User guide

Painting and Drawing 135
To paint with a pattern:
1. Select the Pattern Tool from the Tools toolbar's Clone Tools flyout.
2. On the Context toolbar, choose your brush attributes (see PhotoPlus Help)
and click the Pattern thumbnail to display the Patterns dialog. To select
from various pattern categories, right-click any of the thumbnails and
choose a different category from the bottom of the flyout menu. Simply
click a pattern to select it. Other right-click options let you edit the pattern
categories or add new patterns from stored bitmap files.
3. To paint, drag with the tool on the active layer (or in the current selection).
The Aligned check box in the Context toolbar determines what happens
each time you begin brushing in a new place. If checked, the pattern
extends itself seamlessly with each new brush stroke; if unchecked, it
begins again each time you click the mouse.
Creating your own patterns
The built-in selection of patterns in the Patterns dialog provides a useful starting
point, but you can also create your own patterns from any selection, or even the
whole image. And take a look at the Tile Maker effect if you have a relatively
small sample region (like a patch of grass) and want to produce a pattern from it
that can be tiled seamlessly over a broader area.
For best results, you'll need to scale your image, or size your selection, so
that the pattern is of a suitable size from which to tile from.
To create a new pattern:
1. Define a selection if you wish, and choose Create Pattern... from the Edit
menu.
2. To store the pattern, select a user-defined category from the dialog's
Category drop-down menu (or keep with the default My Patterns
category).
3. Click OK.
A thumbnail appears in the category gallery, ready to brush on (or use as a brush
tip texture or fill) at any time. Right-clicking any pattern lets you rename the
pattern categories or add new patterns from stored bitmap files.