Inkscape Tutorial - Seamless Patterns - Vectors
Inkscape Tutorial - Seamless Patterns - Vectors
Inkscape Tutorial - Seamless Patterns - Vectors
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Go!
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GOOD T O K NOW :
Vector patterns can be used and reused in ANY size. You can draw them as large or as small as you want vectors are scalable without loss of quality.
To have sharp edges the pattern should be draw in exact dimensions. I use a grid - and I use snap to grid
when drawing the base tile.
Most seamless patterns are squares. I draw my patterns normally in dimensions such as 100x100,
200x200, 400x400 and so on.
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Next we need to change the setting for the bounding box. Inkscape uses 2 ways to define a bounding box for
an object:
1. Visual bounding box, which takes the actual object including stroke setting into account;
2. Geometrical bounding box, which just uses the nodes of the object.
As we want to draw exact, and do not want to worry about stroke settings.
Change the setting to "Geometrical bounding box" in the Tools section of Inkscape Preferences
(Shift+Ctrl+P).
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Check the width and height in the Rectangle Tool - Tool Control bar, it should show exact pixel values (no
decimal values).
Set the fill of the rectangle to a light grey and remove the stroke.
Now perhaps a funny step as we deal with only one object, but GROUP the tile. Use Object > Group from
the menu (shortcut: Ctrl + G).
From now on I will refer to this tile as "base tile".
Choose Edit > Clone > Create Tiled Clones from the menu to bring up the Create Tiled Clones dialog.
If you have used this dialog before, it is wise to click the "Reset" button in the left lower corner, to clear old
settings.
Select the P1: simple translation from the drop-down menu on the Symmetry tab
Set rows and columns to produce 3 x 3 cloned tiles.
It is very important that the option "Use saved position of the tile" is checked. This allows us to move the
original, and expand it, without messing up the generated clones.
Click on the create button
Close the Create Tiled Clones Dialog.
You should now see the base tiled cloned 9 times. The base tile is still on the screen, it is below the first tile.
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I find it easier to move the original tile aside and just focus on decorating that tile, while I use the clones to
inspect the resulting work.
The base tile should still be selected after you closed the dialog.
Make sure that the status bar (notification area) reads "Group of 1 object" and NOT "Clone of: Group of 1
object". If a clone is selected, you can select the original again by using Shift+D.
There are many ways to move any object (mouse, arrow keys, transform). In this case it is easiest to use
Transform Dialog.
Select Object > Transform from the menu (shortcut: Shift + Ctrl + M).
On the Move tab: set a value of -200px for move horizontally.
Click on apply.
Now the base tile is separated from the clones and we can focus on decorating this tile.
At this point you can turn the grid off if you prefer to work without one (View > Grid) and you can zoom to a
level that you are comfortable with.
Any object you add to the drawing is now added to this group.
Add just a few simple elements to the base tile, draw at least one exceeding the border of the orinal square.
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The clones are automatically updated. As you can see I just added a few rectangles and gave one of them a
fill. I grouped the set, duplicated it, rotated it and moved it to the lower right corner.
As you can see it looks a bit like a jungle. Elements are cut off where the edges of the gray rectangles meet.
Now let's inspect what is going on.
Select (in the group) the grey rectangle and change the opacity to about 50%.
The clone in the centre is the ONLY tile that shares all overlaps with its neighbours! That is convenient as it is
usable as completed seamless tile (here indicated in Red).
The ONLY reason for use of the rectangle was to create a group with the size of the rectangle and to use that
group to define the base tile area. Once a tile is cloned, the original location and size of a tile cloned object
are stored, and Inkscape can use this data for later recloning.
As we have cloned the base tile, the contents of the group (including the rectangle) can be deleted or
repositioned without affecting the position of the cloned tiles. The GROUP we created originally must be
maintained however, as this is where Inkscape stores the original location and size for the clones.
Check the status bar to ensure you are working in the group.
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You can use filters on either the background or the base tile, or even on the cloned tiles after
grouping, to quickly create some very interesting textures.
Some filters require a background to work with. If the base tile has no background to work with:
simply draw a rectangle with any fill (outside of the group) below it, exactly as shown for creating
the solid background.
PR EPA R E F OR EX POR T
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Make sure the grid is visible again (View > Grid) and snapping to grid is enabled.
Check the status bar and ensure you'll work on the new "Export Mask" layer.
Draw a rectangle of EXACTLY 100x100px on the new layer and let it snap to the grid so it covers exactly the
centre tile.
I used a red fill with 50% opacity, no stroke. The colour does not matter as this object will NOT show in our
export.
