Domino-Pix™ ... How did it happen?

Ken Knowlton, renowned computer graphic artist, who uses computers to create mosaic pictures with symbols and objects conceived of using sets of dominoes to construct pictures, with the constraint that complete sets of dominoes must be used. Other kinds of Ken Knowlton's mosaics can be seen at http://www.knowltonmosaics.com.

Ken teamed up with us to produce art pictures and custom portraits made of complete sets of physical dominoes. The arrangement of dominoes has been determined by the use of our patented computer process (US Patent #4,398,890).

Domino-Pix™ ... Why does it work?

When you are at the edge of a forest, you might, as the saying goes, see the individual trees, but not the forest as a whole. Even more so with subtle objects. So it is with domino pictures. You may see the five/five domino as an 'X' pattern and the three/three domino as two diagonal lines, but unless you are thinking about it you are not likely to see the five/five as 'brighter' than the three/three - not until you back away far enough so that the dots blend and the five/five shows you its average brightness, which results from the number of white spots it has. This is the feature which gives brightness tone to domino pictures -- the averae number of spots in any small area, much as a newspaper half-tone photo.

Domino-Pix™ expoloits this phenomenon by using the ends of the dominoes as large points whose brightness increases as the number of spots increases. Each portrait that we make contains 6 sets of dominoes, with only 660 pixels with which to develop a recognizable image. It is this extreme coarsness of grain which makes it necessary to step back to let your eyes bring out the picture.

Domino-Pix™ ... What is it?

When you send us a suitable portrait photograph, we import the image into our computer and calculate the best arrangement of the 330 dominoes in 6 sets of nine-nine (double-nine) dominoes to produce the image. Then, we lay out the dominoes in the correct placement on a backing board and attach them to the board, which is then framed. The finished custom portrait is approximately 25"x33" and is shipped with a "plan" showing the placement and orientation of the dominoes. For information and ordering instructions, please go to our ordering page.