Confused About Patterns.. help please

[cg1216]

im having a hard time understanding patterns in photoshop. there seem to be 2 different meanings/uses and its kind of confusing.

in one instance, some patterns i download are just jpeg files while some are the photoshop .pat files. are these for different uses? when i look at tutorials some say to use the pattern overlay effect, and all that seems to do is put the pattern in whatever brush i use.

are these 2 different things or am i just not understanding/doing it correctly? can someone explain all the uses for patterns (what they do) and if there is any difference between the .pat files and jpeg files?

 

[Hoogle]

1 is a jpeg ready for you to make the pattern with and 1 is a pattern already

with a jpeg then go to select > all then go to edit define pattern

That will store it in your pattern panel and will be available to you in any pattern feature

 

[cg1216]

so they're essentially the same thing.. but how exactly do i use them? in one tutorial it showed how to overlay it in an image but when i do that it's just black and white.. do i have to manually change the color? also sometimes all i can get it to do is have the pattern show up in a brush... i've looked at countless tutorials and it seems like they are all showing completely different things so i'm kind of confused.

 

[Hoogle]

easiest method is

create a new layer above where you want the patter to effect so for example if you have text that you want to apply the pattern to create a new empty layer above the text then grab the paint bucket tool and instead of fill with foreground colour select pattern


then choose your new pattern you have defined and click on your layer

In the layers panel right click that layer and select create clipping mask

 

[ibclare]

Have you gone to edit>define pattern, name it. When ready to use it go to layer effects and find it. At least that is the easiest way I know. CS6 has some creative forms for patterns but to not use as brush, this is my advice.