(Click on the pics for a larger view)

 So you have that kewl new tile you want to add to Warzone 2100 but it is not rotationally seamless, and you want to know just how to do it. Well if you have Photoshop or any paint program with similar tools I will show you. I will attempt to make this as painless as possible.

    Crop your 128x128 tile like this:

    Now you probably are wondering what does it mean to be rotationally seamless and it is quite simple actually. It means that all edges of the tile will blend together no matter which way it is rotated. Lets see what we have with our tile above.

    Here I have placed 9 tiles next to each other and have rotated them all different ways. If you look closely you can see the harsh lines in between each tile, this is very bad and will look like crap in game.

   The first thing we are going to do is set the grid over our texture and to do that press Ctrl + ' key. Now we have to set the grid resolution, and we do this by clicking on Edit - Preferences - Guides Grid & Slices and set everything like this:

    The colors don't really matter but the gridline every: and subdivisions: do. Now click on the ok button to close this window and make sure your tile is selected then go filter - other - offset and set your settings like this:

    Now you will notice 2 lines going through the tile: One up and down and the other going left to right like this: The green lines surround the offending edges. Green areas mark the areas we are working.

    Here it is without the marking lines:

    Ok so now we are ready to fix this tile and the big question is what part of this tile do we need so that all sides will line up? We need this 4x64 pixel section:

    Drag a selection box around this area and make sure it is 4x64 pixels no more no less. Now hit Ctrl + C to copy the selection then go File - New, then click ok to open a new window that is 4x64 pixels, then hit Ctrl + V to paste selection into the new window. Next you want to hit hit Ctrl + E to flatten all the layers, so you should have something like this:

    Next we want to go Image - Rotate Canvas - Flip Canvas Vertically. Now draw a selection box around it and then hit Ctrl + C to copy the selection. Next you want to select your tile window, then hit Ctrl + V to paste it and move it into this location:

    You will notice that it is just above the area that we copied. Now hit Ctrl + E to flatten the image. Next we will select both areas that we just worked with like this:

    Hit Ctrl + C to copy the selection, then go file new and in the new window that opens hit Ctrl + V to paste the selection into it then hit Ctrl + E to flatten the layers like this:

    Next we want to go image - rotate canvas - flip canvas horizontally like this:

    Now draw a selection box around the piece we just flipped and hit Ctrl + C to copy it and then select our tile window and hit Ctrl + V to paste it on to our tile and move it into place like this:

    Now hit Ctrl + E to flatten your layers. You should have a tile that looks like this:

    Now we need to copy the entire center section that we just created so draw a selection box around the area I have marked here in green:

    Next we need to go file new and click ok, this will open a new window the size of our copy. Now with the new window selected hit Ctrl + V to paste our copy into the new window then hit Ctrl + E to flatten the layers. Next go image - rotate canvas - 90 degrees clockwise and you should have something like this:

    Now we want to draw a selection box around the piece we just rotated and then hit Ctrl + C and select the tile window and hit Ctrl + V to paste our selection over the tile and move it into place like the green area in this pic:

    Now hit Ctrl + E to flatten the layers and you should have something like this:

    Ok we are almost done, now we have a tile that is rotationally seamless but as you can see there are visible lines in our texture that we want to get rid of. This part is pretty simple but there are a few things to keep in mind. We are going to use the clone stamp tool to do this. First thing to keep in mid is we CAN NOT change the pixels that make up the edges of the tile because if we do that will ruin all the work we have done so far. So lets zoom in on one of the areas we need to fix like this:

    Now using the clone tool pick an area on our tile that doesn't have any lines in it and set this as the source area and set the flow of the clone tool to 50% and start fixing the visible line we have. You should have something like this when you are done:

    Notice how you can not tell where the edge is on the middle left side of the tile, this is what we want. Now repeat the process for the other 3 areas and you should have something like this:

    As you can see we have removed the offending lines and have a nice seamless look, now we have to offset the tile to its original position and test our new tile. Go filter - other - offset and click ok. You should have something like this:

    Next we need to test our tile so go new file and set the size to 384x384 and click ok. Now draw a selection box around the tile and hit Ctrl + C to copy and go file new and click ok, then in the new window hit Ctrl + V to paste the selection in the new window and hit Ctrl + E to flatten the layers. Now paste the selection into the window that is 384x384 and move the selection to the middle using snap to the grid with the grid visible like this:

    Now paste it 4 more times and move each one into the corners like this:

    Now make the window with your 128x128 tile active and go image - rotate - 90 degrees CW. Draw a selection box around it and hit Ctrl + C to copy it and paste it in the 384x384 window and move it into place like this:

    Repeat this process to fill in the other 3 spots and you should end up with something like this:

    You may need to tweak the tile some more. I hope you found this tutorial useful. I would like to say thanks to Silentrage for the tile that made this tutorial possible.

Copyright Grim Moroe 2006