Carbon copy from crop box is an excellent way to quickly repeat a textile design which has been scanned in
Open a document to be put in to repeat and drag a crop box over a single repeat of the design. Try to be as accurate as possible.
Tip: If you know the actual repeat size double click the Crop Tool and enter the measurements directly and then simply drag the crop box to the optimum position (where it cuts through the least number of important motifs as possible).
- Hold down ^ (control key) and click inside the crop box and select Crop To New Document from the contextual menu which appears.
- The cropped area will open into a new document. Put this document into repeat using the Repeat Window. We recommend using a 2 x 2 repeat whilst editing repeat joins. Remember to apply a repeat drop if needed, and tick Frame First Repeat. This will help you to identify the repeat join. It can be turned off at any time if the frame interferes with your editing.
- Select the Carbon Copy Tool from the Tools Palette and change the Source popup menu in the settings pane to Crop Box.
- Click into the original design, hold down the ⌥ (option key) and click once somewhere on the design to define the source of the carbon copy. It doesn’t matter where you click as long as it is within the original design.
- Click back in the new document and fix any areas within the design that do not join correctly on the repeat edges.
Tip: To aid the fixing process, view your new and original files side by side on the screen so you can see the cursor position on both. The source location (shown with the cross cursor on the original document) will be mapped to your new document using the crop box area as its initial guide. This allows you to copy from the area outside the source crop box and enables you to fix the design more effectively.
- Press the arrow keys on the keyboard when using the Carbon Copy Tool in this mode to make the source cross move within the design by the exact amount of one repeat. When working on the top to bottom repeat join for example, press the up or down arrow keys once and the source cross will offset by the vertical repeat distance so that you can copy from the other edge of the original design.
The left and right arrow keys can be used in the same way to fix the sides. The software will automatically calculate any drop which is set. If you get lost when navigating with the arrows, simply press the esc key on the keyboard to reset the source point to its original position.
- Continue working in this way with the Carbon Copy Tool, moving the source point from one repeat edge to another using the arrow keys to choose the best information from the original document. For example, you may find that a particular motif on the side repeat is better painted in the original on one side that the other, but perhaps further down the repeat the best motif is on the opposite side of the original. This method allows you to pick and choose what looks and works best in the new design.
- Once you are happy with the whole repeat, discard the original file and save the new one.