Eliminate the tedium of repetitious patterns (Photoshop CS2/CS3/CS4)

If you want to eliminate repetition from your design process, consider the possibility of patterns. Photoshop comes with several preset patterns you can use, or you can create your own custom-designed patterns from scratch or from existing graphic art.

To define an image as a preset pattern:

1. Choose the Rectangle Marquee tool from the Tools panel, and marquee a selection around an area to use as a pattern.
2. Set Feather to 0 pixels on the tool Options bar.
3. Choose Edit > Define Pattern to display the Pattern Name dialog box.

To use the Pattern Stamp tool to paint the pattern:

1. Select the Pattern Stamp tool from the Tools panel.
2. Choose a brush tip and set the brush options using the tool Options bar.
3. Select a pattern from the Pattern pop-up panel.
4. Drag in your image to paint with the pattern.