i posted a thread hereon a recreation in gimp/g'mic of a tutorial for an early ps plug-in. it was never my intention to write a tutorial, but i did explain what i had done to achieve my result, so i guess it became a tutorial anyway. since people had problems getting paisleys following those steps, i'll try to give a more exact tutorial here, and also explain why it doesn't always work and what to do about that if you really want paisleys.

1. you need an empty canvas at 1200X1200 px, 300 pp, to be able to get the right result with the settings i give. the reason size and resolution matters is because that's how g'mic filters work, i can't explain it better than that. once you know what you're actually doing in each step you'll be able to make pictures any size and res that you like.

2. now paint a spiral gradient from the center of your image. then go to g'mic and choose the filter "cartesian transform", which you find under "deformations". run the filter at default settings. the only reason you do this is to get some useful shapes and colours to start with.


3. now choose the g'mic filter "kaleidoscope (symmetry", it's also under "deformations". note that there are two other kaleidoscope filters. they won't give you the same type of kaleidoscopic mirroring, so use "symmetry" if you want a result close to the one i showed. i used the settings shown in the screenshot: iterations 12, angle 0, boundary 'nearest', symmetry sides 'forward'. you could change symmetry sides to 'backward' and boundary to 'nearest' without any problem. note! i set the "output" setting to "new layer". if you too do that, remember you have to make the new layer the active layer for the next step. it's a basic thing that i always seem to forget myself .


4. now you have done the first kaleidoscope step, you have to offset the layer. you do that simplest by the gimp menu "layer", where you find a headline "transformations" - go there and choose the option "offset". after choosing offset you will get the dialogue box i show in the screenshot and you just click the light grey button in the middle that says "offset by x/2, y/2". the layer will now look something like my other screenshot, with the edges moved to the middle of the image.


5. now go to g'mic again and choose the same kaleidoscope filter ("symmetry") that you had last time. first of all, check that the output setting is set to "new layer". the results of this filter get very different if you just use the default setting, which is to replace the active layer, so this setting is important. next, change the boundary setting to 'transparent', and if you like you can try changing symmetry sides between 'backwards' and 'forwards'. when the filter is finished, merge the two layers.


6. now you need to offset the merged layer again, in order for the "whirl and pinch" step to work properly. so, go back to "layer" - "transformations" - "offset". this time you need to type in the settings yourself. if you work on the 1200X1200px image i work on, you just type in "400" for x and "800" for y. if you have a different size on your canvas you'll have to think like this: the x setting should be approximately one third of the length of your x side and the y setting should be approximately two thirds of the length of your y side. here's what my image looks like this before and after the offset:


7. here's the step that actually could make paisleys, if we're lucky. in reality, this is actually the only important step (i'll tell you why in the post below, if you haven't already figured). go to the gimp menu "filters" and look under "distorts". there you will find the "whirl and pinch" filter. open it, and you will get a dialogue box like in my screenshot. i use the settings shown in the screenshots: whirl angle 215, pinch amount 0, radius 0,710, but the idea here is that you should play with the settings until you see something in the preview window that actually looks like a paisley. a word of advice: if you want a seamless pattern, don't set the radius too high and don't use any pinch at all. if you do, you will probably get the edges of the image distorted.
here's the screenshot of the whirl and pinch:


8. now you should have a pattern that's an approximate paisley - if you're lucky. i was rather lucky and got this:

my image tiles seamlessly (two easy ways to check seamlessness: 1 - make a layer offset by x/2, y/2 and if the edges melt together perfectly it's a seamless image. 2 - go to "filters" - "map" - "small tiles". you don't even have to run the filter, usually you can see in the preview window if it tiles seamlessly or not.), so no touching up is needed. instead, i can go back to g'mic for the last step, which is putting an angle rotation on the pattern to make it look straight when it's tiled. this is optional, i often prefer it as it is, the straightness annoys me. anyway, go to "arrays and tiles" and find "tileable rotation". watch out, there is a filter called "tiled rotation" too, they are not the same. run the filter at default settings, but if you changed the output setting to 'new layer' before you might want to change it to 'in place (default)' now.


we're done! the last step will have increased the size of the image, so scale it down if you like. here's my little approximate paisley:


Paisleys Tutorial by AnMal (PDF)

Thank you AnMal

No where near that good at following tuts, but I did try for a short time before I deviated. lol

Made this seamless. Thanks for the tut AnMal.

