Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines, or open an issue for feature requests and bug reports.
Oberon Object Tiler is a lightweight, high-performance utility for programmatically arranging 2D objects onto a target canvas or grid system. Designed with modularity and visual precision in mind, it enables developers, designers, and content creators to tile objects (sprites, UI elements, tileset blocks, or custom data structures) using configurable rules, patterns, and collision handling.
Whether you’re building a level editor, generating procedural backgrounds, creating sprite atlases, or designing tile-based game worlds, Oberon Object Tiler abstracts away the complexity of manual placement logic.
Divide your target resolution into tiles. For a 1920x1080 display with 64x64 tiles, you have roughly 30x17 tiles (510 tiles). For each object, compute which tile indices it covers.
Optimization: Use atomic counters in a compute shader to append object indices to a per-tile linked list or a flat array with offsets.
To understand the "Object Tiler," one must first understand the Oberon System's core unit: The Object.
Unlike traditional files (Unix) or documents (Macintosh), Oberon treated everything as a persistent, active object. A piece of text, a graphic, a compiler, or a network socket—all were objects.
The Oberon Object Tiler is the visual subsystem responsible for arranging these objects on the screen. However, it rejects the "overlapping windows" paradigm popularized by Xerox PARC and Microsoft Windows. Instead, it uses tiling. Oberon Object Tiler
For developers interested in integrating this pattern into their engine (be it in Rust, C++, or even C# with compute shaders), here is a high-level implementation roadmap.
If you are a developer inspired by this article, here is a pseudo-code skeleton of how the Oberon Object Tiler partitions space:
class Tiler: def __init__(self, x, y, w, h): self.x = x; self.y = y; self.w = w; self.h = h self.left = None self.right = None self.orientation = None # 'H' or 'V'def split(self, orientation, ratio): self.orientation = orientation if orientation == 'V': # Vertical split (left/right) split_point = self.w * ratio self.left = Tiler(self.x, self.y, split_point, self.h) self.right = Tiler(self.x + split_point, self.y, self.w - split_point, self.h) else: # Horizontal split (top/bottom) split_point = self.h * ratio self.left = Tiler(self.x, self.y, self.w, split_point) self.right = Tiler(self.x, self.y + split_point, self.w, self.h - split_point)
This recursive structure is exactly how the Oberon Object Tiler achieves its legendary speed and simplicity.
The Oberon Object Tiler was more than a window manager; it was a coherent expression of Oberon’s core philosophy: simplicity, power, and directness. By abandoning the overlapping-window metaphor in favor of a rigorous, non-overlapping grid, it offered a workspace that was predictable, space-efficient, and deeply supportive of keyboard-driven workflows. While it was a commercial failure, its ideas have proven remarkably prescient, finding fertile ground in the tiling window managers and flexible editors of today. The Object Tiler stands as a testament to the value of radical simplicity—a reminder that sometimes, the most powerful interface is not the one that mimics a physical desk, but the one that imposes an invisible, logical order upon the digital realm.
Oberon Object Tiler is a professional macro designed for Corel DESIGNER Contributions are welcome
that automates the process of duplicating and arranging objects to fill a specified area, such as a page or a custom rectangle. It is widely used for creating background patterns, repeated textures, and layouts for printing business cards or flyers. Key Features and Functionality Automatic Layout Optimization
: The macro calculates the maximum number of object copies that can fit within a given area. It can automatically rotate the page orientation to maximize the number of objects placed. Customizable Spacing
: Users can define specific gaps between objects (horizontal and vertical) and set margins from the edge of the sheet. Print Preparation
: It includes tools for adding crop marks (cutting marks) around the tiled objects, making it useful for prepress tasks. Pattern Generation
: It is frequently used to create seamless background fills or repeated geometric patterns by fitting many copies of an object into a specified dimension. Technical Details Compatibility
: Developed by Alex Vakulenko (Oberon), this tool is typically distributed as a
(Global Macro Storage) file. It is compatible with various versions of CorelDRAW, including X3 through X7. Installation : To use the macro, the file must be placed in the CorelDRAW GMS folder (e.g., ...\CorelDRAW Graphics Suite...\Draw\GMS\ Availability Divide your target resolution into tiles
: It was originally part of the "Oberon Mega Gallery" and is often available for download on community forums and third-party tool sites like oberonplace.com Oberon Object Tiler. Макрос для CorelDRAW
Oberon Object Tiler is a specialized macro for developed by Alex Vakulenko of Oberon Place
. It is primarily used to automate the process of duplicating a single object across a page to maximize space—a task commonly referred to as "imposition" or "step and repeat". Core Functionality Automatic Filling
: The macro calculates how many times a selected object can fit on a page both horizontally and vertically. Optimization
: It can automatically rotate the page or the object to find the most efficient layout for the highest yield of copies. Print Preparation
: Users can define specific margins (page gutters) and spacing between objects to ensure they are print-ready. Crop Marks
: It includes a feature to automatically place crop/cutting marks around the tiled objects, which is essential for professional printing of business cards, labels, or flyers. Common Use Cases Small Format Printing : Ideal for quickly laying out business cards or stickers. Efficiency
: Provides a more streamlined and automated alternative to CorelDRAW's native "Step and Repeat" or "Print Preview" imposition tools. Availability and Installation : It is a VBA-based macro (