I've always loved kaleidoscopes since I was first enchanted by their infinitely complex shifting shapes as a child. Essentially, they work by reflecting an image outwards in a hexagonal lattice, which is created by reflections reflecting each other in turn, much like the effect created when you stand between two parallel mirrors, and see yourself reflected infinitely in both diections. It is surprising how this simple trick of repetition and reflection creates such a mesmerizing effect, when combined with rotational motion and arbitray, abstract 'seed' image.

I wanted to create a virtual kaleidoscope using Flash.

The first version used right-angle triangles, masking an image which rotated slowly.

In order to see the effect on a variety of images, I made a version which allows you to view any image in the kaleidoscope .. just enter the URL of the image and once it has loaded you will see the result. Note: you may have to scroll down to see the input field. For best results use non-progressive .jpg files. FOr example, cut and paste this url into the field, and click the load button: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1367/543123658_4334e02e78_b.jpg

Kaleidoscope with image URL input

This created the effect I was looking for, but still didn't seem that exciting. So I thought back to the original kaleidoscope and realized that it was based on the equilateral triangle, which is reflected in all directions.

After some work I managed to recreate this in flash using Actionscript alone. This kaleidoscope will cycle through a series of images, or you can go to the next or previous image using the buttons below the kaleidoscope. Warning: this is very processor intensive, and may take a couple of minutes to get going, Instead of staring at a black screen, you may want to do something else for a minute and come back.. trust me it will be worth it :-)

Kaleidoscope based on equilateral triangle

Well I hope you've enjoyed my kaleidoscopes, have fun staring

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