Facets  -  Random symmetrical patterns

by R. A. Swetman

Facets is a short Basic program which creates random symmetrical patterns rather similar in style to those of the Weaver program from the November issue. This time, however, some trigonometry is employed to make rather interesting rotational patterns. Like Weaver, Facets could inspire you to make your own designs, or just provide a moment's relaxation from work.

When you run the program, the screen will clear and the first kaleidoscopic pattern will appear. A new pattern will be displayed every couple of seconds, but you can change the delay by editing the value of 200 in line 300 to the number of centiseconds delay you require. If you see a pattern you particularly like, tapping <S> on the keyboard will save it as a sprite into the currently selected directory, under the filenames Facets1, Facets2 and so on. If you wish to supply a pathname for the saved images, you can do so by editing line 550.

If your monitor is not capable of displaying MODE 15, or displays it in a squashed 'letterbox' shape, you can alter line 80 of the !RunImage file to read:
   MODE 21:OFF
in order to use mode 21 instead. (Mode 21 is double the resolution of mode 15 in the Y direction.)

Unfortunately, Risc PCs are not equipped as standard with a mode 21-equivalent screen resolution, so you should use mode 28 in line 80 instead:
   MODE 28:OFF
You will also have to amend the ORIGIN command in line 360 to read:
   ORIGIN 640,480:FOR I%=1 TO 500
This will, however, result in the topmost and bottommost sections of some patterns being slightly clipped.

Copyright  RISC User 1996
