up will help you choose the type of tiling with visual references
    • Just like any other guide object, they don't have any filters attached. Their only purposes are to:
      1. Help you position your base tile elements and
      2. Communicate certain boundary information to the tiling tool that'd be too painful to input manually
  3. Guide points for seamless connection (extra feature on tiling guides): for a wallpaper tile for example, adding a guide point on one side will generate counterparts on all other sides to help you place nodes for seamless transition. This requires the guides themselves to be a bit more complicated though: rather than just objects, they'd have to specify to which other sides they link to and in what direction.
  4. Tiling dialogue: Here's where you apply a tiling, basically. I chose the dialogue format because tiling is something you may want to edit, but at the same time, you wouldn't want to edit it often enough to justify a separate tool (besides the options wouldn't fit).
    • Extra feature: This could connect to a more general "Add effects" dialogue for stacking effects.
  5. Cut excess: this feature is actually a simple Cut operation. For "interior" tiles, Inkscape cuts along certain guide lines and deletes the extra. That's it. This will require some fixes to the cut operation and implementation of boolean operations to groups, though:
  6. Fuse paths: A new mode which is basically just a "select all nodes / join" operation. Combined with "cut exterior" and careful design, this allows you to create seamless tiles while retaining edge scenarios.
  7. Improved interface for dynamics : See later. Also has presets.
  8. Pattern management: I don't know how .svg specifies patterns, but if wallpaper groups are allowed, the user has the option to save the tiling as a pattern or apply it directly as a target pattern fill (like... a character's t-shirt)
  9. Line pattern management : In this feature, Inkscape saves the line pattern properties much like it would for patterns. There could be a dock where you choose all the line patterns you've saved.

Hopefully the above description divides the proposal into more manageable parts. What's more, the different tiling types (wallpaper, radial and clones along path) can be implemented separately.

The tiling guide tool

Guide types

When you want to add a new guide type, you click a button that opens a floating window with a list of guides and a visual preview (especially for those confusing wallpaper transformations). We could use the previews created by Thorsten Wilms for Inkscape: Inkscape Tiled Clone previews

The guides fall into the following groups:

Type Description
Wallpaper tiling These guides corresponds to the different wallpaper categories
Radial tiling These are to create radial patterns. They're basically an arc segment with an implicit direction.
Clones along Path This is defined by a central axis, an attach point and 2 tile bounds. The central axis represents the path to which the tile will attach, basically a visual normal offset. The tile attaches to a specific node (say, the first node of the path) from the attach point, basically a visual tangential offset. The two bounds decide where the tile cuts off save for edge scenarios.

[mockup]

The direction matters for a tiling guide: it will decide the direction in which the tiling occurs.

Note: when applying a type of tiling, you do not necessarily have to choose a guide of that type (though Inkscape may still constrain to certain types). You can do a P2 transformation with a P1 guide, for example. However, Inkscape can't guarantee the results in that case.

Guide editing

Guides will actually behave a lot like normal objects. You can scale them and rotate them, duplicate them and even group them with existing objects. They will be managed separately as already proposed in Guide improvement and management Blueprint.

Options in the toolbar will depend on the type of guide. Some of the code at least can be taken from existing tools (rectangle etc). You can also potentially change the type of the guide (?).

This can be a component of a more generalized "guide" tool which also has categories for other types of guides: composition, perspective, etc.

[mockup]

Note: The same "Create Guide" floating dialogue can be accessed both from the toolbar of the tile guide tool and from the tiling dialogue:

  • When creating a seamless tile, the user doesn't necessary want to apply a tiling, just create a design.
  • On the other hand, it should be easy for those creating tiles to find where to make guides. Once a guide is created, double-clicking the guide opens up the guide editing options (so directs you to the tool, basically).

Seamless guide points

When a guide point is created on one side of a guide, counterparts are automatically created on all other sides of the basic guide. All changes to the original will be reflected onto the new tile.

What's more, you can click and drag this guide to create a guide segment. By snapping a node on a guide point and snapping its handle to the end of the guide segment, and by repeating the operation with the node's counterpart, the user can create smooth transitions from one tile to the next.

