May 2012 Tutorial - Create Seamless Patterns in Xara Designer Pro X

The May video tutorial on XaraXone.com has been posted. Go Watch it then come back and share your patterns!

You might notice a pattern going on here: all is well, because Gary Bouton shows you how to create seamless tiling patterns with Xara Designer Pro X this month. Imagine being able to build an intricate image tile that fills any shape for any purpose. Stop imagining now! Download the tutorial Zip archive and tuck into this month’s tutorial video.

I watched that tutorial and it's awesome. Some mighty good tricks and tips there. Thank you Gare

Thanks, Larry.

Let me emphasize here that the Infobar cannot display a fractional amount for a potential tile, or Xara will anti-alias the difference in the fraction to the nearest whole number, blending the edge against the white of the document...and the result will be a visible seam when you go to tile the bitmap copy.

So: 450.3 pix by 226.1 pixels...not good.

but: 450 pixels by 226 pixels will get you there.

A seamless tile does'nt have to be square, but if you make a rectangle, each time you need to nudge horizontally or vertically, you need to set up a new nudge value that precisely matches the dimension of the rectangle...so square patterns are better (or at least easier).

And the "Magic Number" I used, 512, is only magic if you go back to when you could count memory or RAM. 256, 512, 768, 1024, and so on are integers that programmers and hard drive manufacturers and such use for sectors and blocks and you can probably dismiss this little fact now. You can make an 800 by 800 pixel pattern if you like and it will work if you follow this month's tutorial steps.

My Best, and let's see some pattern examples here,

Gary

Hey Gary & Barbara--thanks for the tut.

Tiles are fun to make. Here's mine. I'm feeling a bit nostalgic for the '60s of late.

Take care, Mike

That is wonderful, Mike, I mean it!

You created this by following the tutorial?

Ten points for you, Sir!

It reminds me one one I gave away in the Free Stuff section in January:

Attachment 89591

Groovy...

:)

Gary

The answer to the question is...yes and no. I mean, I did watch and follow the tut, but other than not typically using the 512px size like I did for the example, it is the same process I have used before.

The one main change I did to my previous process is I usually don't change the nudge to equal the background square. I did this time and, well, it *was* a bit easier <g>.

I'll be adding some more '60s tiles. Makes me feel like I have accomplished something while I await yet more catalog changes to arrive!

Take care, Mike

It's all good. If you create more than 10 you're happy with, I'd gladly add it to the Xara Xone archive, feature it, and let everyone share in the fruits of your labors, unless they're patterns of vegetables...

-g-

Oh, I'll probably get to ten, easy. Y'all can be the judge of ten worthwhile ones for inclusion.

Here's #2. Now, I gotta get some work finished.

Take care, Mike

duck soup

Well, I followed the tutorial, but things didn't turn out as I expected. I tried to be clever and make a tomato and cheese topping for the pepperoni and green chilli to sit on, but the plasma fill of the tomato/cheese would not tile - why I expected it to, I don't know. The blurry effect of the plasma fill made the pepperoni/chilli seem to float above the pizza base, so all-in-all not one of my better efforts.
Bob.

Larry: Try experimenting with the profile sliders on the fractal plasma fill to reduce the blur and maybe your toppings won't float.

Ok here is a tile from me I feel like playing with greens today (colours not food :) )so here is a tile from me

Attachment 89599

Hey Larry--I like the ethereal look of the pepperoni! If this version of your pizza pie is used as a scaled down repeating tile, the look is no longer a pizza (at a small enough size) but I like the look anyway.

Take care, Mike

@ Frances and Mike: The name's Bob, Larry's the magician, I'm just the sorcerer's apprentice.
@Frances: I adjusted the plasma profile already, so as to achieve the melted cheese and tomato effect.
@ Mike: I like your version, as we used to say, it's rather topping.
Bob.

Sorry Bob I have no idea why I called you Larry :o My brain is rather scattered today!

Heh, heh...and I just looked one post up from mine and followed right along--apologies!

