Q&A: Paint Custom Patterns in Your Pictures

In Jasc Paint Shop Pro, I can "flood fill" a picture with color or a pattern, but I cannot figure out how to flood fill a picture with a pattern of my own design. What I would really like to do is create a tile out of one of my own pictures that I can use to flood fill an object. Can you help me?

--Carol Ann Beaird, Syracuse, New York

Absolutely, Carol; it's just a matter of saving your pattern in the right place.

To find out where Paint Shop Pro is looking for its flood fill patterns, double-click the foreground or background color square in the Materials palette on the right side of the screen. (Turn the Materials Palette on by choosing View, Palettes, Materials from the menu.) Next, click the Pattern tab and click the Edit paths button. (There are two Edit paths buttons. The one on the left is for Pattern file folders; the one on the right is for Texture file folders.) After you click the Edit Paths button, make a note of the folders listed on the right.

Any pictures that you want to paint like wallpaper patterns should be saved in one of the folders you see listed. Or you can add a new folder to the list and keep your artwork there. If you see multiple folders, make sure you select the one you plan to put your artwork in. Once you've put some pictures in your selected folder, they will be available for your use. Click the bar with the downward arrow that's next to the pattern displayed above the Edit paths button. You'll see every pattern available in that folder, including the ones you just added. Click your desired photo to select it, and use the Flood Fill tool to paint the picture as a repeating pattern.