The screen shot below shows 2 different approaches you can take to build kaleidoscopic effects in Studio Artist 4. The Interactive Warp operation mode provides a large number of different Kaleidoscopic effects that can be interactively manipulated in real time. The MSG operation mode also provides a vast range of different kaleidoscopic preset effects as well as the means to build your own custom and unique variations on these kinds of effects.
The 1st screen snap below shows the Editor configured for an Interactive Warp operation mode effect called Kaleido Centered Aspect Wacom. This particular effect always centers the kaleidoscopic effect, and used the Wacom pen positioning and pressure to vary different aspects of the kaleidoscopic effect. You can just use a mouse to control this particular effect as well.
The 2nd gallery image above shows some of the many different kaleidoscopic effect variations offered in Interactive Warp operation mode. There are also an additional assortment of PinWheel warp effects, which are variants of multi-fold symmetry warp effects. There are currently 62 different interactive warp effect options in Studio Artist 4.03.
Note in the 1st gallery image above that the Source Image is routed into the interactive warp effect. By using the current layer as the Source for the warp effect, you could combine together different interactive warp effects to create even more effect options. These combinations could be recorded as multiple action steps in a paint action sequence (PASeq), and then saved as a PASeq preset for instant recall and playback as a single effect in the future.
MSG Kaleidoscopic Effects
MSG stands for modular synthesized graphics, and is Studio Artist’s modular image processing architecture. Over 500 different image processing modules (called processors) are available for use in MSG presets. You can combine multiple processors into a single MSG preset, so it’s really a way to build an unlimited variety of different image processing and visual effects.
You can use MSG to build a vast variety of different kaleidoscopic effects. The 1st screen snap belows shows the simplest kaleidoscopic effects you can generate using MSG processors. It is using a single 3CKaleido processor.
Note that the IO (input/output) routing for the 1 processor effects takes the 3 color input image streams (RSrc,GSrc,BSrc) and routes them into the 3 color input Ports for the 3CKaleido processor (In R,In G,In B). The 3 color output posts for the 3CKaleido processor (Out R,Out G,Out B) are connected to the 3 output image streams for the MSG effects (ROut,GOut,BOut).
As shown in the 2nd gallery image above, there are different adjustable parameters associated with the selected 3CKaleido processor. If you want the kaleidoscopic effect to be centered, you would want the H Center % and V Center % paramters to be set to 50%. By locking these 3 paramters, you could insure that they remained centered at 50% for any mutated variations generated in the Evolution Editor.
I turned off the previous locks for the 2 centering parameters (they are locked as shown in the screen shot at the very top of this post) before clicking the MSG Advanced Editor preview cell to propagate mutated variations of the simple kaleido preset to the Evolution Editor preview cells (as shown in the 3rd gallery image above).
Since MSG allows for unlimited effects development, I can do things like stack multiple kaleidoscope effects to build more sophisticated effects. The 1st and 2nd gallery images below how I worked with the IO routing using 3 temporary image streams to add on 2 additional 3CKaleido processors to the processor chain editor to build a more elaborate MSG effect. You can option drag a processor in the processor chain editor to drag a new copy of an existing one.
I then worked with Swap and mutate evolution commands in the Evolution Editor to build a more sophisticated effect that incorporates kaleidoscopic symmetry along with additional image processing, as shown below.
Note that the new MSG preset is still processing the Source Image ( as shown in the MSG Generic Editor IP Source setting on the left side of the main workspace. The main canvas in the center of the workspace shows the rendered effect. The right side of the workspace has both the Evolution Editor and the MSG Advanced Editor docked. The MSG Advanced Editor shows off the new processor chain list, note that while the first processor is still the 3CKaleido processor, the other 3 have been swap mutated into different kinds of processors.
For more information on building and editing MSG presets check out this tip.
