Creating a geometric tile pattern for surface designs

Arranging a design into tiles

Creating the tile template Adding smaller tiles to an existing tile layout Creating a grout between the tiles Pasting textures into the mask layers Colouring the layers in the tile layout to correspond with the original texture design

Arranging a design into tiles is very easy in AVA. They can be created from scanned artwork, or from separated designs. You can also use basic selections, or Partial Images to develop the layout of your design. This article explains how to use both workflows.

Creating the tile template

You need the dimensions of your individual tiles, and create a new document based on those dimensions. In the example below, the main tile size is 12 inches, but of course you need to replace this size with your own when following these instructions.

Go to File Menu > New > Document and create a new file at 12in x 12in, using your required resolution.
Set Mode to 8 bit Spot.
Press OK.
Go to View Menu > Grid...
Set the origin of the grid to 0,0, and the size of the grid to 2 x 2 inches.
Tick Snap to and click OK. It is not necessary to show the grid at this time.
Double click on the Line Tool in the Tools Palette and set the size of the line to 10 pixels, and click OK.
Holding down ⇧ (shift key) on the keyboard, draw a diagonal line from the top left and corner to the bottom right hand corner of the design.

Delete

Note: By snapping the line to the grid, we are guaranteed to draw a line between the two exact corners of the document.

Select the Bucket Tool from the Tools Palette. Pressing K on the keyboard will automatically select this tool.
Set the Tolerance to 0 and the See to Visible Layers.
Click in the bottom half of the design to flood to area with colour.
Go to View Menu > Grid to open the Grid Settings and untick Snap To.
Go to View Menu > Repeat to open the Repeat Window. Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut ⌘B.
Set the number of repeats to 2 across and 2 down.
Open the advanced controls by clicking on the disclosure triangle and set the mirror to the vertical and horizontal, highlighted in the image below.
Your design will now look like this:
Go to Edit Menu > Select All (⌘A).
Select the Crop Tool from the Tools Palette, or press the X key on the keyboard to automatically select the tool.
Hold down ^ (control key) on the keyboard and select Set From Selection from the contextual menu.
Hold down ^ (control key) again and select Crop One Repeat from the contextual menu.
Go to View Menu > Repeat to open the Repeat Window (if you closed it after Step 15), and set the mirrors to standard.
Set the number of repeats to 2 x 2.
Your design will now look something like this:

Adding smaller tiles to an existing tile layout

In this example, we are going to add some smaller tiles to to the above layout.

Go to View Menu > Repeat to open the Repeat Window.
Set the number of repeats to 1 x 1
Double click on the Measure Tool in the Tools Palette and select the two Centre options as shown in the image below, and press Set.

This will set your 0,0 ruler origin to the centre of your design.
Go to Window Menu > Geometric Tools and select the Rectangle tab.
Enter the size you want in the dialog boxes. In this example, we are applying a 45º angle.
Tick Centre at Ruler Origin and click Select. A selection of your chosen size will appear in the design.
Add a new layer to your design and make it a different colour to your first layer.
Go to Edit Menu > Fill, or use the keyboard shortcut ⌘6 to fill the selection.
Activate the first layer (in this example, the black layer), and press ⌫ (backspace key) on the keyboard to delete the information from that layer that sits within this selection.
Select the Measure Tool from the Tools Palette and press Reset to reset the ruler origins.
Using the Repeat Window, put the document into a 2 x 2 repeat.
Go to Separate Menu > Make Blotch. This will create a mask layer for what is currently white in the example above. Recolour this layer if necessary.

Delete

Note: If you want to place another tile in the middle of the document, you can repeat Steps 1 - 12, but work in a 2 x 2 repeat. Keeping the document in repeat will set the ruler origin to the centre of the repeat, placing your new tile exactly where you want it.

Creating a grout between the tiles

If you want to add a grout layer between the tiles you have created using the steps above, this can be done using the Selections Palette, History Window and the Gripping Window.

