This tutorial will show you how to create a basic seamless pattern using the official Create a Pattern (CaP) tool and Adobe Photoshop CS4, then applying it in the game. These patterns can be used for walls, flooring, furniture, clothing and more in The Sims 3. Please keep in mind that this tutorial assumes you have a general knowledge of The Sims 3, CaP and Adobe Photoshop.

*NOTE: The steps in this tutorial show how I go about creating seamless patterns. If you have another way that works better for you, please feel free to use that method instead.

The first thing we need to do is to choose the texture we will be using for our pattern. A good website with a large collection of free seamless images is The Fat Strawberry. I will be using their “Violet The Button” texture.

Since CaP likes to use images that are 256 x 256, we will need to use Photoshop to adjust the texture a bit. This particular image is 128 x 128, so we will need to double its size. It’s also a good way to get familiar with how the sides of the texture connect to make the seamless pattern.

In Photoshop, open up the original texture you downloaded. Next, go to File > New. Make the image 400 x 400 with a transparent background. This will give us extra room to arrange the images to make our new texture.

Go to the original texture image and choose Select > All from the top menu. Next, go to Edit > Copy. Switch back to the new image we created and choose Edit > Paste. Do this 3 more times so we end up with 4 layers of the original texture on our new image. Arrange each layer by putting two beside each other on one row and the other two under those. This will give us a larger square of the original texture.

We now need to create another new image that will eventually be the texture we use for our pattern in CaP. Go to File > New and create a 256 x 256 transparent image. Switch back to the 400 x 400 image we created and go to the Layers/Channels/Paths box that should be located on the right side at the bottom of Photoshop, depending on how your have the different boxes arranged. Select all of the layers, right-click on one of them and select Duplicate Layers.

In the box that pops up, choose Untitled-2 from the dropdown menu and click OK. Go back to the 256 x 256 image that we created and you should now see the layers that we duplicated. You might need to move them up to fit in the image properly and use the Free Transform (Edit > Free Transform) tool to adjust the size a bit.

Apply the transformation, then go to up to Layer > Flatten Image. Now we need to save our new texture file. Choose File > Save As. I will be naming this particular pattern “Violet Flowers” so the texture can be named something similar. Save it to your project folder in JPG file format.

Now it’s time to create our new pattern. Open up the Create a Pattern tool. It should automatically create a new project for you. The first step is to add our new texture to CaP. Go to the bottom control panel and select the Misc. tab. Next, select the Add a New Sticker button under the Eraser Tool and search in your project folder for the new texture that we created. It will default to your Electronic Arts > The Sims™ 3 Create a Pattern Tool folder, so you will need to navigate to where your project folder is on your hard drive.

Select the new texture image and click the check mark (Accept) button. You should now see the new sticker with a custom content star on it.

As you can see in the layers panel, there are six different sections we can work with. The Specular Layer, four Sticker (Full Color) Modes and the Background Color. By default, CaP starts with the bottom sticker layer. Left click on the sticker we added and drag it onto the work space. Using the guide in the upper right corner of the image, drag it up until it connects with the other images that come into the grid. At this point, I like to hide the grid using the Show/Hide Grid button in the bottom control panel. This allows you to make sure the images are seamlessly connected.

At the bottom of CaP on the right side of the control panel, you should see a section for image width, height, opacity, etc. They should read 256 (W) and 256 (H), 124 (X) and 132 (Y). It’s a good idea to copy these coordinates down somewhere for future reference. We will be using them later when we add the other layers.

Now it is time to test the first layer we added to see how well we did connecting the sides of the pattern so they appear seemless. You can do this by clicking on the Preview Mode on the left side of the control panel. I like to test on a few different things such as the chair, sofa and walls. From the Object dropdown menu, select Sofa > Body and click the apply button. You should now see the new pattern on the sofa. Repeat the same process for the chair and walls.

So far, so good! All of the sides look like they are matching so we see no lines when the pattern repeats. This is especially easy to see on the walls.

Now we need to go back to add more layers. Click on the Edit Mode (pencil) button. Repeat the same process for the remaining three Sticker (Full Color) Mode layers using the coordinates we saved from the first layer. You can also choose to hide the remaining layers by click on the eye icon (Show/Hide Layer) on the left of each one since we would only be repeating the same pattern. These layers can be used if you were adding different stickers to each layer. Since we are using a full pattern and not indivdual stickers, we do not need to use the Specular Layer either. We also do not need to change the Background Color (Base Layer) because our texture already has color. For more information on the Specular Layer, Background Color, Stickers and more, please see the Help guide in CaP. It can be found by clicking on the question mark (?) icon in the upper right corner of the program.

Feel free to experiment however you would like with the pattern. Always remember to go into preview mode to test out the changes you have made. Before testing, it’s always a good idea to reset the chair, wall, etc. if you used it previously to test the same pattern. Do this by choosing the object and clicking on the Reset button. It will now allow you to re-apply and see a fresh pattern.

After you are satisfied with your pattern, it is now time to save our project. Go to the control panel and click on the circle with the three dots. Choose Save, name your pattern and click the check mark to save it. You will see that it is now saved in CAP file format so you can go back and edit it later if you need to.

Next, we need to export the pattern into a .Sims3Pack file so it can be installed into the game. Go to Export by clicking on the three dots again. In the box that pops up, name your pattern and select the category it will appear in. The best way to do this is to think about how the pattern will look best in the game. Since this pattern will be good for walls, clothing and furniture, I have chosen to save it to the Misc. category. Give your pattern a description, then click the check mark to begin the export process.

It should now appear in your Electronic Arts > The Sims 3 > Exports folder. Double-click on the .Sims3Pack file to install it into the game. Start up The Sims 3 so we can test our new pattern in the game.

To test the pattern on clothing, go into Create a Sim and customize your Sim’s features however you would like. When you get to the clothing section, select a few different items such as dresses, shirts and swimming suits for testing. To apply the new pattern, select a piece of clothing and enter Create a Style by clicking on the paint palette icon that is located in the lower right corner. I will be using a long sleeve t-shirt. Change the material category to Misc. using the dropdown menu at the top. You should now see your new pattern with the custom content star on it.

Make sure the top swatch is selected, then choose your pattern. It should then show up on the main section of the shirt. You can also change the color of the sleeves to match the pattern using the second smaller swatch and adjusting the color wheel, color palette or color numbers.

Once you are happy with the changes you have made, click on the check mark button to apply the new pattern. Below are some examples of how the pattern looks on different types of clothing.

Now it’s time to test our pattern on some furniture, walls and objects. Leave Create a Sim and go to one of your existing households. Go into Buy Mode and select a piece of furniture you would like to test or use an existing piece that is already in your house. Place the furniture and select the Create a Style icon that is located in the control panel at the bottom beside the Hand Tool.

The cursor will change into a paint palette. Click on the piece of furniture to enter Create a Style. You use the same process as we did above with the clothing.

It can also be done with walls or anything else you decide to use a pattern on.

You’re all done. Enjoy your new pattern!