Seamless mode in PaintStorm Studio tutorial / Patterns

seamless mode and tiles for Paintstorm studio tutorial

How to use the seamless mode / tiles in PaintStorm Studio with brush strokes etc for pattern designs. You can set the seamless mode in PaintStorm studio via edit menu and seamless mode. You can then use the seamless mode with all the brush strokes to create stunning patterns in seconds in PaintStorm Studio. You can use the seamless mode with rulers in PaintStorm Studio. As soon as you select the seamless mode, you can see the pattern applied in the 8 slots around the original image frame. You can also use the free transform feature with the seamless mode. As you rotate and scale the layers using the free transform, the pattern also changes to reflect any brush strokes applied to that layer. You can also use the seamless mode in PaintStorm Studio with existing images opened via the file open command. The filters found in the filters menu can also be used in the seamless mode, though blur is less effective. You can also export the artwork from PaintStorm Studio to Photoshop (define that as pattern) as well as other applications. This tutorial shows you how to use the seamless mode in PaintStorm Studio to create amazing tiled patterns using the rulers, brush strokes, free transform, effects etc and how to use in Photoshop etc

start paintstorm studio
edit menu
seamless mode
apply brush strokes
file menu
save as PNG etc

Basics of the seamless mode

PaintStorm Studio is an amazing brush strokes application (please check their website) and you can use to create seamless tiles and stunning patterns using the tool's seamless mode.

The seamless modes means you can make wonderful patterns with the vast range of brushes included in the PaintStorm Studio application.

File / new in PaintStorm Studio
edit menu
seamless mode

The seamless mode is really quite unusual and displayed differently from other apps that I have seen. Instead of just displaying a single image, you can suddenly see multiple copies of the current document displayed (nine in total)

A fine line indicates the actual document. Select a brush tool (any of them) and apply and the brushes are then added in all nine displays. It is basic tiling, there are no flashy mirror options or hexagon grid tiling but it is still an effective approach to seamless tiles.

Using the seamless mode with rulers

paintstorm studio and brush options and seamless mode

PaintStorm Studio comes with a number of rulers which can also be used while in seamless mode

Select the brush tool
select the tool options (see the menu on the left)
select the ruler
select ellipse option
paint with different brushes in the seamless mode

Free transform and PaintStorm Studio

One of the more interesting options with the seamless mode is that you can also use free transform

edit menu
seamless mode
layer menu
new layer
apply brush strokes
edit menu
free transform
press return

You can rotate and scale etc the artwork and though it does sort of remove the seamless side of things, you can continue to apply brush strokes in seamless mode to add over the top of the transformed designs to make for more interesting tiles

Seamless mode with existing art

seamless mode with opened image in PaintStorm Studio

You don't have to use a new document and seamless mode as you can draw over and over and then go into seamless mode.

OK, it doesn't look as great but actually once you have add some additional brush strokes then it actually becomes part of the artwork and you can always mask the edges by smudging along the side or by using some of the more unusual erase brushes that come with the PaintStorm Studio.

See an example of a poser model imported into PaintStorm Studio and then used in seamless mode with paint brush strokes (after 1 brush)

Seamless mode and filters

warp tool and seamless mode and paintstorm studio

The blur filter (but less so the sharpen) is of no use with the seamless mode. However, you can use the warp and the smart color correction with the seamless mode in PaintStorm Studio to create subtle changes to the image.

The smart color correction is a nice tool which includes a number of options such as gradients, colorize, temperature, tints and more.

The warp tool works well with the seamless mode but just avoid the seams of the tile otherwise you will end up with a less than seamless mode or tile.

filters
warp
Click ok
Display warp panel
select the pin edges
select twirl etc (depends on what you want to do with the warp) and apply
click OK

Export to Photoshop

paintstorm studio into Photoshop seamless tile

PaintStorm Studio has a wonderful selection of paint tools and is a great addition to any creative toolkit. However, I generally like to use it combination with other tools and you can export the results to Photoshop

save
enter a filename with xyz.png (weirdly PaintStorm Studio doesn't offer a selection of filetypes and you have to tell it via the filetype what to save it as)
Open PNG file in Photoshop
Edit menu and define pattern
Use via fill content layer menu etc

Sources and references

1. Paintstorm Studio