Hey,

Since making these images seems to be a popular amusement, I just made one and uploaded the XCF file as an example & template:

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/9779/mandalaexample.jpg

http://www.sharebeast.com/9llbdkyiu74g

This XCF file already has guides centered on the canvas, and a Path in the form of a wedge that is 1/16 of a circle (22.5 degrees), extending well past the canvas at 1280x1024. This path can be converted to a selection and used to extract a slice from the (imported) base image for use in assembling the "mandala".

The file also illustrate one way of using a modified duplicate layer to create a transforming filter for the finished image: I bump mapped a copy of my finished mandala layer, using itself as the map source, and set the resulting layer to Difference mode. This is just one of numerous ways to "artify" images using altered layers and layer modes.

:o)

Steve

From a previous post, redone for use with mandala-template.xcf:

1. Open the template image, do Image > Fit Canvas To Layers, then delete the irrelevant layers (my image content!). Save as "my-template.xcf" or similar so you will have a blank template for future use.

2. Go to your Paths dock dialog, and click on the eyeball icon for the only path there, to make it visible in the editing window.

2. Drag and drop a picture into the new image. Move, scale, and rotate this as a layer, until the part under the wedge defined by the path looks like it might make a good "mandala".

3. Back in the Paths dock dialog, click the "Path to Selection" button. You can also click the eyeball to turn path visibility off - it is no longer needed.

4. Make your image window "current" and do Control-C, then Control-V. This will copy the part of your source image that is selected, and paste it back into the image as a "float."

5. In your Layers dialog, click the "New Layer" button. This will turn the pasted float into a "real layer". Right click the layer thumbnail in the Layers dialog, and select Layer To Image Size.

6. Do Control-Alt-A to turn off your selection. It will not be needed again.

7. Copy your new layer using the Duplicate Layer button in the Layers dock. Make sure the copy is the currently selected layer.

8. Right click in the main image window, and do Layers > Transform

Flip Vertical.

9. Back in the Layers dock, select the top layer, right click on it, and select Merge Down. Then copy this merged layer with the Duplicate Layer button.

10. Turn on your Free Rotation tool in the main toolbox. Then click once anywhere in the image editing window. In the dialog box that pops up, type "45" and hit the Rotate button.

11. Back in the Layers dock, merge your rotated layer down into the one it came from, and make a duplicate of the resulting layer.

12. Repeat steps 9 and 10, rotating the merged/duplicated layer 90 degrees, then 180 degrees.

13. Merge the last rotated layer down into its parent layer, and viola, a mandala of sorts.

To crop out the "bare corners" try this:

Turn on your Rectangle Select tool, do Control-A to select the whole canvas, and click once inside the canvas to turn on the drag handles for the selection. In your Tool Options dialog dock, check mark "Fixed Aspect Ratio." Then zoom way in on your image at one corner, and drag the corner of the selection in until it is on the edge of the "mandala." Go to the diagonally opposite corner of the image and repeat this. Finally, right click on the canvas to bring up your menus and do Image > Fit Canvas To Selection.

You might have to refer to the help files at first to find where the various tools are, but by the time you are done with a couple of these mandalas you will be on the way to image transformation guru-hood.