How can I create a perfectly repeating pattern with my Adobe Capture Pattern in Photoshop?

[amym7851539]

I have created a whole library of beautiful patterns using the Adobe Capture mobile app and have been having a blast creating them.  I now want to use these to make products such as fabric on my desktop using Photoshop.  To do so I need to create a repeating pattern.  By repeating what I mean is that if the square is copied and pasted 4 times those pasted squares can be arranged along the 4 sides of the original square and it will create seamless pattern. (This is easy to create using the Offset Filter if you are using actual objects to create the pattern, but in this case I am using patterns created with Adobe Capture).  Spoonflower for example asks for a 1200 x 1200 square at 150 ppi that repeats.  If I make a square this size in Photoshop and then click Library > Patterns I can fill this square with my pattern.  The problem is that it is not filled as a repeating pattern--I have tried adjusting the zoom it is imported at and I cannot get it to fill such that it repeats.  I also tried cropping after filling to finds the seams, but I am just eyeballing it and it is time consuming and results in a non-perfect repeat.

Thanks for your help!

PS It is a little clumsy constantly going back & forth from phone to desktop to do this--is there a version of Adobe Capture or a pattern maker plugin like this that can be used within Photoshop to make the various kaleidescope-type patterns from image samples?  Thanks.

[Sue Garibaldi · Accepted solution]

Hi Amy.

A similar question came up a bit ago in this post. Although she didn't say what her end goal was, I believe she wanted to use it in the same way you do... to get an endlessly repeating pattern. One of the forum ACP's came up with a pretty easy set of steps for her here: Repeat tile

If I'm understanding you correctly, pasting that repeat tile into a new Ps document will I think get you the endlessly repeating pattern you're looking for.

Sue.

[amym7851539]

Hi Sue,

Thanks so much for your help!  I actually found your solution (phone) to work better for me than Semaphoric's (desktop) because in the desktop solution the pattern only gets replicated as a repeating tile if the original file was a perfect square.  It seems that some patterns generated by Capture use rectangles, etc. and when you use the Preset pathway sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.  Alternatively going back & forth from the phone is more clunky, but it works every time (export as pattern tile).

I believe the most time efficient way to generate the repeating tiles (since I have many of them) would be if there was a correlation between the pixel dimensions of the image being filled and the % scale of the pattern fill when you do this directly from the Library, i.e. create a 10" x 10" 300 ppi blank image, single click the pattern in Library and it automatically fills the image with the pattern, BUT depending on the scale with which you fill, it the edges change and it is almost never able to be repeated.  If there was a quick way to use the Photoshop Library itself to export a single square, repeating tile reliably like you can with Capture that would be ideal . . . I love this Capture App--I wish it was available on desktop so I didn't have to go back and forth Air Dropping & emailing myself the images.

Either way I am up and running, so thank you for your help!!!

Amy

PS You should check out my husband's Garibaldi paintings!  https://www.nickmayerart.com/search?page=1&q=garibaldi

[Sue Garibaldi]

Hi Amy.

I'm glad exporting the pattern tile from the app is working for you (I actually thought Semaphoric's process worked really well, but it could have had something to do with the patterns I tested).

This topic does come up every once in awhile, so I will definitely share your request to have that tile available in the Libraries panel in the desktop apps. It's a great idea.

I love your husband's drawings; I'm pretty enamored with this fish.

Sue.

[Sue Garibaldi]

Amy.

Also, I forgot to mention... Take a look at the latest version of Capture (4.0); it has a new export function for Pattern tiles that might be helpful to you.

Sue.

[amym7851539]

OK great thanks Sue!

I actually have another question--I'm trying to layout cards 4 up on a sheet using Actions.  I set guides to where the cards need to line up on the sheet, then I start recording the Action: paste a card, align it  to the guide, & repeat 3 more times, then save.  The idea is that precisely aligning the cards to the guides takes a lot of time and the Action should do this quickly & automatically.  When I then play the Action it pastes the 4 cards and aligns them to each other, but not to the guides--it is as if it does not "see" the guides at all.  Any suggestions?

Thanks so much!

Amy

[Sue Garibaldi]

Hi Amy.

This sounds like more of a Photoshop question; you might want to ask it here: Photoshop

Sue.