Thank you AnMal for your time and job on your tutorial, I think that now it'll be easier to follow your steps.
Lyle, nice outcome and colours.

I put your tut in .PDF File just in case someone wants it.

i'm so glad i managed to write a tutorial on this that actually worked ! nice job, lyle - i can actually see paisleys in there in spite of all those deviations .
thanks issabella for the pdf - that's very helpful of you .


here's my promised second posts, with some explanations of the previous tutorial and another tutorial of a fail-proof way of g'micking and gimping up some paisleys!

i know most of you either knew this already, or have figured it out anyway, so you can stop reading. but there are always those who are lazy or impatient like myself and don't want to figure things out for ourselves, but just want to get some nice paisleys already! well, i thought i'd try to be helpful to you, whoever you may be .

like i said in the tutorial, what actually makes the paisleys is the "whirl and pinch" step. in order to get paisleys using the whirl and pinch, you need an image with at least one circle, or roughly circle-shaped thingy. in the old kpt tutorial that i tried to recreate above, the idea was to get two of those "thingies", one big and one small, and they would both turn into paisleys after being whirled and pinched, but there's no need to do things exactly like that tut.

here, for example, i started with one black circle on a white layer. the diameter of the circle is half of the layer size. i offset the layer by x 300, y -300, and used the same settings on the whirl and pinch filter as in the tutorial above. that gave me a nice black paisley.

now, if i think that shape looks rubbish and not at all like the paisley i was after, there are two ways to change it.
first, i can change the way i offset the layer before i whirl and pinch. in the tutorial above i used an offset by x 400, y 800. if i do that on my black circle i get this result after setting it back in centered position again:

doesn't look much like a paisley to me! the thing is, you have to know how the whirl and pinch filter works. it makes a spiral of your image, starting from the center. so, to get the black dot looking more like a paisley you have to offset the layer so the black dot gets close enough to the center to be whirled, but not so close it touches the center. also, if you offset the layer so pieces of the black dot shows up on different edges of the image, that will affect the "head" end of the paisley and make it look less round.
for my black dot, i chose to offset it by x 0, y -300, and i got this result:


so, offsetting the layer is one way of getting a different paisley look. the other is of course to play with the settings on the "whirl and pinch" filter. i explained above, in the tutorial, that the pinch and radius amounts may distort the edges, so if i want a seamless black-on-white paisley pattern i will just stick to playing around with the whirl amount settings. for example, here's what i get with the same offset settings as last time, but a whirl amount of 250:


i hope this carries my point: you can't just trust to the settings the tutorial above gives, you have to see what offset and "whirl and pinch" settings work best on yourimage.

now, i promised to tell you what to do if you didn't get anything that looked good. here's what i would do:

1. (assuming you start on a 1200X1200 px, 300 ppi canvas:) go to either "g'mic - arrays & tiles - concentric circles", "g'mic - arrays & tiles - annular steiner chains (for this, you'll need at least a colour fill on your active layer to make it work)" or "g'mic - patterns - twisted rays" and generate a circle pattern. set the output to 'new layer'.
(if you want additional variations on the pattern, go to "g'mic - deformations - kaleidoscope (symmetry)" and use any setting you like for the iterations, but set boundaries to 'transparent' and output to 'new layer'. merge new layer down.)

2. duplicate the layer and scale one layer to 450X450px, the other to 550X550px.

3. make a horizontal guide at 250 px and a vertical one at 900px. then move the small circle so the centre of it snaps to where the guides cross.