With the rectangle selected: check the settings in the Control Bar at the top of the screen. You should see
only WHOLE numbers (no decimals), for both position (X and Y value) as well as dimensions (W and H
values). This ensures that the bitmap will be created at whole pixels value and eliminates some anti-aliasing
and artifact creation problems.
EX POR T T HE BIT MA P
With the rectangle still selected: hide the newly crated layer "Export Mask" by clicking on the eye-icon in the
status bar or the layer dialog (Shift+Ctrl+L).
Now the rectangle is not visible, but the selection is still active and is used to define the export area.
Open the export bitmap dialog from the menu File > Export Dialog (shortcut Shift+Ctrl+E).
Make sure that "Selection" is chosen as export area.
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Set an export size (at 90dpi it will be exactly as drawn: 100x100px). Change the resolution if you want a
different resulting tile size: 180 dpi results in a 200x200px tile and 45 dpi results in a 50x50px tile. The
bitmap size is recalculated and shown in the width and height fields.
Set an export location. Browse to an convenient directory and provide a logical name for your tile.
Click the Export button.
Note: although the browse dialog closes by pressing "save", the tile is not exported until you click
the Export button.
And there ya go, an nice (but rasterized) seamless texture for use in any pixel editor or other rendering
program. This bitmap can ALSO be used as pattern or tile for cloning in Inkscape - but it is now a rasterized
object.
All the geometrical seamless patterns that we offer for free download were created using this method.
As I do not want to mess with my original tiles (maybe I want to expand it later for alternative textures) I
make a duplicate of the cloned tiles:
Select all cloned tiles using a selection window (rubberband selection). Do not select the base tile.
Use Edit > Duplicate from the menu (Ctrl+D).
Open the transform dialog: Select Object > Transform from the menu (shortcut: Shift + Ctrl + M).
On the Move tab: set a value of -400px for move vertically. Click on apply.
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If you also copied the rectangle in the background, delete it. Look at the status bar to check if you select
the right object.
Hold down the Alt-key if needed to select an object that is under another one.
The copies should still be selected.
Select Edit > Clone > Unlink Clone from the menu, or click this button
Now the clones are no longer clones but turned into stand-alone objects. The status bar should read:
When we exported the seamless pattern as bitmap, it did not matter if the design was part of one or more
cloned tiles. We just defined a rectangle as an export area and that was all there was to it. However, if we
want to create a single seamless tile, we must add all the design elements to this single tile. The only tile that
has overlap with all its neighbours is the centre tile.
I will explain the process step by step, but it basically comes down to:
1. Maintain the centre tile as a group.
2. Ungroup all other tiles and move the overlapping objects to the centre tile group.
3. Delete all the extra objects that are not part of the centre tile.
And now step-by-step.
After unlinking the clones in the previous step, all objects are selected.
Hold down the Shift-key and click on the group in the centre to deselect it. This excludes the centre tile
from selection, check the status bar to make sure that now only 8 objects (of type group) are selected.
Ungroup the contents of the tiles in the selection using Object > Ungroup from the menu (shortcut:
Shift+Ctrl+G). Repeat this step as often as needed for your design.
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The ONLY interesting objects are those that overlap with the centre tile.
Select the overlapping objects. Select a first object, then hold down the Shift-key to add the other objects
to the selection.
Open the centre tile group by double clicking or use the right mouse button on object and select "Enter
group" from submenu.
Check the statusbar to make sure you work on the group.
Note: as we made a duplicate of a cloned tile groups, the group indication may be changed to
#usexxx instead of #gxxxx. Do not let this confuse you.The indication # still indicates that you
work on an individual (in this case grouped) object and not on a layer.
Select Edit > Paste in Place from the menu (shortcut: Ctrl+Alt+V). This will paste the objects that were cut
to clipboard in place, meaning in the exact location where we cut them from, but as we now work in the
grouped center tile, they'll be part of the group.
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C LIP T HE T ILE
Only one step left: clip the tile so it becomes seamless. For this we want again a 100x100px rectangle.
Remember that I told you to keep the original gray rectangle and just remove the fill to make it invisible?
That is because I wanted to use it for the next steps. I can use it as a background, but it also will be a perfect
clipping path.
Note: if you deleted the rectangle, you can just turn the grid on again (View > Grid) and draw the
rectangle again.
Open the group by double clicking (or right mouse button on tile and select "Enter group"). Check the layer
indication in the statusbar, it should start with "#" (either #g or #use).
Select the rectangle. As there is no fill, this may seem like mission impossible, but if you press the Tab-key
repeatedly you'll see that it loops through all objects witin the open group.
Note: pressing the Tab-key loops through all objects in the active layer or active group. The layer
indication in the status bar determines the scope.
Give it a fill if so desired and move it below the other objects in the group if needed by pressing the
End-key.
Copy the rectangle to the clipboard by selecting Edit > Copy (shortcut: Ctrl+C).
