Photoshop CS6 Pattern Mystery.

#1

This is just a total mystery…

Using the attached psd file to ‘define a pattern’ gives the wierd results as shown in the attached image.

It appears that the content of an image can influence whether or not a pattern can be defined from it.

One thing I did try which isn’t shown was to add a ‘colour overlay’ fx to the ‘cross’ layer and set the colour to R1 G1 B1, or just not the border colour.
This worked and the pattern could be defined but why should colour make any difference?
Why should adding 1 more random pixel over the background, (the last example), also make a difference?

Is this a known ‘bug’?

Is it a ‘bug’ period?

Is it just CS6 trying to spoil my day?

I’ve included the source psd I used for the examples in case anyone wishes to try it for themselves.

I don’t really need a solution here but just curious to know as to why this happens, and if it’s just happening to me!

Cheers.

#2

just tried it. you have to make sure the layer is visible and not just selected. i selected one of the cross layers not realizing it wasn’t visible and the problem you were having showed up. then i made it visible and then it worked fine

#3

Thanks for the reply MikeGimmelli.

It kind of goes without say that the layers have to be visible, otherwise you wouldn’t get the pattern required…a two pixel border with a two pixel cross. (With or without a background)

The layers are off in the psd so that anyone who tries it can just turn a layer on, and try to create a pattern from it, then turn on another layer and try it again…etc, etc.

If you try merging, or flattening, those layers down to one visible layer it still fails. (Without the random pixel)

Even just creating that image from a totally new blank document on just the one original layer it still fails…in a different way but still a fail! (See image)…and yet changing just one pixel to a slightly different colour seems to work.

I appreciate you trying it out though, but unfortunately the mystery remains.

Regards.

#4

Looks like it is detecting a repeated tile and reducing the tile to single tile and eliminating “mistakenly” repeated frame. Happens with arbitrary tile fill and non 2x2 samples. Why? To make life a little easier for the 99% who do want what it assumes.

#5

Thanks very much gruhn, an enlightening statement indeed!

You’re absolutely right, it does ‘detect’ a pattern within the image/selection and tries to reduce it down…and you’re right again in that it ‘mistakenly’ does this for the image I have. I tried this out with a couple of examples just to verify this…see attached image.

I searched everywhere for any documentation that this is indeed the case but as usual found nothing relating to how photoshop creates a pattern from the image/selection. Would have been nice to have that kind of information but…oh well.

Trust me to choose the one combination of pixels that is the exception!

Thanks again.

Regards.
“…its a bug hunt.” (Aliens)

#6

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