Original Tab Help
Contents
The Original Tab
The Original tab is used to
- select a photograph to use for the mosaic
- choose a tile
- shape
- arrangement
- count
- aspect ratio
Here is the basic original tab
Menu
By tapping the menu 
button, the following menu is shown or hidden
- About
- Briefly describes ColorHints Mosaic and provides links to the Swaystairs web site, the on-line documentation, a link to send Email to support@swaystairs.com, and the version and build number of ColorHints Mosaic. A privacy statement is also provided.
- Help
- A condensed version of help for the Original tab
- Camera
- Uses the device camera to take a photograph to use for the Mosaic. The photograph will also be saved to your camera roll. ColorHints Mosaic will request permission to use your camera and save photos to your photo roll. Note: This item will be disabled if no camera exists on the device.
- Photo
- Select a photograph from you photo library. ColorHints Mosaic will request permission for access to your photo library.
- Crop
- Crop the current photograph. Select a portion of the photograph to use for the mosaic. See Crop help for more details.
- Design Mosaic
- Switch to the Design Mosaic tab instead of the Original tab
- Print the current image and tile grid
- Save image
- Save the current image, with or without the tile, grid to the photo library (with permission)
- Show/hide
- The tile shape controls can overlap the photograph. The
and 
buttons can be used to minimize the overlap. - Tile shape
- Choose from circle, diamond, hexagon, isosceles triangle, rectangle or right triangle
- Arrangement
- Controls the way tiles are arranged in the mosaic. This control changes based on the tile shape selected.
- Rows x Columns
- Displays the number of rows and columns of tiles current in the mosaic
- Tile count controls
- These controls set the number of tiles along the tiled direction. The
+ and- buttons can be used to adjust the count one tile at a time. A pinch gesture can be used in addition to the slider. - There are limits to the number of tiles permitted. Around 40,000 tiles (rows x columns) is the maximum. However, the maximum allowed may be less if:
- the device has a slower processor — the limit then is about 20,000 tiles
- the selected photograph is small, that is, it has a limited number of pixels to create the mosaic. The maximum is then subject to the number of pixels in the photograph.
- Tile aspect controls
- The aspect, or width versus height, of tiles can be adjusted using these controls. The
- and+ step through the options while the slider can be used to quickly move through the aspect ratio options. - Grid color
- ColorHints Mosaic will automatically select a color to display the tile grid on the selected photograph. In some cases different color may desired. Use this control to select a particular tile grid color. Note that ColorHints Mosaic will reset the selection when a new photograph is selected.
- Tiling direction
- By default, the ColorHints Mosaic tile count is along the long side of the photograph. The slider,
- and+ buttons, and pinch gesture all change the tile count along selected direction. The
and 
buttons allow control over the tiling direction. - Pinch gesture
- Changes the number of tiles used for the mosaic
- Double tap
- Crop the photograph
- Long press and drag gesture
- On devices that support it (for example, iPads running iOS 11 and later), the photograph can be dragged to another app
The tile shape controls
Tutorial
A tutorial titled Introduction to ColorHints Mosaic is available
Shortcuts
Support
Send EMail to Swaystairs support
