Adobe Photoshop ships with an impressive library of patterns to create textures and surface effects. Sometimes, however, the available patterns won't work for that custom effect you need. Or you may remember creating a great pattern, but you can no longer remember where you stored it. You can create custom libraries from your own patterns to use whenever you need.
Instructions
1. Open a Photoshop document. Drag "Guides" to define the area of your pattern tile.
2. Create your tile. You can use any selection and as many layers as you need. Pay special attention to how the tile edges are defined so that the pattern will repeat seamlessly across any selection area.
3. Save your document in case you must edit your tile. Flatten the image into a single layer and copy the tile area to the clipboard. Create a new empty layer and select all of the empty pixels in the new layer.
4. Load the "Patternmaker" filter. Don't worry if the preview window looks empty. Check the "Use Clipboard as Sample" option, and then "Generate." Your pattern will fill the window, and you will see the tile in the smaller "Tile History" window. If your pattern doesn't tile quite right, choose a different offset setting and try again.
5. Scroll through the "Tile Preview" window to find the best version of your pattern. Click on the disk icon just underneath the tile preview to save your pattern preset. Name the pattern and click "OK" to return to the document window. Repeat this process to create as many pattern tiles as you want for your library.
6. Choose "Fill" from the Edit menu and use "Pattern." Click on the triangle next to the custom pattern icon to preview the available patterns. Click on the smaller triangle in the preview popup window to open the Presets Manager.
7. Hold down the "Shift" key and select the your custom patterns and click on "Save Set." Photoshop will save your custom patterns with its default libraries for you to access at any time in the future. You can also save your library to another location on your hard drive.
