The Pattern studio
A 2D workspace for making textures, with seamless tiling.
The Pattern studio is a 2D canvas for making textures, patterns, and image overlays. Open it from the Patterns tab on the home screen by selecting the New card, or by selecting Edit on a card you already have (or double-tapping it) to change it.
The New pattern card
The start window (New pattern) has an optional name and a required kind, listed under Pattern type:
- Pattern: A standard repeating tile.
- Tiling photo: An imported image made to repeat seamlessly (e.g., masonry, fabric).
- Photo texture: A square imported image kept whole (no seamless pass) for stamping in one spot.
- Make a pattern sheet: Opens the sheet workspace to gather photos and video frames on one sheet; Done opens it as a 256×256 Photo texture. See Pattern sheets .
- Sticker: A 2D picture with see-through parts, stuck on figs as a flat part. See Stickers .
- Mural: A 2D picture with see-through parts, made for scene walls.
- Wall texture: A tall tile (1:1.5). Has its own 3D preview.
- Ground texture: A horizontal repeating texture made for terrain.
- Border: A border for your shots, made for one shape, with see-through parts. Selecting this kind shows the aspect ratios, and you must select one (1:1, 4:5, 16:9, 9:16, 3:2).
Selecting Tiling photo or Photo texture opens the blank canvas with the photo import window already open to load your image. Free tier accounts can have up to 5 patterns across all kinds. Reaching the limit shows the Free tier limit reached. window. It also blocks new ones from every way in (New pattern card, Duplicate, starter Make it yours, community Remix, making from the Idea planner , adding built-in stickers/murals, and opening a file). Patterns made on a Learn card, and built-in stickers/murals added during a Learn card, do not count toward the limit; the other ways in still count during a Learn card.
The canvas
The workspace has the same tools as Paint on one flat 2D canvas: brush, shape, fill, dither, lasso, and layers. Some tools change to suit the kind you selected.
The header shows the kind, a name field (24 characters at most), a resolution toggle, a layer toggle, Undo, Redo, and Done. When one row would run into Undo, the resolution and layer toggles move to a second line under the name. The row under the header has Solid ▾ (Transparent ▾ when that is selected), Photo, Text, and Help. Help has Tap for hints, Show me around (plays the studio’s first-use walkthrough again), Report a bug…, and About Ünflat…. See Getting around .
The resolution toggle shows the current grid size (e.g., 32×32). Select the chip to change the size: 16×16, 32×32, 64×64, 128×128, or 256×256 (Ultra fine · bigger files); non-square kinds scale the height. Changing the resolution resizes the drawing and can lose detail; Undo restores the old drawing at the new size. Starting sizes vary by kind: drawn patterns start at 32px, a Tiling photo and borders at 128px, all other kinds at 64px. Wall textures are always 1:1.5 (64x96). Border height follows the chosen aspect ratio (e.g., 128x72 for 16:9). The resolution menu hides sizes that would make the longest side bigger than the 256px limit.
The Solid | Transparent dropdown sets the fill of the tile’s empty parts. Solid places a solid cream background under all layers. Transparent removes the background, showing see-through areas as a checkerboard. Stickers and murals default to Transparent, and so does a Photo texture made from a pattern sheet (Make a pattern sheet › Done), so the sheet’s empty space stays see-through. Borders start with a see-through window filling the middle 70% of the canvas, with a cream border around it. Switching between them is one Undo step (Undo and Redo restore the dropdown with the pixels); Transparent clears every cream pixel, while Solid fills all see-through pixels with cream.
The Eraser has Erase to: Color turns erased pixels back to the cream background; Transparent makes them see-through. Stickers, murals, wall textures, and borders default to Transparent. Patterns, ground textures, and photo textures default to Color (Transparent when the tile already has see-through pixels). The Lasso’s Clear to works the same way. See-through parts of a wall texture stay see-through in the 3D scene (e.g., you can see through a barred window in the wall).
For Pattern and Ground texture, pen strokes that go past the edge of the canvas wrap to the opposite edge so the tile repeats seamlessly, in every Pen mode (Draw, Smudge, Spray, Jumble, and Blur). Fills that touch the edge spill across the wrapped seam. Lasso selections moved past the edge wrap the same way. All other kinds stay inside the canvas edges.
The Transparent ink
For kinds that can be see-through, the Color palette starts with a Transparent swatch (checkerboard icon). It paints see-through, not a color. Selecting it sets all tools to paint see-through (cutting holes). Select any color swatch to paint in color again.
The layers
The layer toggle opens the same layers as Paint: Paint, Sketch, Details, and Wear, with Photo on Sketch… and Clear layer. Tools paint only on the current layer; the other layers stay visible for reference. The Sketch layer is only a guide and is never exported. Wherever the pattern is used, Details and Wear show flattened onto the Paint layer; the saved pattern keeps each layer, so they are still separate when you open it again. Effects aren’t available for patterns. See Layers .
