adobe photoshop for textile design

We've provided this sample to give you a feel for some of the basic techniques taught in our book "Adobe Photoshop for Textile Design". To see a list of more advanced textile design techniques covered please go to www.designtextile.com . Please note that even the more advanced textile design techniques in the book are taught in this clear and easy to follow manner. Included with the book is a CD with practice textile images and color charts. With these tools in hand you should be up and running in a very short time.

5. Coloring your design

After you've mastered the basic concepts of color reduction it's time to move on to the fun task of coloring your design.

   At the moment you changed your design from RGB mode to Indexed color mode you gained access to a miraculous thing. The "Color table".

   The Color table allows you to change individual colors in a fast and easy manner. This is the reason why you struggled to color reduce your design in the first place. So that YOU can have it easy.

1.      Start with an opening an image that has already been color reduced and is in Indexed Color mode.

2.      Click on Image drag down to Mode drag over to Color table. The Color table window will open up. In the window will be the colors that you have previously reduced to along with a bunch of grayed out boxes.

3.      Click on one of the colored boxes in the Color Table. The Color Picker menu will pop up.

4.      Towards the right-hand side of the Color Picker you will see several options for mixing your colors. The one that is most commonly used is H, S, B (hue, saturation and brightness). Select the number next to the H (by dragging your cursor over it) and change it. You can pick any number from 0 to 359.

Adobe Photoshop Color Picker

Change the numbers next to the S and B. You can pick any number from 0 to 100. For demonstration purposes choose numbers close to 100. Click OK.

5.      Click on the next colored box on the Color table and repeat steps 4 and 5.

6.      When all the colors are changed to the ones you want click OK.

   Merging color positions

   If you still have too many colors in your design there is a technique for merging colors. Or in other words taking two colors and collapsing them into one color position. Try the following.

1.      Start with opening an image that has already been color reduced and is in Indexed Color mode.

2.      Click on Image drag down to Mode drag over to Color table. The Color table window will open up.

3.      Click on one of the colored boxes in the Color table. The Color picker menu will pop up.

4.      In the Color picker menu type in the H, S, B values for the color that you want. Click OK.

5.      Click on one of the colored boxes in the Color table that you want to merge with the first one. The Color picker menu will pop up again.

6.      In the Color picker menu type in the same H, S, B values that you had typed in step 4. Click OK. In the Color table menu click OK.

7.      Now Click on Image drag down to Mode drag over to RGB color.

8.      Now Click on Image drag down to Mode drag over to Indexed color.

9.      Change Palette to Exact then click OK.

"PRESTO!" Your two color positions are now merged.

Again don't forget to SAVE YOUR DESIGN!

Creating a square repeat by using the Offset Filter

   Creating a repeat using the Offset filter is the most versatile and commonly used method for creating a repeat in PhotoShop. It requires some juggling between color modes but once you get the hang of it, it's rather quite easy.

1.      Start out by opening a design that is in the Indexed color mode.

2.      Change the color mode to RGB.

3.      Click on Filter, drag down to Other then drag over to Offset.

4.      The offset dialog box will pop up. Make sure that the Wrap around function has been selected. Make sure that the Preview box has been checked.

5.      Change the numbers in the Horizontal and Vertical boxes to 1000. Your design should now appear offset. Which means that there should be a vertical seam in your design and a horizontal seam in your design. If you don't see a seam in your design then keep changing the numbers next to the horizontal and vertical boxes until you to see a seam appear towards the middle of your design. Click OK.

6.      Click on Image drag down to Mode drag over to Indexed color make sure that the word Exact appears next to the word Palette and then click OK.

7.      Using your drawing and selection tools change the cut off motifs that are next to the seam so that they appear whole and part of the design. This last step will require some practice.

When you're done with step 7 repeat steps 2 to 6 to double check and see if your repeat is working.

The book "Adobe Photoshop for Textile Design" is part of the The "Origin inc. Textile design collection". The Origin inc. Textile design collection was intended to give the designer the references and tools needed to create a compelling and complete textile collection.

Adobe Photoshop for Textile Design by Frederick L Chipkin

Not enough? If you would like to see more sample pages from Adobe Photoshop for Textile Design just go to Google Book Search http://books.google.com/ and type in Adobe Photoshop for Textile Design or type in the ISBN# 0972731709.