Create Seamless Textures In Photoshop
Why pay for a disc of pre-made textures or a pricey Photoshop plugin to get the texture you want? Grab a source image and follow this simple tutorial to make your own seamless texture.
Although the author of the tutorial flags it as a tutorial for Photoshop CS4, the tutorial will work in any version of Photoshop with the Offset filter and the clone stamp tool. Find a source image you want to turn into a seamless texture. It helps to choose a source texture that has either a fairly simple and easily blended pattern, or a complex pattern that will make hiding any imperfections easy. Check out the video below to see the technique in action:
If you’d like to learn some more Photoshop tricks, check out previously reviewed VunkySearch or check out some cool light-effect tutorials. If you’ve got a tutorial you think is especially helpful, share it in the comments below. Thanks Kristofer!
Create Seamless Textures with Photoshop [TestFreaks]
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@abhiroop: I think he's trying to emulate that loser that does those Photoshop videos (Where he laments his fake wife or whatever)... the ones that Lifehacker finds hilarious.
A very simple way is to :
1. Increase Canvas Width and Height two-fold, while keeping the original texture at the top left corner.
2. Duplicate your texture containing layer into 3 extra copies.
3. Flip Vertically to one - this is your bottom right panel. Flip Horizontally to another copy - this is the Top Right panel.
4. Flip Vertically AND Horizontally to the last copy, giving the Bottom Right panel.
5. Snap align these into four corners, and there you go a seamless texture. You can then do the retouching as mentioned above.
Could the guy sound a little more interested??
I'd recommend using the patch instead, selecting bits and pieces from the seams after offsetting, and taking samples from outside the seams, and just doing doing it over and over again.
Patch tool always seems to give me better results than the clone stamp, but there might be times when using the clone brush might be better.
I've been using Gimp since 2001 and this feature has been standard and works perfectly with a simple click of a button. I cannot understand how Adobe have gone for so long without integrating a similar function, considering how much other bloat they cram into Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.
That's too much work, check the gimp's resynthesize filter for automatic texture patterns
GiraldoMelampus
Hmm...
GIMP:![]()
/Filters/Map/Make Seamless
Works beautifully on his example image with better results and comes with GIMP as a standard plugin.... No third-party plugin needed. And no time warp necessary--works in seconds.
penguiniator
MUTE MUTE MUTE... I haven't seen the newest season of Weeds yet, ARGH! Son of a!
@willwood: I tried it in the gimp, though I prefer to do them manually. It only takes two minute, and you get a lot of control that you don't have with the automatic tool.
The best way I found for making textures, is
1. duplicating the background layer
2. Offsetting the duplicate (just like in the video)
3. Using a mask to hide the horrible seems.
By using a mask on the duplicate, you end up showing the original layer. And depending on the type of texture, you can vary the softness of the brush, though a soft brush is most likely to be better.
His first finished pattern using the stamp tool is pretty awful. It's full of noticeably repeated sections/rocks and lots of blurred areas.
The heal tool is slightly better, but still not great.
Btw, at the top of this page, it says "Why pay for a disc of pre-made textures ... to get the texture you want?". What you don't mention is that it's not very easy to come by one of the non-seamless patterns, at least not a good one. So you MAY need to pay for a disc of patterns regardless. Of course there are patterns on the net, but many are not good quality.
atomicrabbit
His "seamless" textures are not very tile-able. There's a lot more that he should do to get rid of repeating areas - larger texture (by hand), overlaying noise and/or offsetting layers of that texture, etc. Good start though.
@AsWater: Same here... Netflix was a huge help, offering some of the seasons over Watch Instantly saved me a bunch of effort! Then of course they were released on Blu-ray... nothing like Mary Louise Parker in Hi-Definition :D
I didn't think I'd like the show, because I can relate to none of the characters in it, but it's one of my favorites now, with True Blood & Dexter topping the Pay Channel show list.
@MCWHAMMER: O0o0o a fellow Weeds watcher. I took a crash course of the show through Netflix. Currently awaiting its newest season.
On topic:
I'm glad for this find. My girl and I were just telling each other how we have to learn how to make our own textures and brushes and stuff.
offset is great if you are into doing things manually or just need a quick check to see if something is tilable but personally I prefer this program:
[www.luxology.com]
its probably the best automated way to generate tiled textures you can find. very handy tool but a bit pricey.
grimdeath9740
@nashix:
Huh?
You say in step 3 to flip vert - bottom right
then in step 4 to flip vert & horz- bottom right
Which is it ? :P
critiquer
@grimdeath9740: nice app!! I haven't tried it but the samples are quite impressive.
atomicrabbit