Creating Tileable Textures

Introduction

This tutorial how to create tileable (repeatable) textures using Photoshop.

Texture based on a photo

Open the photo or image in Photoshop.

Tip: You can use the Perspective option in the option menu of the Crop tool to get rid of any perspective in your image.

We want to be sure the edges of the image will match. For this we shift the image tile in 2 directions and then adjust the edges.

Check the resolution - the image in this example is 1400 x 936 pixels.

Go to Filter > Other > offset

We want the image to offset 50% so we can check the edges. So we'll offset 700 by 468 pixels. Now the original edges are in the center of the image. Now you can see that the edges don't join up very well.

Use the clone tool to adjust the centre of the image (where the original edges are now located).

The centre in now adjusted and if we tile the image the edges are no longer clearly visible. But some of the very distinctive elements in the image, make that you can easily spot that the image is tiling.

By cloning away the obvious repeating elements the effect can be reduced. The texture is adjusted and the obvious tiling has been reduced.

The effect can be reduced further by using layering techniques in Maya shaders, mixing the file texture with a fractal or noise texture.

Texture from scratch

There are numerous ways to create textures from scratch. Some useful tools in Photoshop:

• Edit > Define pattern in combination with Edit > Fill > Pattern
• Filter >
  • Render > Clouds
  • Noise > Add noise...
  • Texture > Craquelure
  • Texture > Grain
• Edit > Adjustments > Levels, Hue/Saturation, Color balance