4. move the big circle to 25 px from the lower edge of the image, and 25 px from the left edge of the image.

5. merge the layers and make the layer image size.

6. now, run the "whirl and pinch" filter with these settings: whirl angle 250, pinch 0, radius 0,710.

7. that's the paisleys taken care of. now make a gradient on sawtooth repeat a couple of times on a new layer and move it down below the paisleys.

8. go to "g'mic - deformations - cartesian transform" and run it on your gradient layer, then rotate the layer 90 degrees clockwise and run the g'mic filter again.

9. offset the gradient layer by x/2, y/2.

10. run "whirl and pinch", same settings as you used before on your gradient layer.

11. offset the gradient layer by x 300, y 300.

12. now, merge the layers if you are happy with the result, or make additional tweaks to them, for example by putting a colour layer over the background if it's too distracting.

this process, followed exactly, always gives you a seamless paisley pattern and it could be scripted too if your inclinations lie that way.

here's my pattern the way it looks tiled:

Much better, AnMal your tut is great and easy to follow. Thank you.
My tries

Wallace - excellent work but yes, a striped shirt with paisley ...

... get him to try this combo - its a free gift.



Mind you could be an extreme colour clash.

Cool shirt and tie.

Wallace, great job you did, but who knows you could start a trend.
OMG, your outcome is excellent too. I love the tie.

Thank you Wallace & Issabella - I did the original tut tis afternoon and here is the first up result - so thank you Anmal, I learned a lot in that one.



Now for the paisley pattern suit!

He's gone to a suit now! The shirt and tie look really nice too Wallace By the way that striped shirt looks 'green' only if you are far enough away.
Issabella they are really nice patterns. Colours are really nice too.


Thanks for the detailed tut AnMal. I didn't realise you had to have a couple of layers. I may have to try it again later now

A new try, doing paisleys it's so funny and enjoyable Thanks AnMal, as I've learnt so much doing them.
Thanks Sallyanne.

I thought about adding a pattern and I got this.

Oh Wallace, thank you. The thing is that I 'm enjoying a lot doing them. Yours are great, your last one is very nice.

I like your shirt and tie too OMG.

Well thanks Sallyanne & Issabella - we all seem to be 'hooked' on Anmal's paisleys.

So I have just completed tutorial 2 and here is the result ...



... however, I seem to have a problem with my patterns as the edge is clearly visible, it looks like tiles and does not appear fully seamless. I create the pattern by 'copy' image then 'paste as pattern'. Is there something else I should be doing to make the seam invisible?

you lot make my day ! you've no idea what a kick it gives me to see all your paisley patterns - and what you make of them.

issabella: i just love all of your patterns! you have become a real expert in making this type of paisley patterns now . especially i like how you made the backgrounds to the "failproof" paisleys, they look very interesting.

wallace: is it just the shirt he's taking a risk with, you mean?! ties are a nuisance, and i guess bow ties would be even harder. how about a bolo with a pewter paisley clasp? that certainly would complete the outrageous, risk taking look

oldmangrumpy: oh dear. if wallace paisley suit and striped shirt were a bit daring, what would the fashion police say about your shirt and tie?! i think you did a great job on the shirt, it always looks so professional when you lay out the pattern differently on different parts of the shirt and make the "fabric" different on the backside. about your pattern from the second tutorial - i can see some traces of vertical outlines between your paisleys, are those what you mean? that is unfortunately because of the g'mic filter not producing seamless results in itself - in theory you get a seamless pattern if you run it twice, in practice, you sometimes get those small traces. that's one of the reasons i give it that last whirl, it usually hides traces like that.

sallyanne: in the first tutorial, the only place where you need more than one layer is when you run the kaleidoscope filter the second time, and you merge that layer down after. i'm sorry about that detail, i had never tried to run that filter without setting the outcome to "new layer" before, so i just assumed it would give the same result as "new layer" and "merge down". hope you keep having fun making patterns and keep posting them, i always like what you come up with .