Seamless Welder takes a selection and makes it seamless on all four sides for a tileable image. Aside from the straightforward useful stuff that can be done with it, there are additional tricks and manipulations using multiple overlays of seamless welder. WeΓÇÖll look at some of the tricks of the Weld Trade.
To begin, letΓÇÖs review the basics: HereΓÇÖs the straightforward procedure:
ΓÇó Select an area.
ΓÇó Apply Seamless Welder (use keypad numbers for strength!)
ΓÇó Make it a pattern
ΓÇó Fill image with pattern.
This illustration shows you the results of the first two steps:
 
Fig. 1 Desert landscape, seamlessly welded
The welded selection is in the center of the image. Look at it to see the way that Seamless Welder works. It takes image information from outside the opposite side of the selection and blends it into the inside of the selection.
Look at the left side of the welded selection. There are some high rocky formations that are ΓÇ£ghosted in.ΓÇ¥ Where were they taken from? From outside the selection on the right side. When the image tiles into itself, that little ghosted area from the outside will join up with its actual self inside the selection. Ergo seamlessness.
Select an area
So of course, you need a little area outside of the selection for Seamless welder to grab image information. Notice here that we left a lot of area outside the selection Also, when Seamless Welder does do its thing, it changes the image for good. You cannot weld, make pattern then undo weld in Photoshop 2.5. Nor can you select, weld, copy, unweld. So, if you need to preserve your original image, copy a portion of it to another file. Make sure that there is enough image area outside the selection, however. Then do your welding to the new file that you created for that very purpose.
HereΓÇÖs something very important for some uses (and weΓÇÖll get into more of thoseΓÇöcheck out the chapter on Fractal Explorer Wrap Image Instead of Gradient!) If you want your tiled image to be seamless itself, then make sure that the image size and the selection size are evenly divisible with one another. Depending on your circumstances, a fixed file size will determine the selection size. A fixed selection size will determine the final file size. Whichever the case, make sure that the file size can be evenly divided by the selection size. So a selection/pattern size of 20 x 40 can be placed in a file thatΓÇÖs 200 x 400 or 80 x 80 or 40 x 40 or whatever.
Apply Seamless Welder
Select Seamless welder and apply it. Hold down the number keys to get a different degree of weld. The higher the number, the more image area is taken from the outside.
Make it a pattern
This oneΓÇÖs easy. While the selection is still active, go to the Edit menu and select ΓÇ£Make pattern.ΓÇ¥
Fill image with pattern
In your destination file (it could be a new file! try it!) Select All, and Edit > Fill…
 
Fig. 2 A new file filled with the Seamlessly Welded Pattern
Here, with apologies to Paul Simon, is a little ditty called ΓÇ£50 ways to fill your pattern.ΓÇ¥
If you explore all 50 of these (no doubt you will get other ideas along the way) you will become extremely comfortable with not only Seamless Welding, but all manner of ways of applying Composite Controls to floating selections.
First, a humble parade of the original images that will be used in the Fifty Fills, thrills and chills
 
 
Fig. 3 The images to be used with the Seamless Welder.
 
Fig. 4 The Fill Dialog box.
The Fill dialog box has some options here:
1. Fill at partial transparency. Type the value in the box and click OK.
2. Fill with Lighten
3. Fill with Darken
4. Fill with Multiply
5. Fill with Screen
6. Fill with Luminance
7. Fill with Color
8. Fill with Hue
9. Fill With Dissolve
10. Fill with Unleaded
11. Fill with any of these options at a partial transparency
12. Fill a floating selection! After you select all and before you choose Edit > Fill…, float the selection (Command-J). That way you can observe how it interacts with the underlying image in whatever apply mode or whatever transparency you choose!
13. Fill more than once! Second time, use different opacity or apply mode
14. Fill the same pattern, but disorient the file!
Rotate 90┬░ in either direction (make sure to deselect first!)
Or, donΓÇÖt disorient the file! Make a Weld ΓÇ£Source FileΓÇ¥ and disorient that! Copy the Seamless weld and paste it into a new file. Rotate the file (Since itΓÇÖs smaller than the large file, this will be easier for your ΓÇÖputer and faster, too!), select all and define pattern anew.
15. Fill disoriented file with new apply mode.
 