Leave the group by selecting Layer1 from the layer indication in the status bar.
Paste the rectangle from the clipboard in place. Select Edit > Paste in Place from the menu (shortcut:
Ctrl+Alt+V). Note: it should NOT be part of the group!
Select both the grouped tile and the copied rectangle. The rectangle should be on top.
Select Object > Clip > Set from the menu.
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Now there is one IMPORTANT thing to take into account. For some unknown reason, the tiled clone editor
ignores clipping. So even while we made a nice tilable clone and clipped it to 100x100 exactly, upon tiling it
will create something like:
Not exactly what we had in mind. But this is very easily solved with the XML editor. This may seem a bit
overwhelming - but it is not that hard.
Make sure that the option "Use saved position of the tile" is checked in the Create Tiled Clones dialog. Leave
this dialog open.
Your base tile should still be selected. Make sure that the status bar (notification area) reads "Group of x
objects" and NOT "Clone of: Group of x objects". If it got deselected, remember it is under the first clone.
Select it by using Shift+D if you selected a clone.
Now open up the XML editor from the menu Edit > XML editor.
The editor highlights the selected object immediately, in our case the base tile. It should look similar to
this:
In this window you'll see the width and height for the tile set as:
inkscape:tile-h 152.52793
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inkscape:tile-w 152.52793
Note: These values will differ for you, as they come from the bounding box of the unclipped tile.
We KNOW we made the tile for 100x100px. So it is easily corrected.
Select each of these attributes, from the list, change the value to 100 and click on the Set button.
Your screen should look something like this:
R EMA R KS
1. When you render patterns like this on the screen, Inkscape does display gaps between the patterns at
some zoom-levels. This is just a display problem and will not show in your export.
2. Once you have saved the corrected size to the base tile, these modifications are available for future
use. You can save this tile as a base tile pattern a library file. I collect tiles like these in .svg files and
call these "libraries". When I want to use one of these tiles in a design I simply copy it from the pattern
file to a new document and use it there.
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C OMME NT S
+2
# Guest 2010-06-12 03:05
Hi,
Thanks this tutorial is really awesome and I think that the gab problem that you fixed using the
xml editor is now gone in 0.47 as I have tried your tutorial step by step and I did not encounter
the gab.
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Thanks alot
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+2
Thank you!
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# syllie
Hi Ben,
2010-12-04 08:08
I am glad this tutorial was of use for you. Inkscape offers quite some nifty features to support
pattern creation. But as I said before some things are open for improvement.
I have not tested all the functionalities in the newer version of Inkscape yet (Inkscape 0.48.1
is about to be released) but I know there are changes to the renderer. Some of the indicated
problems may have disappeared and that sure will make life easier.
Cheers,
Syllie
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0
# Todd 2011-05-29 06:57
Wow, this is one of the most helpful Inkscape tutorials I have seen yet. I learned several things
from this. I struggle with creating graphics for websites, and the simple tip about changing the
way Inkscape calculates the bounding box was priceless.
A thousand thank yous.
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Cheers,
Syllie
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0
# Dave 2011-06-12 20:53
Yes, this is an *outstanding* tutorial for an amazing app. This functionality is not at all intuitive
(to me at least), but your description was easy to follow, and gave me lots of food for thought.
The world now needs to brace itself for a flood of crappy tiles :)
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# syllie
Hi Dave!
2011-06-13 17:21
Inkscape is indeed an amazing app and it allows those with the smaller budget to create
awesome vector art.
Cloned tiles is one of the most powerful tools in Inkscape and indeed not that intuitive. I am
glad that this tutorial geve you some pointers. Looking forward to see some of your creations.
Feel free to add links in comments - I'll review and update to show the image during
moderation (files need to be hosted elsewhere).
Cheers,
Syllie
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I'm using Inkscape 0.48 and that could be the problem as features may have been combined.
Is there any chance that you'd update this for 0.48 or can direct me to another version of this?
Perhaps a video, with voice?
Thank you!
Thanks
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0
# Joyce 2011-10-12 02:35
Thanks so much for this lovely tutorial! I appreciate the detailed explanations and screenshots --
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0
# Joyce 2011-10-12 02:51
Apropos my earlier trouble with decorating the base tile -- I started over and this time it's
working just fine. I must not have grouped things properly last time. Mea culpa! :)
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0
# ChrisR 2011-11-13 03:06
Very thank. Helped a lot finding a way to work with simple hatches (lines, dots, etc.) and colors of
them. However I had a small gap between 2 adjacent patterns. This was resolved only making
the tile big (long) enough.
I hope Inkscape will introduce Patterns Fill with easy editing of Scale, Rotation and Fill-Edit
(Colors etc.).
