Do repeating patterns show a border in Photo by default?

[Joe S.]

I made a repeating pattern, which looks perfect in Designer when using it as a bitmap with the fill tool.

In Photo I place the pattern image into a document, select it, and then choose Create Pattern From Selection. It repeats perfectly, except there is an obvious 1 pixel border around the pattern - even though it’s the same file I used with Designer’s fill tool.

Does Photo add a border to patterns in a pattern layer by default, or am I doing something wrong?

[NotMyFault]

This old pixel alignment issue.

in Designer, just switch to pixel view mode and the same issue will become visible (after creating the pattern layer in Photo).

activate snapping, force pixel alignment on, all other off. Align edges of image to integer positions, inspecting with transform panel.

Same when creating an selection, ensure integer positions are used.

the „border“ is the effect of antialiasing the layer edges, leading to partial alpha. To check, use channel panel and activate alpha channel only. You will see that the borders are shown darker than the rest, alpha is below 1.

[Joe S.]

Thank you! I think I can get by using the fill tool since it allows for easy resizing & adjusting the angle. Is there a benefit to using a pattern layer instead?

[NotMyFault]

Both tools differ in certain aspects:

• pattern layer allows to edit the pattern on the fly. Fill tool requires saved bitmap file.
• one of them allows to modify the extension method (on iPad currently, so check yourself)
• brush tool allows to use symmetry tool with pixel brushes

 

[Joe S.]

Awesome, thank you.