Serpentile Screen Saver

Serpentiles are hexagonal puzzle pieces with colored segments joining the sides of the hexagon (see Serpentiles)

003

300

102

021

120

The different segment patterns on a serpentile may be used to designate the tile type.   A three digit number (serpentile descriptor) is used to describe each unique segment pattern. 

• The first digit is a count of the number of segments joining opposite sides.
• The second digit is a count of the number of segments joining non opposite and non adjacent sides.
• The third digit is a count of the number of segments joining adjacent sides.

I have developed a screen saver program which tiles the screen with serpentiles and then colors the segments by propagation.

Screen Saver Configuration

The colors used to paint the serpentile segments may be selected using the "Colors and Shapes" property sheet.

The allowed serpentile types, and their relative proportion are entered in the "Tile Types" edit box.  In the example above, only serpentile300 types are allowed.  An example display is shown below:

300

A totally different display results from allowing only serpentile003 types.

003

The result of allowing only serpentile102 types.

102

Here, two serpentile types are allowed; serpentile102 and serpentile003.

102 003

The relative proportions of the serpentile types is specified by following the serpentile descriptor with a colon and an integer weight factor.  A one to one ratio of serpentile300 to serpentile003 results in:

300:1 003:1

A five to one ratio of serpentile300 to serpentile003 results in:

300:5 003:1

The screen saver tiles the screen with serpentiles having a background color of black and segment colors of black.  This results in a totally black screen.  One by one, paths (a sequence of connected segments), are selected and painted non black.   After all paths are painted, the screen is cleared and a new pattern is generated.

• Tile Heights:  a list of integers representing serpentile heights.   A serpentile height is selected from this list for each screen pattern generated.
• Tile Rotations: 
• Symmetries: a list of symmetry descriptors.  A symmetry descriptor is selected from this list for each screen pattern generated.
  • x - symmetric about x axis.
  • y - symmetric about y axis.
  • xy - symmetric about both x and y axes.
  • r - radial symmetry.
  • n - no symmetry.
• Tile Types: a list of serpentile descriptors with weight factors.   Multiple lines may be entered, each line describing a screen pattern.  A pattern is selected from this list for each screen pattern generated.
• Min Step Delay: specifies the time delay between drawing each serpentile segment.
• Max Draw Time: specifies the desired screen draw time.  The step delay is reduced, if necessary, in order to render the screen display in the desired time period.
• Hold Time: specifies the time the screen pattern is displayed until it is erased and the next pattern generated.
• Undraw:  when checked, the paths are erased by drawing each one with a color of black.

The Serpentile screen saver may be downloaded from the following:

No dependencies: SerpentileSaver
Dependant on Microsoft MFC libraries (smaller version): SerpentileSaver