Take care, Mike

I like that mwenz, yep def 60's, I had an old vinyl 45 cover just like that:D
Here's my effort, just a simple pattern, wanted to make sure I got the tut. right first now I'll try something more on the lines of the second one you did.

Stygg

@Handrawn—Nice! And subtle! :)

@ Bob—I didn't show anything that involved fractal fills because it's wicked hard to see exactly where and if they terminate...repeat. It depends on how a programmer makes a fractal written to screen; some terminate, some don't.

In any event, here's a workaround: you set the page size for the size you need to tile, and then fill it with the fractal of your choice.

THEN you add a seamless tile object on top of it, to complete an example such as your toppings there.

What I didn't cover, but should have, is that your bitmap copy of the tile can have a transparent background. Do your design, and then if you have a ClipView as I demonstrated, convert it to editable shapes and all the exterior parts will disappear. Then Ctrl+click the background object and delete it.

Then create a bitmap copy with Alpha. Now fill a shape with this new pattern and you can use any background you like behind it.

Attached is a poor example because I wasn't precise and there's a gap in the pattern, but you'll understand the principal better if you just download and examine it.

The offer is open to all: come up with ten excellent tiles you feel like sharing, and I will put them up as the Free Stuff of the Month on Xara Xone. No fortune, Fame is dubious, but I'm trying to negotiate extra Monopoly Contest tokens for you at McDonald's.

My Best,

Gary

@stygg—

Nice! Please do continue!

Gary

I just had to do a flowery tile :D

Hey Gary maybe we could do a collaborative tile collection, is that what you meant? You are welcome to use anything I post in this thread :)

Attachment 89631

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gare

@stygg—

Nice! Please do continue!

Gary

---

Well I know how to make a seamless tile now :D So I made another tile, nothing fancy, just for testing so to speak. The rectangle this time I gave a no fill and then applied clipview,then created a Bitmap Copy of this, True colour+alpha, placed it on another rectangle, which I'd gave a plasma fill, selected all, applied clip view and obtained the final image. Just for more colour gave the plasma fill an Alt Rainbow. So now can alter both images anytime.

Stygg

I'm seeing a lot of positive effort on this thread.

By the way, because the final tile is going to be a bitmap, you can, in fact, use masked bitmaps as repeating elements.

I already had two bitmaps trimmed, from years ago in Photoshop, but I use Xara practically daily to make refined, accurate image masks. You nudge imported photos exactly as you do vector shapes you draw. Or make a combination of elements.

Attachment 89637

-g

Here is another one from me. I used two plugins for this one, first I added noise to my background with Xara's add noise filter and I used Eye Candy 6 Chrome for the gold spirals.

I found that the noise plugin caused some anti aliasing which resulted in a white seam so to work around that I cloned my noisy background square and resized it big enough to cover everything and sent it to the back then when I created my tile the anti aliasing blended with the background and seam gone :)

Attachment 89644

Okay, while I am still logged on, I will present my feeble effort.

Not feeble at all, Seagull, although you're right—it makes me lean a little to the right while looking at it! :)

Free yourself up a little, seagull. Make the pattern elements different sizes and don't be afraid to nudge some elements off the background. In the tutorial, I wanted to suggest that a pattern doesn't have to look regularly spaced.

Frances just posted a nice one that looks asymmetrical. It's one of many ways to go; have fun, let's see some more from you, and thanks for posting!

My Best,

Gary

:D

Yeah, it is busy, for sure, it is busy. I was debating whether to call it dizzy or mal de mer (vomit), but seening how this is a family show I went for dizzy. However, I was basically trying for this effect instead of the random pattern which you showed on the tutorial and which everybody else is doing. I was just wondering if the technique could be used to create, for example, a plait pattern like on a kilt. I am not exactly sure if I have proved my point or not but I'm kind of thinking it can. A nice, soft, pastal plait could make a nice background for a web site was where my mind was at. And with that tongue twister I will bid you a goodnight

It's a nice one Seagull, but I'm not sure it will tile seamlessly...

