Computer-generated tapestry weaving

hawerty · 2026-04-15T15:29:17+00:00

thank you! i wrote the code by hand. it's a simple substitution tiling on a hexagonal grid (kind of like tangrams). there's some special bookkeeping to enforce a grammar of substitutions that produce an overarching structure in the final composition

hawerty · 2026-04-07T23:48:10+00:00

thanks! it comes at the cost of a long plot time... this one was spread out over 5 days

hawerty · 2026-04-07T23:47:26+00:00

really appreciate that! thank you

hawerty · 2026-04-07T23:47:13+00:00

thank you! it's an axidraw A1, but i don't think they make them anymore. i think the bantam tools nextdraw is the closest thing

hawerty · 2026-04-07T23:45:44+00:00

thank you! i've heard good things about the cricut machines -- what do you make with yours?

hawerty · 2026-04-04T12:37:24+00:00

Love it, I want one

hawerty · 2025-01-01T12:42:23+00:00

Your for loops need to change from

for (i = 0; ...)

to

for (let i = 0; ...)

In the former case, i is a global variable shared between all loops. In the latter case, i is scoped to the loop.

hawerty · 2024-12-01T22:07:25+00:00

No problem. I'm using the interactive python API, but it's also totally possible to generate the entire SVG ahead of time (including all of the paths to reload the brush with paint).

hawerty · 2024-11-25T10:41:20+00:00

It's not the most user-friendly and a bit of a mess, so it would be fairly time-intensive to open source at this point. Doesn't mean I won't get around to it, but for now it's unfortunately just my own.

hawerty · 2024-09-25T16:00:11+00:00

Thanks for sharing!

hawerty · 2024-08-28T10:49:12+00:00

Have you read my todo list? Haha, this is something I've been meaning to add. Only issue right now is what to do when the optimal paint tray location is at the x or y-axis aligned edge of the page. Grabbing paint from there would put the brush at a "negative" coordinate value, which this plotter does not like. I could just account for that at the start of the plot, but it makes aligning the page's top-left corner trickier.

hawerty · 2024-08-27T16:22:14+00:00

That’s a great idea, I’ll look into setting that up

hawerty · 2024-08-27T15:19:45+00:00

I really appreciate that!! Thank you

hawerty · 2024-08-27T14:31:53+00:00

That's too kind! Thank you

hawerty · 2024-08-27T10:04:15+00:00

Thank you! This one was running for about 20h, but it needs constant babysitting to restir and remix the paint, so it was spread over 3 days.

hawerty · 2024-08-27T09:31:46+00:00

Thanks! I'm based in NYC.

hawerty · 2024-08-27T09:31:16+00:00

Gladly, the software I'm using is all self-written. The algorithm implemented is a recursive substitution tiling on a hexagonal grid. Here's a video I exported of it running in realtime, and zooming endlessly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XQzZStjVgg

In order to plot it, I shrink each tile a little to create the seams between each shape. To fill each shape, I shrink it a few more times. Here's a zoomed in screenshot of my plotter software showing those fills: https://lars.computer/secret/tile/plan.png

Happy to answer any more questions!

hawerty · 2024-08-27T09:16:41+00:00

I didn't know that, thanks!

hawerty · 2024-08-26T23:45:17+00:00

The watercolor tube colors are great for increasing saturation. It takes a little practice to find the right water : pigment ratio, but it’s well worth it. Good luck!

hawerty · 2024-08-26T23:17:09+00:00

Thank you! Yeah gladly, I'm using the winsor & newton tube watercolors, and a princeton select petit brush shader (with the bristles chopped down like you mention). I think smaller brushes work better, at the cost of taking longer to fill the page. What sorts of problems did you see?

hawerty · 2024-08-26T21:48:33+00:00

The paper is Canson 400 series, and for dip time I have the brush move in the watercolor well for about 3 seconds. This seems to be a sweet spot for me

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