Tessella
Tessella is an OpenSCAD library for regular and semi-regular tessellations. It computes where the tiles of a pattern go and what their outlines are, as plain lists of points, and leaves what to do with them to you.
How it works
A tessellation is built in three steps, and each step is an ordinary OpenSCAD value you can inspect or change.
- A centers function returns the centre point of every tile in a layout, as a list of
[x, y]points. - A vertices function turns those centres into one polygon outline per tile.
generic_poly()draws the outlines, flat or extruded, with an optional colour gradient.
use <tessella/tess.scad>
centers = hexagons_centers_radial(radius = 10, levels = 3);
vertices = hexagons_vertices(radius = 9, centers = centers);
generic_poly(vertices = vertices, paths = [[0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 0]], extrude = 2);
Because the centres are a list, removing tiles is a list operation: filter_center_points() drops the centres you
name before the vertices are computed. That is how the gap in the image above was made.
What is implemented
| Tiling | Vertex configuration | Layouts | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Triangles | 3.3.3.3.3.3 | rectangular, radial | Triangles |
| Squares | 4.4.4.4 | rectangular, radial | Squares |
| Hexagons | 6.6.6 | rectangular, radial | Hexagons |
| 4.8.8 | 4.8.8 | rectangular | 4.8.8 |
The other seven semi-regular tilings are planned; Theory lists them.
Where to go next
- Getting started installs the library and builds a first tessellation.
- Usage covers layouts, removing tiles, and rendering.
- Reference lists every function and module, its parameters and its known issues.
- Examples walks through the seven example files in the repository.
- Theory has the geometry behind the hexagon and octagon spacing.
Citing
If you use Tessella in published work, cite it with the metadata in
CITATION.cff. The archived release is
doi:10.5281/zenodo.23860865.