PORTAL GRID SOFTWARE
BROWSERS: SAFARI and GOOGLE CHROME work best and will display the word, ‘Choose File’ in the file selection box in the upper left hand corner of the software page. FIREFOX does not operate as seamlessly, but does work, displaying the word, ‘Browse’ in the files selection box. If after clicking on ‘Browse ‘and selecting the file, the image appears but does not load properly by not displaying the ‘settings panel’ selection triangle in the upper left hand corner, click the ‘Reset’ box at the top and the image should reload properly displaying the settings panel triangle.
The software works best with larger images. Images around 1000-1200 pixel in width by about 600 pixels in height display nearly full screen allowing the user to see the complete image while aligning without having to scroll. Very large files will leave the software page blank when attempting to load. When scanning from print media, whatever the original scanning DPI, the image needs to be downscaled to 300 DPI. What I do is scan at 1200 DPI, and use Apple’s MacBook Pro Preview to downscale to 300 DPI.
There are several issues when using images that do not fill the page vertically, as well as some smaller images of various horizontal dimensions. When enlarging the image for a better view one does not return the image to the original size, before or after clicking ‘Reset’, the software will misplace the clicked on lower baseline on the enlarged image until corrected to original size. What also happens when the image size is not quite right, the dialogue box explaining the scrolling procedures, which must be clicked on, is moved up and out of view and must be scrolled down to access. If you do not know or see this, you will get out of sequence and will not be able to scroll the software. What can also happen is this box will appear incomplete. Just click on what you see. When the image size is pushing the limit vertically you may have to scroll down to access the ‘Reset’ and ‘Save’ buttons at the top. Also, sometimes nothing happens when the area chosen for the lower baseline is clicked on. This has something to do with the image being too large. Try scrolling very slightly up and down and continue clicking and the baseline should appear. If not, load a smaller image.
Step 1 Load your computer with an image from the internet. Wikimedia Commons is a good source for high-resolution images, or scan one from print media. Downscale the scan to 300 DPI.
Step 2 Click on the ‘Choose File’ box in the upper left hand corner and your computer files will appear. Choose where you stored the image, click the file, then click the blue ‘Choose” box at the bottom right. The software page reappears with the image selected. Click on the triangle next to ‘Settings Panel’ at the top left and a menu drops down.
STEP 3 The menu begins with three default selects. The first select, ‘Mirrored Rays’ is only unchecked when the image has no upper horizontal margin, or feature, to choose from to establish the upper baseline. After clicking on and establishing the lower baseline, click anywhere on the image near the top margin out of the way leads to the same sequence as having both lower and upper baselines. If you click too far off the image nothing happens.
The second box, ‘Remove y-axis before drawing shapes’ allows for a short cut directly to a pre- selected geometric shape bypassing the grid. Leave checked. Explained more in detail below.
The third box, ’Remove rays before drawing shapes’ left checked, allows for the automatic, sequential removal of the grid, leaving just the baselines and the geometric shape selected. This box unchecked allows for scrolling the y-axis and the grid to a pre-determined location then accessing and scrolling a geometric shape into place over it, usually centered on the y-axis.
The checked boxes above are default selects, as are the ray color selections. If the menu is bypassed intentionally or by accident, the default color for the rays is red. You can scroll the grid but you must go through the ray color selection process first to choose a geometric shape.
Begin by selecting the colors for the ‘rays’ of the grid, first three boxes. These all need to be the same color. Leave the boxes to the left checked. Then select a color for the ‘centerline’. The centerline is important for demonstrating the rationale for choosing the locations of the baselines as much of the narrative often occurs aligned along the horizontal center of the image. Clicking on these colors for the centerline and all of the geometric shapes below, automatically checks the select boxes to the left. These checked boxes for the shapes must be unchecked when changing shapes or both shapes will be displayed at the same time, overlapping. This is sometimes a desired result as I have lately been overlaying a cube in white over a six-pointed star in blue in a blue hexagon, a combination that allows for a multilayered analysis as well as being able to locate the proper placement of the six-pointed star shape on the x-axis using the y-axis of the cube.
The next select is the ‘circle’. I always select the circle with all the geometric shapes. Usually the same color as the rays of the grid.
Then follows the ‘cube’. I choose a different color to contrast with the circle and the rays of the grid.
Same as above for the ‘hexagon’, the ‘6-pointed star’, the ’square’, and the ‘rectangle in the hexagon’ where ‘hexagon’ needs to be selected first, before selecting the ‘rectangle’ and the ‘diagonals for this rectangle’. The rectangle and the diagonals will be the same color as the hexagon.
