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<h3 class="title"><a id="gimp-patterns"></a>4.10. Patterns</h3>
</div>
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<a id="id3312673" class="indexterm"></a>
<p>
A <span class="emphasis"><em>pattern</em></span> is an image, usually small, used
for filling regions by <span class="emphasis"><em>tiling</em></span>, that is, by
placing copies of the pattern side by side like ceramic tiles. A
pattern is said to be <span class="emphasis"><em>tileable</em></span> if copies of
it can be adjoined left-edge-to-right-edge and
top-edge-to-bottom-edge without creating obvious seams. Not all
useful patterns are tileable, but tileable patterns are nicest for
many purposes. (A <span class="emphasis"><em>texture</em></span>, by the way, is
the same thing as a pattern.)
</p>
<div class="informalfigure">
<div class="mediaobject">
<img src="../images/using/patterns-usage.png" />
<div class="caption">
<p>
Three ways of using the "Leopard" pattern: bucket-filling a
selection, painting with the Clone tool, and stroking an
elliptical selection with the pattern.
</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p>
In GIMP there are three main uses for patterns:
</p>
<div class="itemizedlist">
<ul type="disc">
<li>
<p>
With the <a href="ch03s06s02.html" title="6.2. Bucket Fill">Bucket
Fill</a> tool, you can choose to fill a region with a
pattern instead of a solid color.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
With the <a href="ch03s03s08.html" title="3.8. Clone Tool">Clone</a> tool,
you can paint using a pattern, with a wide variety of
paintbrush shapes.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
When you <span class="emphasis"><em>stroke</em></span> a path or selection, you
can do it with a pattern instead of a solid color. You can
also use the Clone tool as your choice if you stroke the
selection using a painting tool.
</p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p>
Note: Patterns do not need to be opaque. If you fill or paint using a
pattern with translucent or transparent areas, then the previous
contents of the area will show through from behind it. This is
one of many ways of doing "overlays" in GIMP.
</p>
<p>
When you install GIMP, it comes presupplied with a few dozen
patterns, which seem to have been chosen more or less randomly.
You can also add new patterns, either ones you create yourself, or
ones you download from the vast number available online.
</p>
<p>
GIMP's <span class="emphasis"><em>current pattern</em></span>, used in most
pattern-related operations, is shown in the
Brush/Pattern/Gradient area of the Toolbox. Clicking on the
pattern symbol brings up the <a href="ch04s11.html" title="11. Patterns dialog">Patterns dialog</a>, which allows
you to select a different pattern. You can also access the
Patterns dialog by menu, or dock it so that it is present
continuously.
</p>
<p>
To add a new pattern to the collection, so that it shows up in the
Patterns dialog, you
need to save it in a format GIMP can use, in a folder included in
GIMP's pattern search path. There are several file formats you can
use for patterns:
</p>
<div class="itemizedlist">
<ul type="disc">
<li>
<p><b>PAT. </b>
The <tt class="filename">.pat</tt> format is used only by GIMP, so
you will not find patterns in this format unless they were
created specifically for GIMP. You can, however, convert any
image into a <tt class="filename">.pat</tt> file by opening it in
GIMP and then saving it using a file name ending in
<tt class="filename">.pat</tt>.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><b>PNG, JPEG, BMP, GIF and TIFF. </b>
New in GIMP 2.2 is the ability to use
<tt class="filename">.png</tt>, <tt class="filename">.jpg</tt>,
<tt class="filename">.bmp</tt>, <tt class="filename">.gif</tt>, or
<tt class="filename">.tiff</tt> files as patterns.
</p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p>
To make a pattern available, you place it in one of the folders in
GIMP's pattern search path. By default, the pattern search path
includes two folders, the system <tt class="filename">patterns</tt>
folder, which you should not use or alter, and the
<tt class="filename">patterns</tt> folder inside your personal GIMP
directory. You can add new folders to the pattern search path
using the <a href="ch04s18s16.html" title="18.16. Data Folders">Pattern
Folders</a> page of the Preferences dialog. Any PAT
file (or, in GIMP 2.2, any of the other acceptable formats)
included in a folder in the pattern search path will show up
in the Patterns dialog the next time you start GIMP.
</p>
<p>
There are countless ways of creating interesting patterns in GIMP,
using the wide variety of available tools and filters --
particularly the rendering filters. You can find tutorials for
this in many locations, including the <a href="www.gimp.org" target="_top">Gimp home page</a>. Some of the filters
have options that allow you to make their results tileable. Also,
the <a href="ch06s02s07.html" title="2.7. Tileable Blur">Tileable Blur</a>
filter allows you to blend the edges of an image in order to make
it more smoothly tileable.
</p>
<div class="informalfigure">
<div class="mediaobject">
<img src="../images/using/pattern-script-examples.png" />
<div class="caption">
<p>
Examples of patterns created using six of the Pattern
script-fu's that come with GIMP. Default settings were used
for everything except size.
</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p>
Also of interest are a set of pattern-generating scripts that come
with GIMP: you can find them in the Toolbox menu, under
<span class="guimenu">Xtns</span>-><span class="guisubmenu">Script-Fu</span>-><span class="guisubmenu">Patterns</span>.
Each of the scripts creates a new image filled with a particular
type of pattern: a dialog pops up that allows you to set
parameters controlling the details of the appearance. Some of
these patterns are most useful for cutting and pasting; others
serve best as bumpmaps.
</p>
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