Fun With Tiles #4

See also Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 5.

This was done using Gimp 2.2.

Effects On Tiles

Now that you have some tiles, here are some effects you can apply to them to spice them up. These effects are best done on abstract, smoothly blended images, such as those created by "Blur and Smudge" in part 3.

For this section, we're starting with the following base image, made in part 3:
ptile1_blur1

Cubism

  1. Filters -> Artistic -> Cubism
  2. Apply offset.
  3. Use the Smudge tool with "hard edge" on, to blend the bits that don't match.

Result:
ptile1_cube1

Shift

  1. Filters -> Distorts -> Shift

Result:
ptile1_shift1

Ripple

  1. Filters -> Distorts -> Ripple
    Make sure the "Retain tileability" option is on.
  2. Apply offset to see if the ripples match up; the "Retain tileability" option only makes sure they're tileable in one direction, not both.
  3. If the ripples don't match up, undo what you've done, and apply the Ripple effect again, adjusting the Period option. This may take a few tries to get right.

Result:
ptile1_ripple1

Canvas

  1. Filters -> Artistic -> Apply Canvas

Result:
ptile1_canvas1

Brushed

  1. Create a new white layer, call it "brushed".
  2. To "brushed", apply Filters -> Noise -> Scatter RGB
  3. To "brushed", apply Filters -> Blur -> Motion Blur; if the original was motion-blurred, make sure the angle of the blur is the same.
  4. Apply offset to "brushed".
  5. "Motion Blur" again.
  6. To "brushed" Layer -> Colors -> Levels to make the colors a bit darker.
  7. Change the layer mode of "brushed" to multiply.

Result:
ptile1_brushed1

Maze

This is a fun effect which I recently discovered (circa 2007).

  1. Duplicate the layer; call the top layer "maze1".
  2. Add layer mask to "maze1", all white.
  3. To the layer mask of "maze1", Filters -> Render -> Pattern -> Maze
    Make sure that the "tileable" option is on. Also make sure that the width and height options are factors of the width and height of the image, so they fit better.
  4. To the main layer of "maze1" apply a random offset (that is, give some random number in the x direction, and another random number in the y direction).
  5. Flatten the image and save.

Result:

ptile1_maze1 ptile1_maze2
Applied to "brushed" image.

More Examples

Starting from this: (A)
ptile1_smudge1
ptile1_ef1
1. A + Crystalize + Blur + Warp Sharp
ptile1_ef2
2. A + Glass Tile
ptile1_ef3
3. A + #1 + Maze technique with Voronoi
ptile1_ef4
4. A + #1 + Maze technique with Checkers
ptile1_ef5
5. A + #1 + Maze technique with Grid