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Pixie Icon

Pixie

Software for student publishing and creativity.

Wixie Icon

Wixie

Online student publishing and creativity platform.

Frames Icon

Frames

Create animations, digital stories, and stop-motion.

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Share

Create web sites, epubs, and presentations.

Tech4Learning Blog
Tech4Learning Blog
Tech4Learning Blog
Tech4Learning Blog

Create Rotation Tessellations in Wixie

Posted by Melinda Kolk on Apr 27, 2020 2:13:26 PM

You can use Wixie’s paint tools to create a rotation tessellation.

Log in to Wixie. Use the New button to create a blank project.

Select the shape tool on the tool palette, select the rectangle shape, select a color and make sure the filled option is selected.

wixie-tessellation-draw-square-1-1

Press and hold down the Shift key on the keyboard.* Drag across the page to draw a square.

Paint a solid square

*If you are using a tablet, you can't constrain the shape with the Shift key. Simply do your best to draw a square instead of a rectangle.

Choose the Selection tool on the tool palette and select the Lasso option.

wixie-tessellation-select-lasso

Drag the lasso to select a shape from the top of the square by starting at the vertex on the top left, selecting a wavy line through the shape, exiting through the vertex on the top right, and then returning to the starting point.

Top area of painted square selected
Select the Rotate to the right 90 degrees option below the tools.

wixie-option-rotate-right

Move the cursor over the middle of the selection. Drag the selection so that the straight edges touch on the left side of the square and line it up so there is no space between them. Click the page away from the shape.

Tessellated shape with one side complete
Repeat the same process to select an area from the bottom of the square. Drag the lasso to select a shape from the bottom of the square by starting at the vertex on the bottom left, selecting a wavy line through the shape, exiting through the vertex on the bottom right, and returning to the starting point.

Select the Rotate to the right 90 degrees option below the tools.

wixie-option-rotate-right

Move the cursor over the middle of the selection. Drag the selection so that the straight edges touch on the right side of the square and line it up so there is no space between them. Click the page away from the shape.

Rotation tessellation completed shape
Use the Lasso selection tool to select this shape.

Go to the Edit menu and choose Duplicate.

Move this new copy to the side and use the paint bucket tool to fill it with a different color.

wixie-tessellation-rotation-duplicate-shape

Use the Lasso selection tool to select one of the shapes. Select the Rotate to the right 90 degrees option below the tools.

You should now have two shapes of different colors and orientations, but you should be able to see how they are going to fit together.

Before you begin tessellating, select one of the shapes with the Lasso tool. Go to the Options menu and choose Convert to Sticker. Repeat to convert the other painted shape to a sticker as well.

Line up the two shapes so there are no gaps in between them.

Start to tessellation
Click one of the shapes. Click the Edit button on the toolbar and choose Duplicate to continue creating shapes for the tessellation.

It is easy to continue fitting shapes together along a horizontal axis, but once you create a new row of shapes, you will need to select shapes and use the Rotate buttons to get them to fit together for a tessellation!

Print your tessellation or export it as an image to share online.
 

Rotation Tessellation

You can also use the paint tools to add details to each shape to create picture tessellations, but you need to paint on the shapes BEFORE you convert them into stickers and begin tessellating.
   

Topics: common core, tessellation, math

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