Creating Tiling Patterns

Topics covered in this Photoshop tutorial:

Working with patterns, The Offset filter, Deleting old patterns

Exercise Preview

Exercise Overview

In this exercise, you’ll learn how to create patterns in Photoshop. Repeating patterns can be useful for creating backgrounds for use in web, print, any type of graphic, and more.

Working with Basic Patterns

1. From the Photoshop Class folder, open patterns.psd.

2. Go to Edit > Define Pattern.

3. In the dialog that appears, name the pattern yourname heart and click OK.

   That’s it! You’ve created a pattern. Let’s test out how it looks as it repeats by filling a separate file with the pattern.

4. Go to File > New and on the right under Preset Details set the following:

   Width:	900 px
   Height:	900 px
   Resolution:	72 Pixels/Inch (ppi)
   Color Mode:	RGB Color
   Background Contents:	White

5. Uncheck Artboards.

6. Click Create.

7. In the Layers panel, click the Create new fill or adjustment layer button and choose Pattern.

   If it doesn’t use the pattern you just created, click on the pattern preview on the left of the Pattern Fill dialog and choose your pattern (at the end of the list).

8. Click OK.
9. This pattern repeats just fine, but perhaps we’d rather have the hearts more tightly spaced. Leave this file open and switch back to the patterns.psd file.
10. Choose the Rectangular Marquee tool .
11. In the Options bar at the top of the screen, make sure Feather is set to 0 pixels.
12. Draw a selection around the heart. Leave only a little bit of extra space around it.
13. Go into Edit > Define Pattern.
14. In the dialog that appears, name the pattern yourname heart 2 and click OK.
15. Switch back to the test file (it’s probably called Untitled-1).
16. In the Layers panel, double–click on the icon for the Pattern Fill 1 layer .

17. Find the new pattern by clicking on the pattern thumbnail and choosing yourname heart 2 (at the end of the list).

    Check it out! Now yourname heart 2 contains less of the background color around the heart, so in the tiled result, the hearts are more tightly spaced.

18. If you haven’t already, click OK to close the Pattern Fill dialog.

Using Offset to Make Interesting Patterns (A Half Drop)

The pattern was made is OK, but it has an obvious grid-like repetition. This is fine sometimes, but there’s a way to make patterns more interesting by making the rows diagonal (instead of vertical/horizontal).

1. Switch back to the patterns.psd file.
2. Choose Select > Deselect.
3. In the Layers panel, duplicate the heart layer by dragging the layer onto the New layer button at the bottom of the panel.
4. In the Layers panel, make sure the heart copy layer is selected.

5. Go into Filter > Other > Offset and set the following:

   Horizontal pixels right:	50 px
   Vertical pixels down:	50 px
   Undefined Areas:	Choose Wrap Around

   NOTE: We’re using 50 px because it is half of the whole document, which is 100 x 100 pixels.

6. Click OK.
7. Look at the document. You see that it has split the heart and placed it in the corners. The Offset filter simply moved the pixels 50 to the right and 50 down. If any pixels went off the canvas, they wrapped around to the other side. So really we’re just shifting pixels here.
8. Let’s see another way to create a pattern that was first added in Photoshop 2020. Go to Window > Patterns.
9. At the bottom right of the Patterns panel, click the New pattern icon .
10. In the dialog that appears, name the pattern yourname heart half drop and click OK.
11. Switch to the test document.

12. In the Patterns panel, click on new pattern you just created (it will be at the end of the list).

    This tiled background is more interesting, and less predictably grid-like! This kind of pattern is called a half drop.

Optional Bonus (If You Finish Early)

1. Switch back to the patterns.psd file.
2. In the Layers panel, click the eye next to the leaves layer.
3. In the Layers panel, make sure the leaves layer is selected.
4. Go to Edit > Define Pattern.
5. In the dialog that appears, name the pattern yourname leaves and click OK.
6. Switch to the test document.

7. In the Patterns panel, click on new pattern you just created (at the end of the list).

   This looks bad! Those edges are really noticeable, so we’ll need to retouch this pattern to make it look better.

8. Switch back to the patterns.psd file.
9. In the Layers panel, make sure the leaves layer is selected.

10. Go into Filter > Other > Offset and set the following:

    Horizontal pixels right:	50 px
    Vertical pixels down:	50 px
    Undefined Areas:	Choose Wrap Around

    NOTE: Sometimes pixels are stored outside the canvas. They are there, but you can’t see them. This is why sometimes you can move something off the canvas, then drag it back in. If you have any pixels off the canvas, then Offset will also move those pixels, and you may get problematic results (the wrapping won’t work properly). If that happens, here’s how to fit it:

    • Select the Crop tool .
    • In the Options bar, check on Delete Cropped Pixels.
    • Hit Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows) to crop the image to the exact canvas size.
11. Use the Healing Brush or Clone Stamp on the edges inside to make the seams invisible. It may help to use a soft-edged brush.
12. Go to Edit > Define Pattern.
13. In the dialog that appears, name the pattern yourname leaves 2 and click OK.
14. Switch to the test document.

15. In the Patterns panel, click on new pattern you just created (at the end of the list).