Go to Window Menu > Selections Palette and click Offset Repeat. This will automatically put your design into a 2 x 2 repeat, and place a selection which is the size of a single repeat, but offset over the repeat joins.
Go to Window Menu > History to open the History Window.
Click on the padlock of the second last step, and then click back on the Select Offset Repeat step to bring the design back into repeat.
Activate all the layers in the Layers Palette.
Go to Window Menu > Gripping to open the Gripping Window.
Click on the Rectangular tab and enter a small value in the Amount dialog box. In this example we have selected 0.2mm.
Click OK. Depending on the size of your document, a progress bar may appear. When the progress bar disappears, zoom into the document and note there is now a small overlap between all layers.
Go to Edit Menu > Select > Overlaps. This will create a selection of the overlapping areas.
Add a new layer in the Layers Palette and colour accordingly. Name the layer if you want this layer to be easily identified from the others.
Go to Edit Menu > Fill, or use the keyboard shortcut ⌘4 to fill the selection created in Step 8.
Use the keyboard shortcut ⌘D to remove the selection.
Use the Repeat Window to put the design back to a single repeat. Alternatively, use the One Repeat button in the toolbar of the Design Window to do this. You may have to customise your toolbar and drag this button to it first.
If you closed the Selections Palette after Step 1, re-open it.
Drag the grout layer you have created to the Selections Palette.
In the History Window, click back on the step you locked in Step 3, and unlock it. But stay on that step. Going back in history like this reverts the design to a stage when all layers where butt-fitting, meaning there were no overlaps between the mask layers.
Drag the selection you added to the Selections Palette in Step 14 to the Layers Palette. This creates a layer for your grout, which sits over the butt-fitting mask layers.

You are now ready to start pasting textures into the mask layers.

Pasting textures into the mask layers

Open the texture you would like to paste into your tile layout, and activate all the layers you want to copy in the Layers Palette.
Go to Edit Menu > Select All, or use the keyboard shortcut ⌘A.
Go to Edit Menu > Copy, or use the keyboard shortcut ⌘C.
Click back into the tile layout design and activate the mask layer you want to paste the texture into.
Go to Edit Menu > Select > Snap, or use the keyboard shortcut ⌘/.
Add as many 8 bit layers as there were in the design you are copying from. In this example we will add three layers.
Activate the 3 new layers, making sure none of the mask layers are activated. Be certain the selection created in Step 5 is still active. If not, repeat Steps 4 - 5.
Go to Edit Menu > Paste Into. The information from the texture design will copied onto the selection and onto activate layers.
Select a selection tool from the Tools Palette such as the Lasso Tool.
Use your cursor to drag the selection around until you and happy with how the texture sits within the document.

Repeat Steps 1 - 10 to complete the tile design.

Delete

Note: If you are using several texture designs to complete your tile layout, you can activate existing layers in the tile layout document, instead of creating a new set each time. This means you will end up with fewer layers, and less work to do within the Combine To Layer Window to reduce the layers down to comply with production limitation.

Colouring the layers in the tile layout to correspond with the original texture design

Click in the texture design.
Open the Swatches Palette by pressing on the button highlighted in the image below.
Drag each layer colour to a chip in the Swatches Palette.
Click back into the tile layout design.
Drag the colours from the Swatches Palettes to the corresponding layers.

AVA Knowledge

Creating a geometric tile pattern for surface designs

Arranging a design into tiles

Table of Contents

Creating the tile template

Adding smaller tiles to an existing tile layout

Creating a grout between the tiles

Pasting textures into the mask layers

Colouring the layers in the tile layout to correspond with the original texture design

AVA Knowledge

Table of Contents

Creating the tile template

Adding smaller tiles to an existing tile layout

Creating a grout between the tiles

Pasting textures into the mask layers

Colouring the layers in the tile layout to correspond with the original texture design

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