The view
Two fingers move the canvas: pan, pinch to zoom (0.5× to 8×), and rotate (snaps every 15°). A Recenter button appears when the view moves from its starting position. Zooming in a lot shows a small map in the corner. Grid lines change with the zoom. A wide press (a resting palm) is ignored. On a computer, the mouse wheel zooms.
The preview card
- Pattern and Ground texture: The card shows a Tiled ×4 preview so you can check the repeat. The SLIDE IT · WRAPS AROUND section has arrow buttons (←, ↑, ↓, →) that slide the current layer one pixel per tap, wrapping around the edges. Edges to the middle slides the tile 50% over, moving the seams to the middle so you can fix them by hand. Select it again to slide it back. Blend the edges blends the outer 12% of each edge into the opposite edge to hide seams in painted or imported images. Presses add up, and Undo removes them. If the edges already match, nothing happens, no Undo step is added, and it shows The edges already match, so there was nothing to blend. When it works it shows Blended the edges into each other. Press again to blend more, Undo to take it back.
- Wall texture: The card shows an On a wall 3D preview, with the texture on a wall. Drag the card’s 3D view to rotate the camera around it. The OPENING row (Plain, Door, Window, Garage) cuts an opening in the wall to preview the texture around it.
- Sticker, Mural, Photo texture, and Border: The card, titled with the kind’s name, shows one unrepeated preview at the tile’s own aspect ratio, updated live.
Tap the card header to collapse it; tap again to expand. On small screens it starts collapsed. On tight screens the canvas moves so the card doesn’t cover it. When the Photo card leaves too little room for the tile, the preview card collapses until the photo is put away. It also hides while a tool’s settings or the colors are open.
The tools
The toolbar matches Paint : Pen, Fill, Eraser, Shapes, Dither, Lasso, Color, and the separate Pattern tool. Fill has Shape (the connected area of one color) or Whole pattern (the whole tile). See Paint for tool settings, Fill , Smudge , and Palettes .
Photos and stamps
Photo opens the Add a photo window (Take a photo, Camera roll, Type words, Make a pattern sheet). Imported images are on the table under the canvas. The photo has the usual controls (move, size, turn, flip). For the paint under it, select Keep the paint (the photo goes over it) or Transparent first (clears it to see-through first). A pattern sheet starts on Keep the paint. Pin to face pins the image corners to the canvas corners (skipping the All faces / Single face choice needed in 3D Paint). Magic cut cuts away one color, with a range you set (Less, Normal, More). Tap the canvas to stamp the photo on. The image stays on the table for more stamps; select ✕ to clear it. Selecting Done while an image on the table hasn’t been stamped stops and shows: The photo is not on the tile yet: tap the tile to put it on, then Done. See Photo , Magic cut , and Pin to face .
For Pattern and Ground texture, stamping an image that fills the whole canvas runs an automatic evening-out pass, smoothing out changes in light and blending the edge seams so it repeats seamlessly.
The Pattern tool stamps your patterns, ground textures, photo textures, starters, or Community patterns onto the canvas the same way. Its dropdown has Your patterns (patterns and ground textures) and Your photo textures as separate choices. Flattened figs load from Photo › Your figs: flattened.
Saving and using
Select Done to save. Closing a new pattern you didn’t change doesn’t save it. Closing a saved one with no changes (strokes, moving, sizing, see-through, or renaming) skips saving. Saving shows a note for its kind (e.g., Pattern saved or Sticker saved). Saving changes to a pattern, ground texture, or photo texture you already had shows Pattern saved. Figs already painted with it stay as they were. (with its kind’s name): figs keep their paint, and scenes that use it show the change. Saving a pattern again keeps its marks: Learn-made and example patterns stay outside the free limit, a shared pattern keeps its applause, and a remix keeps its credit. Plain patterns go to Your patterns; other kinds go to their own shelves (Your stickers, Your murals, Your wall textures, etc.). Wall texture thumbnails show the opening selected in the 3D preview. To change a piece’s shelf after saving, use Shelf ▾ with the Select tool on the Patterns tab. See The Patterns tab .
Stickers automatically get a flat 2D shape (at most 6 units on the longest side) in the Add tab’s Stickers… picker.
Each kind shows in these places:
- Patterns and ground textures: In the Color tab’s Pattern tool, the Pattern stamp in Paint, scene building surfaces, and the material wells in World › Build.
- Wall textures: Only in the material wells in World › Build under Your patterns.
- Photo textures: Only in the Pattern stamp in Paint, under Your photo textures in its dropdown.
- Stickers: Only in the Add tab’s Stickers… picker.
- Murals: Only in the Mural tool at the top of the Build page.
- Borders: Under Your borders in the border picker, which opens from Camera › Framing › Border in a scene and from a clip’s Camera Border page. Each one shows its picture, name, and aspect ratio. A border can be selected only while the Camera is set to its shape; selecting one never changes the Camera.