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Defining and using custom patterns.
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Defining and using custom patterns:
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1.
A Pattern can be can be used to fill any image or selection no matter how large. You can also "paint" the pattern anywhere you'd like with the Pattern Stamp Tool  , which functions much like any painting tool using brushes, opacities, and blending modes.
To make a pattern, first select part or the whole of an image you want to use as the pattern. Second, choose Edit: Define Pattern. Third, you go to the area you want to use the pattern in. It may be a selection or an entire image. Fourth, you can now start painting with the Pattern Stamp, or you can choose Edit: Fill to have the pattern you defined repeated as tiles in the selected area.
The most common use for something like this has been to create background images for web pages. The days of 28.8 modem aren't all that far behind us, and during that time, web designers were concerned with download times, so a small image that repeats to fill an indefinite space was very appealing.
To the left you're seeing the repeating pattern of an image I'll create below.
Let's create some patterns!
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2.
You can designate anything as a pattern. It's very simple. What I'm going to be concerned with here
is creating a pattern which will repeat, or tile, seamlessly.
I start out by creating a file with the dimensions you see to the left. I picked the blue Foreground color and filled the image with that, then used the Add Noise Filter to give it the texture you see. (The black outline is not part of the pattern of course.)
Since my entire image is going to be used, I choose Select: All. Then I go to the Edit Menu and choose Define Pattern. Now I have to see how it tiles when I fill a larger area so I create a new file with plenty of room and choose Edit: Fill... and you'll see the dialog box to the left. Pick Pattern from the Use: pop-up menu. Notice you can vary the opacity and blending mode if you desire. In the cell to the left you're actually seeing a smaller version of my pattern file used as a background image. Because the noise is random, the tiles blend seamlessly. |
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3.
Now I'm altering my
pattern to create a variation. I use Filer: Blur: Motion Blur and get the dialog box at left. I change the angle and distance until I like what I see and get this:
Now I've got a problem. The left to right motion blur makes my image look cool but it's left and right edges have changed. See in the cell to the left how this pattern tiles. You can see the seams if you look close. |
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4.
I'm going to fix that. I go to the Filter menu and choose Other: Offset... and I'm presented with the dialog to the left. I'm going to use this filter to move my image so that I can see the problem area where the tiles would meet when I fill with Pattern. I enter 80 (half my image width) in the Horizontal field and 0 in the Vertical field. This will slide my image over 80 pixels from left towards right. Clicking Wrap Around give me the image you see at left, where the former right and left edges are now visible in the center of the image space. |
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5.
To fix the tiling
problem, I use the rectangular marquee
 to select the center of my image. I Feathered the selection a couple of pixels and then applied the Motion Blur filter to that area.
You can see the results here.
The noticeable edge is gone. You can see the pattern tiling as a background image in the cell to the left. Success! |
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6.
Time to make
something a little more challenging. I created this random series of lines with the seldom-used
line tool. I know this one will have problems tiling. Not only will the left and right edges be off, but the top and bottom as well, most likely. Let's find out. |
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7.
Time to use the Offset Filter again. The numbers I enter represent one-half the images height and width. That way the image gets all scrambled so that what was the original bottom right quadrant, now resides in the upper left. Very confusing, but the result is, I get to see how my line design would tile up when repeated as a pattern. Now all I'm going to do is take the line tool and make connections between the broken lines. |
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8.
Here's what that same offset view of my design looks like once I get done drawing several more lines
with the line tool.
At the left you can see how the image looks when used to fill a large area with a pattern. Don't forget you've got to select the area, choose Edit: Define Pattern. And then Edit: Fill once you've got a place to put it. Every time you define a new pattern the previous one is erased. If I want to used a variety of patterns, I'll just keep them one different layers of the source image so that they are there when I need them. |
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9.
For this variation, I took the Paint Bucket and filled in between the lines with different hues. I had
to offset again to be able to fill all the areas correctly. Here's what it looked like:
Kind of reminds me of the Partridge Family bus. See the mini-tiling version to the left. |
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10.
This one's the same thing, but I turned down the opacity of the layer it was on. Now you see some of
that red background showing through.
With a little effort here, I could probably create a pretty good stained glass-like design.
Don't forget you could also paint in the pattern you've defined with Pattern Stamp Tool . (It's home is the same spot in the tool palette as the Rubber Stamp Tool  .) |
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11.
Or you could create a
selection and only fill that space.
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