Last is a select to thicken the lines from 1 to 2 pixels for the geometric shapes only. Click on the box to change. Use 2 pixels for overlaying a geometric shape onto the grid when trying to avoid certain colors blending, such as red and blue, turning some of the rays purple. The thicker geometric lines override the grid colors and help minimize blending. The best combination to avoid blending is light over dark. The white cube mentioned above blends very well when combined with the blue 6-pointed star.
To save the image, click the ‘Save’ box at the bottom. The same image is then displayed again ready for another alignment.
Step 4 The first thing to do is to determine whether or not the creator of the image being examined used this system of design. At this stage the lower baseline is the most important and often has the main figures of the narrative standing, or sitting upon it. Click on this line and the lower baseline appears. If the image is scanned improperly, or is is not otherwise level, the software baseline will not follow the image’s baseline. It does not need to be perfect as being a little off does not affect ray behavior very much, but the more level, the better.
The upper baseline is typically the upper inside border that frames the entire image. Click on this line, and the upper baseline and a y-axis with a circle appear simultaneously. There is a five second window to click on the circle and drag the y-axis to either align the grid to a specific location, or to drag the circle all the way off the image to the left or right to begin scrolling. If you run out of time, click ‘Reset’ and begin again. Placing the click point for the upper baseline near the left or right margins allows for dragging the y-axis off quickly.
After dragging the y-axis and circle all the way off the image, click anywhere on the image, and a dialogue box appears with instructions for scrolling. Click on that box anywhere and the grid’s rays should appear. If you do not see parts of the grid projected from off image, begin scrolling from the direction you dragged the y-axis off the image to. If you dragged to the right, scroll left, and vice versa. If you don’t initially see the rays, it means you dragged the y-axis off too far. Dragging the circle just off of the image will suffice. Use keys ‘a’ and ‘s’ to scroll to the right in 1 and 5 pixel increments respectively and keys ‘l’ and ‘k’ to scroll left likewise.
Begin by scrolling to and aligning the 90-degree vertical y-axis to either margin to see if this system is being used by noticing if any rays pass through, or tangent to, certain features such as hands, feet, eyes, mouth, and ears, to do, to stand, to see, to say, or to hear. Very often aligning the 90-degree vertical y-axis to the center of a two-dimensional profile figure seems to suggest the present tense with the rays projecting out to the left or right into the past or future. These angular relationships seem to provide for a certain kind of graphic syntax. When there are no obvious alignment points such as the vertical lines separating the rows of hieroglyphs found in the Papyrus of Ani, anything laying on the baseline is a prime candidate. Align the y-axis to tangent, or barely touch these objects. As everything in an image is usually aligned, it is possible to align the y-axis to objects not necessarily located on the baseline. If there is any doubt, as with most alignments there should be at least three corroborating aligned objects to any one alignment. Looking for these secondary aligned objects also helps fine-tune the alignment.
Once it has been established that this system is being used, any other fairly obvious horizontal line, or surface feature, qualifies for a new set of baselines that might allow for a more nuanced analysis of alignments within alignments, or just the same overall alignment at a different location. I would say both are happening. The Papyrus of Ani is a prime example of this.
There are two ways to access a geometric shape. The first is to click on the image anywhere after doing a grid alignment. The grid will disappear leaving just the baselines and the shape ready to scroll. If the shape does not appear this means you dragged the circle and the y-axis off the image too far. Begin scrolling from that direction and the shape will eventually appear. The second way is a short cut bypassing the grid. You must first pre-select a shape at the same time as choosing the colors for the rays. You must also go through the first two steps that create the baselines and the y-axis/circle. Instead of dragging the y-axis/circle off the image as before, just click on the image anywhere, and the scrolling instruction box appears. Click on that box and the shape appears centered where the y-axis was just previously located. The second select box at the top, ‘Remove y-axis before drawing shapes’, left checked removes this y-axis leaving only the shape ready to scroll from that location. If unchecked, the y-axis of the grid remains. Five quick clicks and the geometric shape appears ready to scroll.
SCROLLING
The single most amazing and nearly accidental feature of this software is the ability to scroll the grid or a geometric shape. The original impulse for having this software developed was the ‘Weighing Scene of the Heart’ from the Papyrus of Ani. This image has rows of hieroglyphs arranged in columns separated by vertical lines. After speculating that these lines might be a y-axis I began hand drawing the grid and immediately began seeing certain objects and features of the actors align. These images are self-aligning to the degree that one does not have to invent alignments, something that later becomes an acquired skill with other images that do not have such obvious ‘landmarks’ to align to. They are essentially the beginning and end of sentences, or paragraphs, describing the narrative, with most of the action taking place between them. Scrolling the grid allows one to connect the hieroglyphs to the graphics. This is an educated assumption on my part as I do not know how to read hieroglyphs, but the meaning of some are more obvious than others, an example being the ‘scales’ glyph. The more one uses the software, the more the system reveals itself, especially to those familiar with the narrative, which is clearly spelled out here but more of a mystery when looking at Mesoamerican, Assyrian, and other Egyptian art. A simple protocol for some of these images of subjects in profile is to align the y-axis ‘tangent’ to the heel or toes of the feet. It usually gets much more complex than this, but this is a good first step in establishing the possible use of this system.
