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Creating background and element textures is one of my favorite things to do in PS and PSE. It’s so easy
peasy, and often an overlooked technique. Using your clothing, old items, wood, and other items around your home or items found, you can create your own unique and realistic textures.
How about we use a paper towel in this example.
Instructions:
1. Scan or Photograph your object/texture:
For this example, I scanned a paper towel. I scanned at 600dpi which will double the size of the object when placed in a 300dpi layout.
Your goal will be to scan/photo something that will eventually be a 12x12 seamless pattern. Since my scanner is only 8.5” wide, you have the following options: (1) scan higher than 300ppi; (2) scan 8.5” of the object, then scan the remaining part of the object. Stitch the entire object together to create at least 12”, 300ppi final object. You may find stitch software in many places. Here is one example: http://www.arcsoft.com/products/scannstitch. (3) Create a smaller seamless tile. Here’s a link for a freeware simple seamless tile plugin: http://graphicssoft.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.btinternet.com/%257Ecateran/simple/
2. Create a .psd from your scan.
I placed the paper towel scan on a 12”x12”, 300ppi document. The document could be larger if you’d like. If you make it smaller, you’ll want to be sure that you have created a seamless tile so you won’t see harsh lines/edges when the pattern repeats. I adjusted the contrast a bit so I could be sure that my texture would be obvious. If you have scanned a colored object, you may want to desaturate it, maybe even adjust brightness contrast, etc.
3. Save your .psd file.
You must save your file in .psd format. I personally love to save my textures in a specific TEXTURES folder which I created. That makes it easy to find all of your textures in one place.
4. Apply your texture to your element or background paper.
Open your background, go to FILTER-TEXTURE-TEXTURIZER
Click on the right arrow to browse your pc for your texture. Click on LOAD TEXTURE. Then browse your PC for the .psd texture file you just created (or purchased).
I found and selected my paper towel texture. Oh, and play with the options like LIGHT, scaling, relief, etc.
And here’s my final result:
Terry Maruca is a digital product designer. You can find her items for sale in the Scrapbook-Bytes store <a href="http://scrapbookbytes.com/store/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=28"<here
**First published in Tidbytes May 2007**
© Copyright by Scrapbook-Bytes.com
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