[mockup]

See this javascript program for an approximate idea of how it'd behave.

Note: programming-wise, the guide points don't actually do anything, they're just visual references. When Inkscape creates a "Fuse path" tiling, it just joins the nearest nodes. This means you can introduce slight dynamics and still have lines link up, though Inkscape can't guarantee the results in this case.

Tiling dialogue button

A button in the tile guide tool opens up the Tiling dialogue, which can also be opened on its own (Ctrl+Shift+C perhaps? C for Clones?).

The tiling dialogue

[mockups]

Add tiling type

Work sequence:

  1. Select a target (optional, if no target is selected then "Tile's current location" is selected, and "fill" options are unavailable)
  2. Add a tiling type to it: Pattern along Path, Radial or Wallpaper tiling.
    • For Rotate, simple rotate and symmetry + rotate are then available. Symmetry + rotate first creates a symmetry using the guide's first rotation axis, creates a new base tile of double the angle of the original, and applies the radial tiling accordingly.
    • For Wallpapers, all 17 wallpaper groups are then available.

You'll note the "Help" tab. The help tab will have text along the following lines: "To create a tile, copy a tiling and a guide and apply the desired operation. You can find more in-depth explanations of the tilings here: (page created specially for this purpose)"

Guides

Guides are optional. If none is selected then Inkscape uses the base tile's bounding box.

Tool comparisons
Guide Default behaviour
None selected Inkscape uses the object's bounds
One guide selected Inkscape uses the one guide selected
Multiple guides selected Choose the right one from the drop-down box that's there for this purpose

Mode

One of 3 modes are available:

  • Create group of copies
  • Create group of clones
  • Fuse path

Fuse path selects all the nodes in all the tiles and makes a "join" operation. If the user chose to make seamless tiles beforehand, the result would be seamlessly joined tiles.

Target

"Target" determines where you render your tiling.

For wallpaper tiling:

  • Tile's current location: render tiling where the base tile is.
  • Over selected object: Covers an area, a rectangle for example. But can be anything.
  • Inside selected object: Since a base tile has edges that can make the final result bigger than the selected area, this option forces the whole result to be no bigger than the desired area.
  • Border around selected: option to easily make page borders?
  • As pattern to selected object: if svg somehow allows it, the pattern becomes the selected object's fill pattern.
  • As new pattern: a name pops up, asking you the name of the new pattern.

For radial tiling:

  • I think people usually want to define a radial tile just where the base tile is, but I could be wrong.

For Clones along path: (a separate path Must be selected before applying)

  • On selected Path. Note: this can be a closed path.
  • As selected path's line pattern: takes the selected path and makes the Clones along path its new pattern.
  • As new line pattern: if clone patterns can somehow be saved somewhere.

What's more, for Clones along path, you can choose from several "start" options:

  • Path start: the first node of the path.
  • Path end: the last node of the path.
  • Selected node

The orientation of the guide matters, so if you want to change tile directions, you can flip the guide. All tiling options also have a "both directions" option. In the case of Pattern along Path, for example, you can "fan out" from a selected node, and in the case of Wallpaper tiling, your tiles can shrink as they get further away from the center.

Exclude excess for interior tiles option

This is in fact a simple cut operation followed by a deletion of "excess" for "inner" tiles:

[mockup]

When combined with guides for the creation of seamless tiles, you can easily obtain seamlessly joined tiles.

This option is available to all tiling types.

Advanced transformation options

The "Dynamics" button opens up a separate dialogue with transformation options corresponding to the current tiling interface. Major differences are:

  • Vertical listing
  • Checkbox next to every transformation type, so users can easily remove all of them while retaining some values.
  • Radial Clones use Polar coordinates.
  • Clones along Path use orthogonal coordinates (normal and orthogonal).
  • Users can save and use presets. This includes a "No dynamics" option.

Originally I pondered whether presets should be located at the "Advanced" level or at the top level (i.e. presets include tiling type). But I reason that dynamics such as fading and color hues for example work about the same no matter what tiling type you're using.

UI Proposal for tiling tool dynamics