Stepping and repeating is a method which takes an element (either a selected motif or a whole file) and repeats it a chosen number of times. The method and the window which controls it may appear very similar to the Repeat Window but the big difference is that the Repeat Window only displays your design in repeat, letting you edit the design and fix the repeat joins, where as Step and Repeat physically changes the repeat of the selected motif or whole design. This means when Step & Repeat is used on the whole document, the document size increases.
Stepping and repeating motifs
This function allows a selected area or motif to be repeated within the design. You can also set an angle on the stepped and repeated motifs if required.
This is a great method for putting small motifs or patterns into repeat quickly and allows you to produce designs, such as polka dots, with minimal time and effort.
- Select the motif you want to repeat.
Note: If you want the motif to repeat throughout the whole document, you should move the selected motif into the top left hand corner of the document. To do this (with the motif selected) go to Edit Menu > Select > Move. The following window will open:
In the Destination position, leave the Across and Down settings at 0,0.
In the Document origin settings, select Left and Top and click OK. This will move the selected motif into the top left of your document.
- Select Step & Repeat from the Edit Menu. A sheet will open showing the size of the selected motif in the fields at the top of the window.
To make sure your motif repeats correctly across the design and across the repeat joins, you need to change this size to one that divides equally into the size of the document.
The measurements of the selected motif are effectively irrelevant because you are setting the spacing of the motifs, not the size of the motif. The only exception to this rule is if you want to place the motifs exactly next to each other with no spaces. In this case, you need to make sure that the original selection is an exact division of the repeat size so that you do not have a problem when it steps out at the repeat join.
- Enter the number of repeats you want into the ‘To’ columns, and specify a repeat drop if needed.
Note: If you are applying a drop to your repeating motifs, -1 should be entered into the Down / From dialogue box. This ensures one motif is repeated up the design, filling any unwanted holes in the repeat when the drop is applied.
- Click OK and the selected motif will repeat across the design the specified number of times with the chosen spacing and repeat drop.
Tip: To make this process quicker, work out all the different divisions of your typical repeat sizes and keep them to hand for future use. For example, in a typical repeat size of 52cm x 32 cm, to repeat a motif 4 times in a single repeat, the spacing needed is 13 across and 8 down. To repeat the motif 5 times, the spacing is 10.4 across and 6.4 down and to repeat 6 times, it is 8.67 across and 5.33 down, and so on. If you do this for each repeat size you work with you will find that Step & Repeat becomes a very quick and simple process to use every time.