Rip a texture from a photo

Make a pattern from a photo of wood, brick, or fabric. The pattern can be applied to any fig.

1. Add the photo

On the home screen’s Patterns tab, tap the New card and select Tiling photo. The Pattern studio opens on the Add a photo popup. The tile starts 128 pixels across, so the photo keeps its detail. Tap Take a photo, or select one from Camera roll. The Make it yours step opens with two tabs: Frame it and Warp it. (In a pattern you have open, Photo under the title row opens the same popup.)

2. Frame it

On Frame it, drag the photo until the part you want is inside the frame, and pinch to zoom. An approximate fit is enough; the next tab sets the corners.

3. Warp it

Tap Warp it. It opens zoomed to the framed area, with four dots. Drag each dot onto a corner of the patch you want. Press and hold a dot and a loupe opens over your finger with the frame lines visible, so you can place the dot on a mortar line. Pinch to zoom in for the corners.

If straight lines in the photo look bent, slide Lens until they look straight.

4. Use photo

Press Use photo. The patch is cut from the photo and squared, and it is placed on the photo table under the tile. Slide it with the cross chip, and shrink or grow it with the minus and plus chips, until it covers the tile. Tap the tile to stamp it. A photo that covers the whole tile is made seamless as it is stamped: its light is evened out and its edges are blended into each other. Press Done at the top of the studio. (Pressed before the photo is stamped, Done keeps the studio open and shows The photo is not on the tile yet: tap the tile to put it on, then Done.) The pattern is saved to Your patterns . It can be applied to faces, floors, walls, and pattern sheets.

5. Move a dot and stamp again

While the photo is on the table, tap Photo again. The Make it yours step reopens with the dots where you left them. Move a dot, press Use photo, and tap the tile to stamp it again. The photo is not kept with the pattern: after Done, a new photo starts from the popup.

One photo can give more than one pattern: the brick wall, the wood door beside it, the stone sidewalk under it.