Photoshop CS Timesaving Techniques For Dummies [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Technique 10.

Creating a texture

For this example, I show you how to create a brick texture and turn it into a pattern. You can, of course, substitute any texture for the brick texture. Here’s how to create the texture:

Choose File>New to create a new document.

The New dialog box appears.





Select the settings for the new document.

Set the Width and Height to something rather large (say 3 x 3 inches). Set the resolution to 300 ppi, the Color mode to RGB, and the Background Contents to white.





Click OK to close the New dialog box.

The new document appears in the program window.





Click the Foreground color square in the Toolbox to open the Color Picker.





Select a dark red color in the Color Picker.





Select the Paint Bucket tool in the Toolbox.





Click in the image window to fill the entire area with the dark red.





Choose Filter>Texture>Texturizer.

The Texturizer dialog box shown in Figure 28-1 opens.




Figure 28-1: Use the Texturizer filter to create a texture for a pattern.






At the right side of the Texturizer dialog box, use the Texture drop-down list to select Brick.





Set the Scaling to 200% and the Relief to 15.





Click OK to close the Texturizer dialog box and apply the brick texture to the red image window.

Now you have something that looks like a brick wall. (See Figure 28-2.) This is the texture that you use to create a pattern.




Figure 28-2: The image window now looks like a brick wall.








Tip

You can find other filters to create great patterns on the Filter>Noise>Add Noise menu, and under any of the filters on the Filter>Texture menu.

Defining a pattern

After you have a texture, you can turn it into a pattern. Keep in mind that you can use these directions to turn anything in the image window into a pattern. For instance, suppose that you have a duck image open. You could select the duck and turn it into a pattern.

Use the Rectangular Marquee tool to select a portion of the image window.

The area that you select can be any size. Pattern size isn’t limited in Photoshop. However, for a standard size pattern, stick to a small area such as 200 x 200 pixels.





Choose Edit>Define Pattern.





In the Pattern Name dialog box, enter a name for the pattern in the Name text box, as shown in Figure 28-3.




Figure 28-3: Type a name for the pattern in the Pattern Name dialog box.






Click OK.

Your new pattern appears at the end of the list in the Pattern picker. (You can check this out by selecting the Pattern Stamp tool in the Toolbox and opening the Pattern picker on the Options bar.) Figure 28-4 shows the brick texture made in the previous section applied as a pattern to some type.




Figure 28-4: The brick pattern applied to type by using layer styles.