Tesselations in Gravit.io

We will be creating tesselations using a very simple process. Understanding this process will make doing the digital design much easier.

Start with a square or a rectangle. Make a cut from one side to another to make two parts.

Join these parts back together along their flat edge.

Cut a second time across this new piece in the other direction.

Join these two pieces back into one along the flat edge.

Feel free to try this process with a notecard and tape before doing the digital version in Gravit.io.

Login to Gravit using your username and password.

If you do not have an account, make an account using your Baldwin username, email and any password you would like to use.

Hit the 'Create Design' button after logging in.

Use the custom size dialog to make the size 5 by 5 inches. Be sure you change the dimension to inches!

Hit the Create with Custom Size button.

Use the rectangle tool to make a square of 2"x2".

Find the rectangle tool in the SHAPES tap, or use the R key.

Click in the first corner, than drag to the second corner to create the square.

Use the inspector sidebar to change the width and height to 2.

Use the knife tool to cut your square in half.

Find the knife tool under the OBJECT tab, or use the K key.

Hold down the ALT / OPTION key on your key board and click point to point to make the cut. Release ALT / OPTION to finish the cut. Try clicking and dragging to make curves.

If you are not happy with your cut, feel free to undo using CMD+Z.

Keep your cuts simple. A crazy saw tooth pattern will cause the software to fail during the second cut.

First, choose the selection tool. Find it under the SELECT tab, or use the V key.

Deselect the square by clicking anywhere away from the square.

Select one side of the cut square by clicking on it.

Click and drag to move the one half to the other side, lining up their flat sides. It should snap into place.

We need to nudge the this piece over a very tiny amount. Use the arrow key to push the piece into the other half. In this example, I pushed the right arrow key once.

Select both piece by clicking and dragging over the two sides, or hitting CMD+A to select all.

With both sides selected, hit the MERGE button to join these pieces into one.

Create a second cut in the opposite direction, maintaining the flat edge along to top and bottom.

Use the knife tool, and hold down ALT and click point to point to create the cut, just as before. Release ALT to complete the cut.

Repeat the previous move and merge procedure.

Deselect the square, than select one side.

Click and drag to move the flat sides together.

Nudge the piece into the other by using the arrow keys only once.

Select all and merge the pieces into one.

Make copies, and change the fill color in the right sidebar. (CMD+C to copy and CMD+V to paste.)

Each peice should tesselate with one another and snap into place.

First, lets make sure we save using the SAVE button or File > Save.

Now, hit the EXPORT button in the top right.

Make sure the 'Canvas' button is selected. (It should be selected by default.)

Change the format from PNG to SVG for laser cutting.

Hit the 'Export' button to download the file.

Finally, submit this file to be laser cut!