PROGRAM BASIC: Pattern Fills

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*Program Basic
PROGRAM BASIC: Pattern Fills
By Shelleyrae Cusbert 2007
Jul 8, 2007, 04:46

Patterns make it easy to create your own papers easily. This tutorial will walk you through creating a simple pattern and then applying it to create a paper.

Create a new canvas at 1x1 inch at 300ppi.
Select the custom shape tool from the tools palette and then choose a shape. This tutorial uses a flower shape available in Photoshop’s standard custom shape menu under Nature. Ensure that Fill Pixels is selected on the Options bar.

Hold down shift on the keyboard and draw out the shape on the canvas.

Select Edit> Define Pattern and give the pattern a name.

Create a new canvas at your preferred size. Fill with a color.

Create a new layer and then choose Edit> Fill

Select Pattern from the Use drop down menu

Select the pattern you just created from the drop down Custom Pattern options.

Press Ok and the layer fills with the flower.

You can then select and fill the shapes with color or design as you wish.

The pattern fill will also be available in the Layer Style palette to create a background and is also useful in allowing you to alter the scale of the custom pattern.
To apply, select the color layer and double click to open the Layer Style dialogue.
Select Pattern Overlay and find your custom pattern in the Pattern menu. Manipulate the options of Blend Mode, Opacity and Scale to create the pattern you wish.

Press OK to apply.
To separate the pattern overlay from the paper to retain the scale changes but edit the layer separately, click on the drop down icon on the layer near the fx symbol. Right click the Pattern Overlay text and choose Create Layer.

Select the new layer and right click to choose Release Clipping Mask. To make the layer editable right click and choose Create New Smart Object and then right click again to choose Rasterize layer.