As a diagnostic, the first thing to do after establishing the baselines is to scroll the grid and place the y-axis at either margin, stop and look to see if and where the rays intersect subjects and objects. By including the horizontal centerline, one can justify, or verify the selection of the baselines as particular elements of the narrative are often centered on this line and the locations where the angle pairs intersect this line seem to provide an additional method of narrative emphasis depending on each individual culture’s interpretive significance assigned to each angle. An example would be where the 60-degree angle pairs meet at the centerline forming two, inverted 60/60/60-degree equilateral triangles.
Once you start scrolling and begin to see the rays intersecting objects everywhere, one can become quickly confused or disoriented. If anything in the image is aligned to 15-degree intervals, it is very likely everything else is aligned the same. Trying to see a pattern can become confusing from different set x/y-axis alignment points or perspectives. The alignment’s syntax may be out of order but it is still there. Scrolling the grid is something of an acquired skill and by scrolling very slowly, and learning how to view several objects at the same time, one can begin seeing the narrative unfold like a moving picture as your eyes focus on, around, to, and in between objects as they synchronize with the moving grid.
The grid aligns all of the 15-degree angle relationships between objects across the entire image whereas the geometric shapes act like keys that pull out specific angular alignments. The 6-pointed star reveals the 60-degree angle alignments. The square involves not only the 45-degree angle relationships but also the 90-degree corners formed by the 45-degree angle pairs where they meet at the centerline. These various shapes offer specific ways to isolate certain core meanings of the narrative encoded graphically. What I have found is the graphic encoding of the square root of three. Its importance is central to the ‘Weighing of the Heart Scene’ in the Papyrus of Ani. As mentioned earlier, every line, chord and arc found in the 6- pointed star enclosed in a hexagon in a circle, is predicated on the square root of three. The ‘rectangle in the hexagon’ shape shares the same upper and lower equilateral triangle horizontals as the 6-pointed star. Scrolling this rectangle across an image you can see certain spaces designed to accommodate this rectangle’s dimensions. Depending on which set of baselines are chosen, the cords of this rectangle perfectly align to the pillars of Osiris’ chamber in the Papyrus of Ani. Also from the ‘Weighing of the Heart Scene’, the figure to the left introducing Ani is Tutu. Her eye, again depending upon which baselines are chosen, lies directly on the upper horizontal of this rectangle as if viewing the balance beam of the scales, which is also aligned along this same line. Having learned how central the encoding of the square root of three can be, depending on the general narrative, I will begin with either the rectangle, the clearest and simplest diagnostic, or the 6- pointed star which includes the same horizontal lines, and much more. Again, as mentioned earlier, what I have lately begun doing is overlaying the cube shape in white, over a six-pointed star in blue, with a hexagon in blue. This allows for aligning the y-axis along the x-axis to more accurately determine a point of origin for the 6-pointed star. Some art is so precisely executed that the ability to locate the correct x/y origin helps reveal the incredible talents of the designers. This composite graphic also locates the center of the cube, the diagonal of which is the square root of three.
I always enclose a geometric shape in a circle and begin scrolling very slowly just outside the margin of the image. By slowly scrolling and watching where objects begin intersecting with the leading edge of the circle one can begin to see a pattern of connectivity between objects located on and around the circumference. Watching objects enter the space between the leading chord of the rectangle and its associated arc can reveal a specific encoding of the square root of three by the designing of that object to conspicuously fit that space. I refer to this ‘gap’, or space, as the ‘pocket’. The distance between the chord and arc can sometimes also be used to self align subsequent scroll points by first aligning a significant feature intersecting the arc on the centerline, then scrolling the chord to the arc location. Next check to see if anything obviously aligns with the new chord location. Also check to see if anything is aligned to these chords and arcs at the opposite end of the circle. These systems of spacing are found on certain groups of the vertical columns of hieroglyphs found in both the Papyrus of Hunefer and the Papyrus of Ani. Some of the vertical lines separating the columns align exactly to the cords of the rectangle and tangent the arcs of the circle.