Dot Pattern Tutorial

[Stevil]

It's amazing the things you can do with a simple dot pattern.

Make a new image. I used size 400x400.

Start off with a circular brush. Just a simple circle. Easy to do. Click anywhere on your page. Then go to Edit -->Define Pattern.

Now, delete the circle on your page. Go to Layer -->New Fill Layer -->Pattern...

Now go to Filter -->Sharpen -->Unsharp Mask.
Amount:
500
Radius:
1.0
Threshold:
0

Hit okay, then do it one more time.

Now, you should have something that looks like this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/Stevil935/dotpattern.jpg

Now, if you are wondering why you'd want a bunch of dots, it's because dots are easy to distort in crazy ways that make for good gfx. They don't necessarily make good GFX by themselves, but they can become a part of another graphic quite easily.

Example:
Go to Filter -->Sketch -->Plaster...
Image Balance:
20
Smoothness:
2
Hit okay, and you should get this crazy 3-d effect.

Here's some things I made with the dot pattern.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/Stevil935/radialdotz.gif
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/Stevil935/dotness.jpg

Note: I didn't add these to other 'non-dot' GFX. I just did the dot pattern and added some effects to it. (for the second one, I also colored it and added a ryoko stock picture to it. For the first one, I did some different radial/blur effects to the dot effect and animated it.)

Here's one I sheared then neon glowed:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/Stevil935/bluegreenpattern.jpg

You'll get the hang of it after a while.