Constructing geometric patterns
To construct a geometric pattern that tiles uniformly, first construct a geometric object with a center point, and paint the object. Then arrange copies of the object in the pattern you want, select the artwork, and define it as a pattern tile by dragging it to the Swatches palette.
To construct a geometric pattern: - Make sure that Smart Guides are turned on and that Snap to Point is selected in the View menu.
- Select the geometric object. For precise positioning, position the Direct Selection tool on one of the object's anchor points.
- Begin dragging the object vertically from one of its anchor points; then press Alt+Shift (Windows) or Option+Shift (Mac OS) to copy the object and constrain its movement.
- When the copy of the object has snapped into place, release the mouse button and then release the keys.
- Using the Group Selection tool, Shift-click to select both objects, and begin dragging the objects horizontally by one of their anchor points; then press Alt+Shift (Windows) or Option+Shift (Mac OS) to create a copy and constrain the move.
Select both objects (left) and drag to create a copy (right). - When the copy of the object has snapped into place, release the mouse button, and then release the keys.
- Repeat steps 2 through 6 until you've built the pattern you want.
- Use the Rectangle tool
to do one of the following: - For a fill pattern, draw a bounding box from the center point of the upper left object to the center point of the lower right object.
- For a brush pattern, draw a bounding box that surrounds the objects and coincides with their outer boundaries. If the pattern is to be a corner tile, hold down Shift as you drag to constrain the bounding box to a square.
Bounding box for a fill pattern (left) compared to the bounding box for a brush pattern (right) - Paint the geometric objects the desired color.
- Define the geometric objects as a pattern, following the procedure in Constructing simple patterns and defining patterns.
|