Rubik's Cube Mosaic - You CAN Do the Rubik's Cube!

Cross Curriculum Lesson: Math & Photoshop

How to convert a picture into a

Rubik’s Cube Mosaic with Adobe Photoshop Creative Suite 6.0 (These instructions are specific for a 15 X 15 cube mosaic)

Preface:

Step: 1

The following instructions were created in Adobe Creative Suite 6.0 for the PC. It is my experience that you may use these instructions with a MAC some of the short cut keys are different but essentially all the menus are the same. In the past when I have used MAC instructions in my classroom I have encountered very few problems.

We will begin by creating a 45 X45 Centimeter Canvas  Go to File > New  Refer to the dialog box for exact settings.  Click OK

If you don’t have Photoshop installed you may download a free one-month trial at Adobe. https://creative.adobe.com/products/photoshop This is the Creative Cloud version. Enjoy

Special Note: If using 100 cubes: Change STEP 1 to represent an area of 30 X 30 cm canvas. STEP 18 will end at 30 cm. If using 36 cubes: Change STEP 1 to represent an area of 18 X 18 cm canvas. STEP 18 will end at 18 cm.

Created by: Sharon Sangeleer, Middleborough High School, Middleborough, MA

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Step: 2

3. Choose Unit and Rulers

We are going to set the grid preferences so that each square on your screen will represent an individual square on your Rubik’s cube.

4. Change the Units > Rulers to Centimeters, type pixels.

1.

5. Change the Column Size Width = 1 Centimeter Gutter = 1 Centimeter1

Go to Edit > Preferences > Guide, Grid, and Slices

2. Grid Line Every = 3 cm Subdivisions = 3


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Step: 3

Special Note:

We now want to view the graph paper we have created.

Your canvas should take up the entire screen like the image shown. If your screen is too big or small use the following method to adjust your screen.

Go to View > Show

Adjust the percentage in the bottom left hand corner of your screen.

Make sure is selected

Step: 4 While still in Photoshop open the picture you want to convert into the mosaic. Your screen should now look like this.

File > Open


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Cross Curriculum Lesson: Math & Photoshop Special Note: I found my image on http://www.sxc.hu/photo/883889

Step: 5  

Step: 6 Close your original image so that we now only view the picture on our preset canvas.

Go to Window> Arrange > Tile All Vertically (This is the technique I have found easiest for my students to move the picture onto a canvas.) Drag your image onto your canvas. You do this by dragging the background layer to your preset canvas.


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Step: 7 We now see that the image does not fit exactly on the canvas. This is where we can transform it to fit.  Go to Edit > Transform > Scale  Adjust the scale so it now fits on the canvas.  Click the check mark when you get the size adjusted the way you want it.  Note: When I ran this particular picture I did not have enough contrast so I made a minor adjustment. When I ran the original filter the eyes disappeared. This will not happen with every image.

The Fix: Go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness and Contrast

Step: 8 At this time we are going to start to simplify the colors in our picture. Go to Filter>Filter Gallery > Artistic > Cutout  Number of Levels = 5  Edge Simplicity = 1  Edge Fidelity = 3 When I ran the filter the first time I was not happy with the results. I tweaked the image and I made a note in the next column. Created by: Sharon Sangeleer, Middleborough High School, Middleborough, MA

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Cross Curriculum Lesson: Math & Photoshop We should get something like the following image.

Step: 9 More image prep.  

Now go to Image > Adjustments> Hue/Saturation Change the saturation to 100%


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Step: 10

Step: 11

Now we are going to change the image to represent the SIX colors available on the rubik’s cube

IMPORTANT: Don’t click OK until I tell you to. 

Pallet = Local (selective)



Choose 9 colors (this is the smallest amount you can have we will deal with the problem momentarily)

Attention: When working with my students I found this was the most difficult set of steps in the tutorial. Please read carefully and pay attention to the coresponding screen shots.  

Go to Image > Mode > Indexed Color Flatten the layers


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Step: 12

Step: 14

At this time we are going to add the colors we will need for the mosaic.  Select Forced > Custom  Custom Dialog box will appear with 2 colors (Black and White)

Now we will create Six boxes and assign colors. The below table represents the colors of the Rubik’s Cube that you will need to assign. (If you note in the dialog box below has extra white boxes. We assigned nine colors and the cube only has six colors.) White

Yellow

Orange

Red

FFFFFF

FFFF00

FF9C00 F60000

Blue

Green

3737B3

00D900

With the color Picker type in each color number:

Step: 13 

We will click on each square until we have assigned the colors of the Rubik’s cube.

Step: 15 Now you can Click OK.


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Cross Curriculum Lesson: Math & Photoshop This is what we now have

Step: 17 OPTIONAL You can change the colors around if you want.

Coloring in Photoshop Instructions 1.

Go to Image > Mode > RGB

2. Change the colors in the color swatches 3. Use the quick selection tool / Magic Wand to select an area.

Step: 16 OPTIONAL Tweaking I was not completely happy with the color separation. I went to Image > Adjustments > Brightness / Contrast and moved the sliders around.

4. With the paint brush paint 5. CTRL + D will get rid of walking ants


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Step: 18

Position: 3 CM 6 CM 9 CM 12 CM 15 CM 18 CM 21 CM 24 CM 27 CM 30 CM 33 CM 36 CM 39 CM 42 CM 45 CM

We are now going to add guide lines which will allow us to see our mosaic in NINE squares to a box.  Go to View > New Guide lines  Select Vertical and add 15 guidelines.

Step: 19 Now we are going to add the Horizontal guide lines. Place the horizontal guide lines in the same positions previously mentioned.


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Rap Up How do I now break out sections to build my mosaic? Office 2010 comes with a program called Snipping Tool. This program can be found in the Accessories Folder. This program allows you to Snip sections of you picture and place them into Microsoft Word or Excel.

If Snipping Tool not available don’t panic, you can complete this by using the PrtScn button your key board. Paste it in word and crop out what you don’t want.


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