Technique · Fields
Spiral mosaic
A vortex of flat-coloured tiles: log-polar rings cut into random tiles, tiny at the centre and large at the rim.
Spiral mosaic is a field drawn for every pixel by the graphics chip. Every piece on Synapse Drip is made from a recipe that layers techniques like this one, and you can change any of it in the Studio.
Good to know
- Jacob Bernoulli called the logarithmic spiral spira mirabilis, the marvellous spiral, and asked for one to be carved on his tomb; the carver cut an Archimedean spiral instead.
- Spiral galaxies and hurricanes look like logarithmic spirals, and a nautilus shell is close to one.
- A logarithmic spiral crosses every ray from its centre at the same angle, which is why the pattern keeps its shape as it shrinks toward the middle.
- The same map is the mathematics behind the Droste effect: Hendrik Lenstra and Bart de Smit analysed M. C. Escher's 1956 lithograph Print Gallery with it in 2003 and completed its missing centre.
The mathematics
- The map is w = log z: a spiral becomes a straight line, and multiplying by e^(i theta) turns the picture, so a rotation is a slide.
- The map is conformal, which means it preserves angles: tiny squares stay square, however much they are bent.
In art
- Mosaic is among the oldest decorative arts: tesserae are pieces of stone or glass set in cement, and here they follow a spiral.
- Op artists such as Victor Vasarely built pictures from tiles whose size changes steadily, so the eye feels a surface swelling or sinking.
More ways to use it
Related techniques
Nebula and stars · Liquid · Droplets · Network · Terrain and maps · Neuron · Order to chaos · Fractal tree