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Tartan Patterns

Art Canvas Plus Playground with the VR Robot on the playground having already drawn lines and filled in the areas to create a tartan pattern across the playground.
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Tartan patterns consist of crisscrossed, horizontal, and vertical bands in multiple colors. It is associated with Scotland. Hundreds of years ago, Scottish families were organized into groups called Clans. Most Clans have their own tartan design.

Choose a coloring sheet from the Tartan Coloring Sheet slideshow. Design the Tartan patterns and create an algorithm to use [Drive for] and [Turn for] blocks and the VR Pen to drive the VR Robot to fill colors in the grids repeating specific patterns to create your own Tartan!

  • Choose and download a Tartan Coloring Sheet as a PNG file from this Google slideshow.
  • Select the Art Canvas+ Playground and upload the selected Tartan Coloring Sheet.
  • Design your own Tartan patterns and determine the color to fill in each grid on the coloring sheet.
  • Code the VR Robot to fill specific colors in the grids on the Tartan Coloring Sheet to create your own Tartan. 
    • Drive the VR Robot to your desired position.
    • Use loops to repeat the [Drive for] and [Fill area with color] commands for a set number of times to create the Tartan patterns on the playground.
    • Use a loop to code the VR Robot to repeat creating Tartan pattern actions for a set number of times to create your own Tartan!
    • Add a note in your project to describe the story behind your Tartan. 
  • Give your Tartan a name. Use the [print] block to print the name to the Print Console.

Helpful Hints

  • The dimension of the Art Canvas+ Playground is 2000mm x 2000mm. Find the width and the length of the grids on the Tartan Coloring Sheet to determine the distance the robot needs to travel to move one grid in a direction parallel to the x-axis or parallel to the y-axis.
  • Use a nested loop, a repeat block within another repeat block, to repeat the creating Tartan pattern actions for a set number of times to create the Tartan.
  • Use the ‘Download Canvas Button’ on the Art Canvas + Playground to save your work of art to share with others! To learn more about using the VR Art Canvas +, see this article. 
  • Create your own Tartan! For more ideas about designing the Tartan patterns, please see the following examples. Be creative!

First of three example tartan patterns the robot could draw on the Art Canvas Plus Playground. This pattern has a grid of red lines intersecting over a black background.

Second of three example tartan patterns the robot could draw on the Art Canvas Plus Playground. This pattern has a grid of black lines intersecting over a green background.

Third and final example tartan pattern the robot could draw on the Art Canvas Plus Playground. This pattern has a grid of black and white lines intersecting over a pink background.

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