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PHOTOSHOP • SYMMETRYSHOP

REPEATING PATTERNS
Patterns can be used in a number of ways to create intricate repeating images that can be put to a multitude
of creative uses. Hannah Gal uses Photoshop and SymmetryShop to demonstrate the possibilities

There are several ways to create

patterns in Photoshop, such as
ON THE CD duplicating a Shape or using a Fill, Define
You’ll find all the files Pattern or one of the application’s many
you need to complete this fantastic brushes. But if you’re after even
tutorial in the folder
marked Tutorial\Patterns
greater control, it’s worth trying Artlandia’s
on this issue’s CD. SymmetryWorks or SymmetryShop.
The first proved an instant hit with
TIME NEEDED Illustrator users, and the company soon
2 hours followed it up with a version for Photoshop
INFO
users, SymmetryShop. Although presented
as a companion to the first, SymmetryShop
Hannah Gal is
a digital artist remains totally independent.
whose client As well as automating features and
list includes speeding up the whole design process,
such big Now use any of Photoshop’s Selection
names as Apple, Adobe,
MTV, British Telecom,
SymmetryShop’s patterns remain fully
editable throughout, so it’s possible at any
1 First open the file SymmetryOilFlower
Motif.psd provided on this issue’s disc.
3 tools to create a selection around your
entire motif. Open SymmetryShop and you
point, even after the design is complete, to
Getty, Photonica, Alternatively, you could use Photoshop will see a palette containing a range of ready-
The Independent, the revisit any previous step and practically Custom Shape tools or any brushes for a made styles. Click on the Glide Reflection
Guardian, Wwav Rapp rebuild the pattern. This kind of flexibility more free-spirited design. Here I used an oil button and set the Tiling Size to 2-4. Click OK
Collins, Amnesty, Sony is a designer’s heaven. painting created in Photoshop and reduced and return to Photoshop.
records, Kodak, JVC and In this tutorial I’ll demonstrate how it to size. Whatever you use, make sure your
10 Downing Street (the SymmetryShop can turn a simple ‘seed’ motif measures 200x200 to 300x300 pixels.
Blairs’ Christmas card!), element into an intricate repeating pattern
among others. Her
Adobe-commissioned
– starting with the basic automatic
film Breathe has won SymmetryShop repeats, and ending with
global awards, and MTV creative enhancement and export to
made a documentary on Photoshop. You’ll learn how to put many
its creation. This was of the automated one-click repeats to use,
followed by Savage, which adjust the Control Path, which is central
premiered at this year’s
to any SymmetryShop design, build
Edinburgh Film Festival.
Find out more at interlocking patterns, use Feather to smooth
www.hannahgal.co.uk. boundaries between neighbouring elements,
familiarise yourself with the many design When you create a pattern in Symmetry
presets, create your own background to the 4 Shop, the plug-in automatically saves
both the Control Path in the Paths palette
main design and export the finished design
and the SymmetryShop selection. This keeps
as a Photoshop pattern.
The last steps illustrate the seamless
2 Place the flower motif on to a coloured
canvas that has plenty of space for the
pattern about to be created. This is very
the design ‘live’ at all times, so you need not
worry about saving the path and selection, or
collaboration between Photoshop and the important. Use too small a canvas and ‘messing up’ the design. It remains editable
plug-in, as we turn to Adobe’s own filters SymmetryShop will warn you about image even after your pattern is complete.
and effects for enhancement. distortion due to lack of space. Position your
motif at the bottom left of the canvas, not
too close to the edge.

Illustration and tutorial by Hannah Gal

www.hannahgal.co.uk

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PHOTOSHOP • SYMMETRYSHOP
DROP AND
BRICK REPEATS
Half-drop, quarter-drop,
and fractional drop
repeats in general, are
built into SymmetryShop
and are of great
importance to textile
designers. To use them,
create your motif and
place it in the lower left 5 The Control Path sits at the heart of
SymmetryShop, and it’s the size and
8 Select the entire Control Path with the
Path Selection tool, drag it as a whole to
the left and rebuild the pattern. Your choice
area of the canvas. Now orientation of this Path that is used to build of style is only applied when you click OK, so
make a selection, open the pattern. You change the pattern by experiment with the styles on offer, such as
SymmetryShop and click adjusting the Path from within Photoshop. the Kaleidoscope pattern seen here. Click on
the Preview box. Choose Now open the Paths palette and choose the the Glide Reflection pattern to apply it, and
Half Drop from the long Direct Selection tool. return to Photoshop.
list of settings, and then
use the H/W/X/Y sliders
In Photoshop, open the Channels
in the SymmetryShop
palette to change the
distance between the
11 palette and delete the SymmetryShop
Selection channel. It will not be needed for
elements. You can set the next few steps.
drop fractions from half
to one-twelfth in the
Constrain Shift menu.

