Hello all,

I am trying to create a texture for a template of a 3d object using Adobe Photoshop cs4.  I have a rectangular pattern that I have created, that I would like to bend around the edge of a 3d texture template which is curved.  I have no idea how to accomplish this.

I have tried creating a rectangular shape the size of the area I need and filled it with the pattern, and then using warp, distort etc, which I was not able to come up with the desired effect.  I have also tried to create a curved path, and then filled the path with the pattern, which also did not work, as the pattern does not come out bent.

If anyone has guidance as how to do this properly, I would be really appreciative.  Or if anyone has links to a tutorial as to how to accomplish this, that would also be appreciated.

Thanks!

Painter will do this, I've never seen a way of doing it in Photoshop (though since I have painter I haven't needed to). If you have Illustrator and the pattern can be made with geometric shapes and paths then you could create a pattern brush there and apply it to path, then export as png and lay that over your PS texture files for further work.

Rhaseltine,

Thanks for your reply.  I assume you are talking about corel painter?  I would be interested in taking a look at this product for this reason.  For clarification, what is the feature that can be used to do this?  Does this mean that a flattened rectangular pattern designed in photoshop, converted into a jpeg is capable of bending in painter?

I also do have illustrator.  I assume I could always trace the pattern, and then turn it into a brush.  The only problem with this is I would lose details of any image used in this process, and even though illustrator has photoshop effects built in, it would be hard to reproduce them for images that I did not make.

So if corel painter can bend a jpeg around a path, that would seem ideal for me.  Thanks for putting it out there, and if you know the feature used to accomplish this, I would be very greateful to know what that is.

Thanks!

I don't have Photoshop CS4 Extended so I'm not sure about that but I do know you can Map artwork to a 3D object in Illustrator CS4. It's quite impressive.

Hi dreamer101,

Thanks for the reply.  I do have illustrator, but I would not be importing the 3d object into illustrator, just working on a flat 2d wireframe of the template.  I may be missing the point of what you are suggesting though.  Do you have any tutorials/descriptions online that you may point me towards that may better explain what you mean?

Best

Attached Link: Map artwork to a 3D object

Appreciate you posting that here.  Always good to know what all the options are.  Didn't even know that was possible in illustrator.  Thanks!

I don't yet have Painter installed on this machine, so i can't check, but the process is fairly simple - make a repeating pattern from your source (it needs to be seamless end-to-end, the sides don't have to blend) then select the pattern as the source when using a pattern brush. You can then paint freehand or stroke along a vector path.

Yes, you would have to trace (or simply recreate) your pattern as a vector in Illustrator then apply the pattern to a stroke, but having done that you can then export the result as a bitmap (even as a layered PS file) for additional adjustment and for working on other areas of the texture - indeed with CS4 you could bring the AI artwork in as a Smart Object.

Thanks RHaseltine,

Your suggestions are very much appreciated.  I followed some of your tips, and was able to figure out how to bend the pattern in Illustrator CS4.  I first converted the pattern to a vector, as you mentioned although I did lose much of the details of the image.  Then I used the envelope distort to combine the pattern with a custom made vector shape to get the desired results.  I found the envelope distort after investigating Corel Painter and Draw, but realized that illustrator has this feature as well, although from what I have read, it is not as advanced as Corel's.  I will also try out the idea of creating a brush as you mentioned, as I am sure I may need to do depending on the situation of what I am texturing.

Thanks again for the input.