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-1
# JamieC 2011-11-17 14:16
Very useful tutorial. Thanks very much! Currently using 48.2, and although the cloned tiling issue
seems to be fixed in this version so that it correctly sets the tile width and height, I am having
problems if I try to make a pattern of the tile (using Object > Pattern > Object to pattern). After
applying the pattern to an object, it appears to display correctly at first, but then will only repeat
across a portion of the object if I try to re-scale or rotate the pattern at all. Your tutorial seemed
to suggest that it may still render correctly even if it didn't display correctly, but exporting to png
or printing fails to display the pattern properly. I'm not sure whether this is just me (ie my
computer) or whether this is an issue that others also have with patterns. Very grateful for any
insights.
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0
# syllie 2011-11-22 16:29
Hi Jamie,
Thanks for your feedback. This is the one tutorial on the site that I both love and hate. I think
thise functionality is so much required and it gets so little development love... so in general
there are quirks and bugs, some get fixed, some reappear in a next release. Some issues are
outstandings since early days.
Make sure that you have the toggle on the ToolsControls switched on so that patterns
transform with an object. Also indeed not all output formats render the pattern correctly. Tav
writes a bit more about that in his manual.
Also read a bit more about the related bug here.. it links to other bug reports.
[url = answers.launchpad.net/.../...
Not much to contribute I guess... but I hope it helps anyways.
Cheers,
Syllie
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0
# Fuddle 2012-10-03 14:16
Thanks for the great tutorial.
If I may- of course there are many ways to skin a cat, or tile seamlessly- however I feel your
tutorial is a touch on the too technical side for many graphic designers who work in print media
(dummies like me!).
Secondly- there isn't much commentary or evaluation on this method functionality in as in true
WYSIWIG on the final physical printed material.
I am often highly frustrated that the super-old school (hat-tips to Herr Durer and Herr Gutenberg)
physically carving a $2.50 stamping roll takes less fiddling; provides a far better and repeatable
result (albeit with the associated tediumm of messy/nuisance prep & clean-up) than wasting
hours creating truly seamless vector patterns- especially very complex motifs as per traditional
Chiyogami or wallpaper wooden rollers (see Cole & Sons as an example).
Sorry to blab on- but
What has worked best for me is The Old School method of manually creating objects and
positioning them manually, layer by layer then flattening.
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Thank you for your comments. I have combined them both in a single post if you dont mind :)
I agree that there is more than one way to make seamless patterns. I also think that
Inkscape, whilst it is offering all neccesary tools, is not the easiest program to do that. But as
this site is about Inkscape - I did include it. I also specifically included my reservations about
these techniques in the first paragraph :)
What is good to know is that currently the developers are working on the tiling interface, and
hopefully some annoying issues in displaying the results may finally be solved.
Anyways.. going back to your critique...
I do make silk screen prints and I do certainly know what you mean by creating repeatable
results.
I use another (cheap) vector capable program for repeatable patterns, which basically takes
out all the complete tiling part of this tutorial (as it automatically tiles). The results can be
exported to several formats which allow for easy printing to film and other media. Export also
includes export to PSD layers (for the photoshop fanatics). Tho the program is not that
actively maintained, it might be very much suitable for your purposes. There is a 30 day trial
period so I can only invite you to test it for free. Pattern Studio
I hope this helps,
Cheers,
Syllie
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10/4/2013 10:33 AM
http://verysimpledesigns.com/vectors/inkscape-tutorial-seamless-patterns...
Cheers,
bathi
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0
# Dede Pujayadi 2013-07-01 21:08
6. CREATING A CLIPPED SEAMLESS VECTOR TILE, At this step I can not begin to follow the first
point is: Select all cloned tiles using a selection window (rubberband selection). Do not select the
base tile. I've tried it over and over again, but still did not produce work like drawing tutorials
instance
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0
# Dede Pujayadi 2013-07-01 21:14
6. CREATING A CLIPPED SEAMLESS VECTOR TILE
What if you want to use a similar tile but in vector format? Then we do need to do some further
work.
The Export mask layer stays hidden as it is not relevant for this step.
DUPLICATE AND UNLINK CLONES
As I do not want to mess with my original tiles (maybe I want to expand it later for alternative
textures) I make a duplicate of the cloned tiles:
Select all cloned tiles using a selection window (rubberband selection). Do not select the base tile.
Use Edit > Duplicate from the menu (Ctrl+D).
Open the transform dialog: Select Object > Transform from the menu (shortcut: Shift + Ctrl +
M).
. At this step I can not begin to follow the first point is: Select all cloned tiles using a selection
window (rubberband selection). Do not select the base tile. I've tried it over and over again, but
still did not produce work like drawing tutorials instance
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