Fig. 5 Use the third image in Figure 3, with a Darken fill, rotate and a Lighten only fill.
16. Fill disoriented file with partially transparent different apply mode. HereΓÇÖs one thatΓÇÖs rotated 180┬░ and then a multiply
 
Fig. 6 Example of Fill 16 using the fourth image in Figure 3.
17. Fill with pride.
Make a new pattern, Saturn. No need to be coy, Roy.
18. Fill with multiple patterns. First this one, then another one.
 
Fig. 7 Fill with multiple patterns.
19. Filibuster!
Fill with pattern, select Hue as the Mode and
 
then command-U to alter the Hue while you watch!
 
Figs. 8 & 9 Changing the Hue while you watch.
20. Fill two different files with two different patterns, then chop between them!
 
Fig. 10 Chop between two images.
21. Find the difference between them.
 
Fig. 11 The Difference between the two images in Figure 8.
22. Fill the resulting file with the same or some different pattern.
23. Fill a floating selection in the result file with the same pattern and use color mode to put the original color back in!
 
Fig. 12 Using color only mode.
Rotate the file or the source pattern and put color in (partial or 100%, dealer’s choice…) the first orientation, too.
24. Color-ful fill: Change the hue of the selection, then fill again!
25. Fill a partial selection.
 
Fig. 13 Partial selection filled with a pattern using Difference.
26. Fill only one channel .
Fill each channel with different modes and opacities.
Fill a channel and invert the floating pattern.
27. Fill a partial selection of only one channel.
28. Fill a partial selection of only one channel using transparency and an apply mode.
 
Fig. 14 Example of Fill #28 in action.
29. Fill a partial selection with one apply mode; select inverse and then #30.
(optional: rotate the file before selecting inverse)
30. Filioque
31. Fill the other part with a different apply mode.
 
Fig. 15 Fill #31.
(not only was the inverse selected, but the image was rotated first. The fill mode was hue, incidentally)
32. Film at eleven!
33. Fill in the gaps.
34. Fill a selection thatΓÇÖs tweaked:
35. Fill a distorted selection: Float Fill, and Distort your selection. Use Composite/Brush controls to blend with background in cruel and unusual ways.
36. Fill a selection after flipping horizontal or vertical
37. Fill a rotated selection.
38. Filet Mignon
39. How to fill a strange-shaped selection (i.e., one youΓÇÖve skewed or distorted) and then fill a subsequent rotation. Tweak selection. Save selection. Deselect. Rotate file. Load Selection, Fill.
40. Filigree
41. Fill-Distort-Fill
42. Fill with pattern, filter distort, fill again with multiply or partial transparency.
43. Fill pattern on top of image and distort it there while it yet floats.
44. Careful!
45. Fill a file with these tiles, then do a Wrap Image in the Fractal Explorer.
 
Fig. 16 A seamless tile wrapped in the Fractal Explorer.
46. Float your selection before filling and use composite controls
47. Fill and while itΓÇÖs still floating, duplicate the file and try another fill on that before you finish deciding if thatΓÇÖs how you want the first step!
48. Fill a file thatΓÇÖs an exact multiple of the pattern size. Offset image by half the pattern size and fill again.
 
Fig. 17 Offset image and then fill with pattern again (#48)
49. Offset image, then rotate image 180┬░. Fill a floating selection atop that. Adjust placement using offset.
 
Fig. 18 Example of Fill #49.
50. Fill offset. Offset file 1/2 of the width of the pattern
Are you filled to capacity with Fill options? This has been our little Philanthropic effort to turn you from being a Seamless Welder Philistine to a Seamless Welder Philosopher!
