Category Archives: Pattern Applications

Video and Patterns: Artlandia SymmetryMill 3 Beta

Pattern Applications, Pattern Design

Video support in SymmetryMill is coming your way. We’ll highlight the new features in future posts, but you can start your video patterns exploration right now by downloading the beta version of SymmetryMill 3. Make patterns from video files in the WebM (an open web media) format or directly from your camera. Save your pattern stream to a video file, taking your source from a static image or another video stream.

For starters, here’s a quick SymmetryMill run of what might be one of the greatest cartoons of all time:

We’d love to hear your comments and bug reports, should you come across a glitch. Please comment here or send us an email directly—and thanks!

Last updated: September 13, 2019

September 13, 2019

Where Do Patterns Go? Part 3: Secure Printing

Pattern Applications, Pattern Design, Repeating Patterns, Tricks of the Trade, , , ,

As luck would have it, while researching materials for this post, we’ve gotten reacquainted with Jaeson Caulley, a long-time Artlandia user, who is also a designer, an expert in secure printing, and Vice President of DSS Plastics Group, a leader in manufacturing secure plastic cards.

According to Jaeson, over the past ten years, the market in building secure plastic cards has shifted from standard guilloché patterns to fine-line patterns, as the look is fresher and friendlier to photos, names, addresses, and all other kinds of variable data on the card.

For the new polycarbonate ID cards (“unbreakable glass”), which have laser-engraved variable data, fine-line patterns are also a must because the material simply won’t bond if large swaths of fill colors are used, whereas thin lines off the edge of the card allow the material to adhere to the next layer.

guilloche patterns for secure printing
Thin-line guilloché patterns created in Adobe Illustrator with Artlandia SymmetryWorks. Learn how to make guilloché patterns yourself »
Continue reading Where Do Patterns Go? Part 3: Secure Printing →

June 18, 2017

Artlandia SymmetryMill 2: Pattern Design for the Rest of Us

Community, Pattern Applications, Pattern Design, Repeating Patterns, Tricks of the Trade, , , ,

Today we are happy to announce the release of a major new version of Artlandia SymmetryMill, a desktop application that provides the easiest-to-use tools for creating seamless repeating patterns from any image. Rebuilt from the ground up and based on modern technology, SymmetryMill 2 brings you a range of improvements and makes your pattern design work even more productive and fun. Among the major improvements are: Continue reading Artlandia SymmetryMill 2: Pattern Design for the Rest of Us →

Last updated: September 3, 2017

September 3, 2017

Where Do Patterns Go? Part 2: Patterns for Your Webpage

Community, Pattern Applications, Pattern Design, Repeating Patterns, Tricks of the Trade, , , ,

Patterns add flavor to your webpage, making it unique and unforgettable. As a pattern designer, you will probably want to make your patterns yourself, and all the Artlandia tools, SymmetryWorks, SymmetryShop, and SymmetryMill, will let you do that. But if you are in hurry, there’s a wealth of patterns on Pattern Central that you can deploy right away, either as is or tweaked to suit your needs.

To that end, for every shared pattern set, Pattern Central gives you a direct link to a pattern tile. The tile is exactly what you need for your page CSS (or the HTML style attribute).

For instance, to re-create the first pattern from a shared set, like “SymmetryMill Blending Modes,” get its tile image and upload it to your website or link directly to the tile. For a pattern to run through the body of a page, you can add this class to the body tag (the background-size property is optional and needed only if you want to scale the pattern):

.pattern {
background-image: url("http://artlandia.com/share/tile/17b819be244e76a");
background-repeat: repeat;
background-size: 30%;
}
Continue reading Where Do Patterns Go? Part 2: Patterns for Your Webpage →

Last updated: September 3, 2017

September 3, 2017

Pattern Tiles: New on Pattern Central

Fashion Design, Pattern Applications, Pattern Design, Repeating Patterns, Tricks of the Trade, , ,

Artlandia’s Pattern Central just made it easier to use shared patterns in your projects. You could always load a shared pattern set in SymmetryMill and export a pattern tile for the pattern that you like. Now you may be able to skip a couple of steps, because the first tile in each shared set is available directly from Pattern Central. The tile image will seamlessly repeat if stacked both vertically and horizontally in many applications.

A direct link to the tile image on a pattern homepage.

Continue reading Pattern Tiles: New on Pattern Central →

May 15, 2017
Pattern applications in fashion design

Where Do Patterns Go? Part 1: Fashion Design

Fashion Design, Pattern Applications, Pattern Design, Repeating Patterns

Pattern applications are endless, but there are never too many ideas when it comes to brainstorming new uses for your patterns. Here, inspired in part by a wonderful collection of 1000 dresses by Fitzgerald and Taylor, we ran through a few of such ideas.

Most of the source patterns are taken straight from the Artlandia Glossary and are included in a free bonus pack (in a vector format, of course) available with a purchase of SymmetryWorks. We did make minor alterations, though. Couldn’t resist a temptation to tweak patterns on mockups when it’s so easy to do with SymmetryWorks LP. We can make the modified patterns available too. If you wish to get exactly these versions, please contact us and we’ll see what we can do.

Now, let’s get to work. An animal print goes to a fitted round-neck knee-length sleeveless formal dress which underscores femininity (even within the constraints of business settings) and altogether creates a strong impression of authority.
Continue reading Where Do Patterns Go? Part 1: Fashion Design →

Last updated: June 18, 2017

June 18, 2017