TUTORIAL: Seamless textures using PS Created 17 years ago2006-11-29 16:20:56 UTC by Xyos212

This is a tutorial for making any photo/texture tile to be used in almost any 3D application. Software used is Adobe Photoshop CS2. The example texture is from the internet. Basic knowledge of layers and the clone tool is required.

Say you have a texture or photo and you want it to tile. There are a couple ways to go about this. Photoshop’s “filter>other>offset” method works fine, but it’s difficult to exclude the clone tool distortions from all 4 quadrants of the image. Also it will never be symmetrical on all sides. I will show you a method which is quick, and very effective.

First, we start with a picture like this one:Now, if I lay them across each other, you can plainly see the image does not tile.From here we will start with the sides first, then the top and bottom.

I will list the steps in a row for clarity.

1) Use the rectangular selection tool to select either the left or right side of the image. Illustrated below:Don’t make the selection too big, because you will lose detail from the original image.

2) Copy the selection (ctrl C), then paste it into a new layer.

3) Move the copy to the opposite side of the image, (holding shift while moving moves it in a perfect line) and hit “ctrl T” to get a transform box. Right click in the box and go to flip horizontal. This will flip the selection horizontally. Hit enter to apply.4) Click both layers and merge them. Use the clone tool to clone out the seam. I suggest a soft feathered brush with hardness at about 24%. (right click when on clone tool for those options)

5) Repeat the process for the bottom and top. Now I selected the top, and will now repeat the process of copying the selection, transforming it (ctrl T), flipping VERTICALLY (DON’T FLIP HORIZONTAL, ONLY HORIZONTAL FOR THE LEFT AND RIGHT) hitting enter, moving it to the bottom, and cloning out the visible seam gently.

6) Now the texture is finished. We can tile it and it will repeat smoothly without any seams, and without any clone tool distortions. I suggest taking more time than I did with the cloning of the seams, because it will look a lot better. You can see now how it tiles from the picture below:The key is to not be able to see any symmetry distortions on the edges of the texture. With some cloning practice that will come easily. I find this method a lot easier than any other method I have encountered.

Thanks for reading, and hope it helped you out.

If you have any questions my e-mail is xyos212@yahoo.com
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Nice, but I have GIMP 2, not PS.

Gimp has the same transform features I believe, and also has a clone tool. (I could be wrong, I dont have experience with GIMP) but It should all be possible with GIMP

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Filters > Offset > (half the dimensions so it puts the seams in the middle)
Heal brush. Paint them away. Offset to reset the texture.

That is so much easier and turns out more naturally. You don't get that kleidoscope effect on the edges.

There was already a thread about this a while back.

Rimrook, I already mentioned that method above. The healing brush still leaves distortions on the edges. This way lets actual elements of the original texture remain.

The "kleidoscope" effect is due to that I didnt take my time cloning since its made for a tutorial, not in-game. If it was in-game I would of took entire rock faces and moved them along the edges.

Im not saying this is the only way. Im giving an alternative to that method (which isnt that great BTW) and other methods.