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There is no way I can spend the time to explain in detail all there is to know about creating good texture files, but I will at least get you started here. There are many computer graphics programs available, and you
do not need to spend big bucks to get one that will do a nice job. I personally use Picture Publisher 8 by Micrografx. You can download it for $50, or you can use Paint Shop Pro, which is a very popular graphics
program available as a free evaluation download. You can get the programs at the links below:
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You will need a scanner or a digital camera to get some digital images to work with. Say for example that you want to create a wood texture from one of your cabinet lines. You could take a picture of a door with a
lot of flat surface, maybe 16” square, and then scan the picture to create a bitmap. Save the image as a Windows bitmap file first, and then after all the editing is done you will save it as a JEPG file. If you are
using a digital camera, it will already be saved in the JEPG format. You can convert it to a Windows bitmap for edits and then convert it back to a JEPG. Why not edit it while in JEPG format? Because there is image
degradation each time it is changed and saved in the JEPG format. JEPG is known as a “lossy” file because of this.
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Editing the Image
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Once you have a bitmap to work with, you will need to adjust the resolution and file size. I always work with high resolution textures to get the most highly detailed and realistic rendering I can. If your image is
not somewhat square, then you can crop it to cut away some of it to make it square. Once you do this, you will adjust the size of the image to 72 ppi, and make it about 2.75” square. This is about right for a wood
texture.
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You could stop here and save it as a JEPG (with an extension .jpg) but you will not have a pattern matched texture as you can see here. To get the grain to align where the texture is stacked, there is some tricky work involved. Here is how
you do it:
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Zoom up on the image to at least 200% so it will be easier to work with
Use the Mask tool to draw a rectangular mask along the top of the image |
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You can see the white dotted line along the top of the image. Hit the keys CTRL - C and copy the masked image. Now click the Edit menu, and click on Paste As New Image. The masked portion of
the image will appear in a new window. Now click Image - Flip - Vertical
to invert the image. Now copy this image (CTRL-C) and then X out of the same masked image. Do not save when prompted.
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Click back on the original image so that it becomes the active window. Now paste the inverted image on top of the open image and move it clear down to the bottom and align it perfectly.
The textures will now align perfectly, but you are not done yet
Use the Clone
tool to feather the top of the newly pasted masked image into the original image. This is the tricky part! Use your artistic talent here! You need to blend the woodgrain from the pasted partial image on the bottom of your texture into the grain on the original image. |
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You should be able to produce an image that will seamlessly repeat by doing the above steps. Now you have a vertical grain texture for your cabinets. To make a horizontal texture for drawer fronts and moldings,
simply rotate the image 90 degrees and Save-As a different file name. This can be time consuming, but now you are able to create any texture you may need. E-mail me if you need more specific help.
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