SELECTION EDITING
When you use a selection
to create a pattern, 6 Drag the top part of the path down to
your motif design’s ‘point of change’. In
9 The stems will now be lined together.
Return to the SymmetryShop palette
and, with Preview pressed, adjust the Height/
SymmetryShop keeps this case it’s just below the petals and above Width/X/Y settings to achieve the desired
both the Control Path the leaves on the stem. Experimentation is distance between elements. This can be
and the selection intact. highly recommended. Simply adjust the path a lengthy process, so be prepared to wait.
To edit the selection, in Photoshop and run the plug-in to see the
click on SymmetryShop effect. Click OK to return to Photoshop.
Selection in the Channels
palette, followed by the
Load Selection button at
the bottom of the palette.
In the Layers palette,
12 Now select the Gradient tool from
Photoshop’s toolbox and choose
Linear Gradient from the Options bar. Open
hide the SymmetryShop the Gradient Editor and choose the Special
layer. Editing can now Effects presets. Finally, choose the Green
be done via Photoshop’s preset and apply.
Select menu.

10 Before you add

interest to the
background layer, move to
SymmetryShop and apply
the Three Mirror Turn

7 When you reduce the Control Path’s

height, you will instantly decrease the
distance between pattern rows. To move
setting. This is a more
‘spacious’ design that will show more of the
background layer underneath. Make a copy 13 SymmetryShop will automatically
use the path that is still in place from
these rows to the left a little, drag the left of the SymmetryShop layer and name it the main design to create your background
side of the path to the left. This will widen it SymmetryShop Layer Copy. pattern. With the Clip at Control Path box
by 20-30 per cent. selected, apply the pattern to the background.
You might wish to increase the tiling size for
a clearer repeat.

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17 Now you can

add texture
to the background. Select the background
layer and go to Filter>Sketch>Waterpaper.
Set Fibre Length to 19, Brightness to 58, and In Photoshop, select SymmetryShop Layer Copy and change the
Contrast to 76. Your canvas might be a little
on the large size, and feel a touch sluggish,
20 Blending Mode from Normal to Hard Light. This will bring out the
oil colour texture on the petals, and enrich the design.
so be sure to work on a small selection first
before applying a filter to the entire layer.
AUTOMATIC POWER
You can now use SymmetryShop’s
14 Overlap and Feathering controls to
smooth away the tile boundaries. Open
Actions are one of the
most useful, yet often
SymmetryShop and, with Preview selected, forgotten, Photoshop
set Overlap level to 13 per cent and Feather features. Click on the
to 9 pixels. Again, experiment here with New Set button in the
different values to see what effect you create. Actions palette and, in
the New Action dialog,
type in ‘SymmetryShop’
as the name of your new
Action. Designate a

21 Activate one of the experimental

background layers mentioned in step
16. Set green as the foreground colour and
function key and select
the Command checkbox.
Now click Record and
white as the background and apply a Radial open the plug-in by going
Photoshop
18 filters are particularly effective at
this stage, so open the Filter Gallery and
gradient. Place this at the bottom of the
Layers palette. Copy the main Flower
Pattern layer and place it in between the
to File>Automate>
ArtlandiaSymmetryShop
before clicking OK. Click
experiment with different filter treatments. Radial gradient background and the original the Stop button in the
Add a painterly look to the flowers by pattern layer. Reduce its Opacity to 16 and Actions palette.

15 With the background layer separate,

your creative options for enhancement
are endless. Open Hue/Saturation and move
selecting Filter>Artistic>PaintDaubs and
setting Brush Size to 3, Sharpness to 3 and
Brush Type to Wide Sharp.
change its Blending Mode to Colour Burn.

the sliders to see how different coloured

backgrounds affect your design. 22 Once your
pattern is
finished, Photoshop
becomes your creative
palette. As you enhance
your creation, you might
wish to go back and
adjust the distance
between tiles or see the
new background under
a different pattern style.
The exported pattern
could also be used as
a really impressive bold
In SymmetryShop, click on Export.
16 Here I kept some of the backgrounds
generated through experimentation
as separate, inactive layers. The final
19 The pattern you created will be added
to Photoshop’s Pattern library and can now
brush stroke, as seen in
step 19.

selection was a deep purple shade. Choose be used in a multitude of creative ways. In
this shade and open SymmetryShop to adjust SymmetryShop, pressing Alt while clicking
X/Y settings, change the distance between the on the Export button switches it to Export As,
tiles and get the desired background look. giving you the option to name your pattern.

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