Thanks. During a search for making Islamic patterns I found a video with that basic pattern done with a pencil, ruler and compass.
I like the weave illusion of patterns like this and other Celtic style patterns.
I'll have to consider a whole room scene incorporating all these patterns.
Thank you, I was inspired by your recent posts, so thank you for that.
Next up, this pattern caught my eye.
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Hi Eric.
Using a pencil, straight-edge and compass is the best way to learn the traditional method of drawing Islamic patterns.
If your workflow is digital, CAD is the best tool for achieving precision by following the same hand-drawn steps line by line and arc by arc.
By 'traditional', I'm talking about the method handed down through the centuries typically from parent to child. This method was kept a secret through the generations by keeping this knowledge in the family bloodline. There are many western scholars who have developed their own methods and who get it all wrong. Mohamad Aljanabi is a living practitioner of the traditional method that was handed down through generations of his family. I follow his method.
The version you found above is not drawn correctly. Chances are the person who drew this started with a circle and is not aware of dynamic symmetry and proportion.
With the traditional method, the starting point is to first draw a rectangle that has specific proportions. In this case the rectangle is a square, but is usually a root-two rectangle or related rectangle. Irrespective of the rectangle used, it must produce shapes that are related by a specific proportion which is the square root of two. This is a continuous proportion. Historically, two advantages of using the rectangle is it doesn't waste paper (There were no Office Products stores selling this precious resource) and the rectangle is easily reflected, translated and tessellated. The above shape is more difficult to tessellate. Plus, because of the method of construction, the proportions of all the shapes in the above pattern are all over the place. If the shapes are all correctly proportioned, these shapes can be used in a huge variety of other four-fold patterns.
This is a four-fold pattern. There are two legitimate ways of drawing this geometrically, and many ways of getting it wrong.
One way to draw this pattern results in a version called Family A (there is also another that is called Family B). Below is the Family A result and construction. This is the one I prefer. The drawing in orange and grey is all that needs to be drawn using a compass and straight edge. This quadrant can then be traced and mirrored to complete the star, and this can be easily tessellated as per the tessellated drawing above it.
I have zipped up an SVG file if you don't want to draw it. You may need to scale it to the size that works with Cheetah's generic units.
Cheers
Chris