Connect

<body bgcolor="#000000" text="#FFFFCC"> <table width=100% cellspacing="0" cellpadding="20"> <tr> <td width="150" align="center"> <img src="images/connect1.gif" width=100 height=100 border=0 alt="Connect Figure 1"><br>Figure 1 </td> <td width="150" align="center"> <img src="images/connect2.gif" width=100 height=100 border=0 alt="Connect Figure 2"><br>Figure 2 </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" align="CENTER"><br> <br> <img src="images/connect3.gif" width=252 height=252 border=0 alt="Connect Figure 3"><br>Figure 3 <br> <br> <img src="images/connect4.jpg" width=250 height=250 border=0 alt=""><br>Figure 4 <br> <br> <img src="images/connect5.jpg" width=250 height=251 border=0 alt=""><br>Figure 5 <br> <br> <img src="images/connect4.gif" width=241 height=241 border=0 alt=""><br>Figure 6 </td> <td valign="top"> <h2>Children Like Patterns Too</h2> <hr> <div align="JUSTIFY">This series of designs derived from a children's board game. <br> <br>It comprises of square pieces of card on which are drawn various coloured lines - the object of the game being to connect the lines such that continuous loops are formed. <br> <br>This intrigued me in that I wondered if it was possible to derive a pattern using just one of the pieces duplicated dozens of times. <br> <br>I chose the square shown in Figure 1 and though I succeeded in generating a number of patterns, none of them interested me much - the format was just too limiting. <br> <br>However when I used two different pieces (Figure 1 and Figure 2) a number of more complex patterns emerged, one of which is seen at Figure 3.<br> <br>It was then just a matter of adding colour (Figure 4) and finally, with the help of CorelDraw's Extrude tool some 3-dimensionality (Figure 5).<br> <br>There are of course many patterns that can be derived using this principle. In some I have tried to maintain symmetry around both diagonals and in others formed a continuous woven loop around the whole grid. I have found it difficult to achieve both simultaneously - my best effort to date is at Figure 6.<br> <br>I've recently discovered a number of other games based on the same idea - I found one in France recently called Tantrix, but in this instance the tiles are hexagonal in shape. I haven't yet played with this idea using hexagons, but on one quiet winters day I might just get round to it.<br> <br>Please feel free to pre-empt me.<br> <br>Of course once you start down this path the permutations are endless. I haven't even begun to try using more than one colour or combinations of shapes (imagine trying this with Roger Penrose's non-repeating space-filling patterns). <br> <br>My thanks go out to GALT without whose Connect game I wouldn't have had so much fun.</div> <p><br><p> <hr> <p align="center" style="color: yellow"> <a href="is3_1.htm" target="_top"><em>Pattern No 3</em></a> | <a href="is6.htm" target="_top"><em>Pattern No 6</em></a></p> <p> <p align="center" style="color: aqua"> <a href="gallery.htm" target="_top"><em>The Gallery</em></a> | <a href="index.htm" target="_top"><em>the Front Page</em></a> | <a href="seasons1.htm" target="_top"><em>The Seasons</em></a></p> </td> </tr> </table> </body>