Thanks, Steve!

That's a great pattern idea; it should spawn dozens of variations.

Attachment 89655

Seriously, though, aside from self-promotions, you can use the seamless tiling technique to create web page backgrounds of corporate logos for clients.

Attachment 89656


Our Xara Xone channel on YouTube uses a subtle one. Which took me quite a while to map out as an intricate pattern. It's not supposed to hit you over the head, but instead serve as a gentle reinforcement of name branding.

My Best,

Gary

Hello Guy

"It's a nice one Seagull, but I'm not sure it will tile seamlessly... "

Actually, that is a seamless tile, created exactly as the tutorial. I would never use anything like this myself outside of as a learning experience, but tone the colours down, get rid of the circles, perhaps change the black cross to red with a heavy black outline, a green line or two and I think it may turn into a plait.

Just a heads-up for everyone:

If you're going to post a seamless pattern, and you expect a member to download it and check it out—

Upload a zipped PNG, or the original Xara file. When TalkGraphics content manager or you convert a bitmap to JPEG, JPEG loses some of the original details when it compresses a copy, and sometimes the copy won't tile properly because of JPEG artifacting.

My Best,

Gary

Frank, my apologies for the misunderstanding. It's now clear that your first jpeg is composed of the second one. I took the first one to be the tile.

Mike did a 50s pattern or two previously, I like some of that period art style, so here's my tribute today; you can download a png of it—I used the Shape Buidler tool to do the calligraphic lines, but aligning them wasn't as easy as one would think.

Attachment 89661

—g

A little bit of flower-power created in version 8. The shape builder tool is pretty cool.

What I did in the attached XAR file is to "paint in" the color under the flower outline using the layer below the outline, so the colored in areas would be hidden by the outline. I can see this being a big boon to me.

The 3 screen shots show the PNG files that are below two clipped group variations.

I am up to eight, and I'll do four more for a choice of what to include in the ZIP Gary will put up on XaraXone.

Take care, Mike

Would it be cheating if I told you which ten of yours I'll pick?

:)

Hey, this offer is open to everyone. Gimme ten I like, I'll put them up forever on the Xara Xone's freeware page.

-g-

Mike, I slummed it, and offer another way, similar to what you proposed:

You put a layer on top of your drawing layer, and then every color shape you add, you do in Transparency>Stained Glass blending mode.

The Xar file attached used a drawing I stylized, filtered and then saved as a bitmap. Then the shapes on top are all Stained Glass. Which is fine only if you don't mind duller colors in areas that are not white on the bottom layer.

Attachment 89666

—Oooh, the colors, —g

that one I like a lot Gary - is it dull, or just 'pastel' ?, and the composition is great

good tiling one and all

Thanks handrawn—

Technically, chromatically, I'm not certain the effect is either dull or a pastel. "Stained Glass" is simply a renamed "Multiply" blending mode, which in photography is based around the real world subtractive color model. The result color is always darker than the color you begin with. So it's not a perfect solution for coloring in a B&W drawing, but it's interesting.

If anyone would like to more than a sensible person would (!) on the subject of Xara's Stained Glass mode, there's a well-written paper on it >>>here<<<.

Keep on posting, folks! Let's see if we can top the number of views we had back on January's tutorial!

My Best,

Gary

here is one I did to quickly replace the butt ugly desktop image that comes with windows 7 on my new pc.

Attachment 89679

Attachment 89680

Here is another one, this time I used bits and pieces of my Rhododenrons drawing and tried to artfully arrange them. I have also included the .xar file for the Daisies tile.Attachment 89684
Attachment 89685
Attachment 89683

You could use Live Copies so that as you edit an object on one edge the one on the opposite edge automatically updates.

And going further than that you could set up a 3*3 array of live copies of the whole tile design, so that everything you do in the centre tile automatically repeats all around and all the edge overlaps are done automatically. However, I've just tried that and it doesn't quite work. This needs a bit of thought...

Phil