HOME | DD
BrotherOfMySister — How To Make Tileable Textures
Published: 2010-07-20 10:59:39 +0000 UTC; Views: 6853; Favourites: 112; Downloads: 204
Redirect to original
Description
*DOWNLOAD FOR FULL SIZE*I decided to take a short break from my current projects and contribute a tutorial regarding textures, and how to make a tileable picture out of pretty much any image you can find.
Although it's under the 3D category, 2D artists might find it useful as well, and I certainly hope it's helpful for as many people as possible.
It's my first tutorial, so if you happen to have any questions, suggestions, or requests for more tutorials, I'll be happy to help.
Send me a message here in DA and I'll drop you a line as soon as I read it.
Happy texturing
Related content
Comments: 22
Thanks for this! I've been a 3D artist in DAZ for a while and I've always wanted to make my own textures. I understand the basics but I agree with HenrickeD that I'd also like to learn to texture patterns better. I will try your brief explanation first! Thanks!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I think you'll find this tutorial to be as informative as it is brief 
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
thanks! I will!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
You're welcome mate, glad to help
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Very good tutorial, answered a lot of texturing questions that I had.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I'm happy to hear that, I was hoping to cover as many aspects of the subject as possible
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
it was a pretty good for specific information in regards to how to make your own texture. All I really find is "take a photograph, crop what you need, and apply"
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yeah, that was the basic idea 10 years ago. The all-time-classic idea though, for most people, is to avoid sharing their knowledge at all costs, so that they can get some more distance between them and their upcoming "rivals" in the industry.
Fortunately, you only need to search, and you'll find plenty of tutorials, covering all subjects and coming from really great artists.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
You're most welcome
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
wow, that was easier than I thought. Awesome! Thank you very much!
I`d love to see a simple tutorial about tiling textures with patterns on them, know any?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Hmm, you're getting into some deep waters now 
If you already tried to make a tileable map of something more "technical", like a brickwall, you must've seen that it's rather hard, because photos always tilt a bit to the left or the right. Add the issue of perspective to that, and you have a nightmare in your hands. It is doable, but at a great cost of time. So here's my suggestion:
1. Find or make the pattern you want. If it's a stylised lily, like in medieval banners, it should be easy. If it's as complex as an islamic mosaic depicting flowers, open the picture of the pattern in Photoshop, see its size, then go to Canvas Size and add that size to the top and right of the canvas.
2. Duplicate your background layer, and drag the new layer to the empty space to the right of the original image. The edges of the two images should touch each other but not overlap, since the available room to the right of your 1st layer is equally big to its duplicate.
3. Do the same for the top. You should now have 3 images that leave the top right quadrant of the canvas empty, and lower left quadrant is occupied by your 1st layer (background).
4. Work on your background image only, and make sure that the end of its patterns touch exactly the beginning of the patterns of the other images. I know it's still a time consuming process, but it's the best - and possibly only solution if you cannot find a readily available tile of the pattern you're looking for.
5. When you're done, crop your background only and save. Then copy it into the texture that you want, make it repeat as much as you want, and you're set. In other words, you'll have a tileable map inside another tileable.
I hope I didn't bore you, and I certainly hope you're not dissapointed by the length of this procedure. If anything I wrote is unclear of confusing, tell me and I'll clarify
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
wow, I wasn`t expecting such a detailed reply, thank you very much! I`m not bored at all, I`m still mastering photoshop and how to make the most of the things you can do with it.
I understand point 1 - 3 perfectly. The only thing is, with the 3 quadrants being on top and on the right, wouldn`t the left side and the bottom side of the background image still be unfitted for the tiling? Or do you work on them too, after pt. 4 by repeating step 1 - 3 for a left and bottom quadrant of your background image?
Thanks again for your effort
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
No, because when you tweak the left side of your image, what you're actually doing is make that side match perfectly the right side. Hence, when you tile your texture, the right and left sides will be seamless. The same goes for the top. When you tweak it to perfectly meet the bottom, or vice versa, you're achieving a perfect tiling. So it's needless to work on all 4 sides, since working on 2 yields the final result
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
ah, of course! Thanks for clearing that up!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
wow this will be handy!
let me know if you upload any tuts on making textures from scratch in PS
oh and i 
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
That's its purpose my friend, to be useful
Hmm, making textures from scratch is a little vague. Which part of the procedure gives you a hard time? Or, what sort of texture are you trying to make, and for what kind of scene?
If I'm going to make a tutorial about the basics of texture-making, the best way is to present an example, like I did with this one. So I may as well use your case to explain stuff as best as I can.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
i just mean generally making textures for any scene using photoshops inbuilt functions
i suppose dirty metal panels are what i need to learn at present
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Cool, I'm currently practicing on that myself. I believe I can upload a tutorial about that within the next 36 hours. It should be interesting
👍: 0 ⏩: 0