Pattern Design for the Rest of Us
 

Creating Repeat Patterns: SymmetryMill Cursors

The Arrow tool in the Source Image window lets you choose the motif for your pattern by one of the following means:
  • moving the control path relative to the image
  • modifying the size or shape of the control path
  • rotating the image around the center of the control path
  • moving the image relative to the control path
The shape of the control path, and the types of changes that you can apply to the control path, depend on symmetry that you choose in the Parameters panel. Your mouse pointer (the cursor) constantly gives you a hint of what type of editing you can apply at any given moment.
While the pointer hovers over the control path, you can move or change the control path. In this case, the cursor can be one of the following:
The free-move cursor
Drag the entire control path relative to the source image.
The vertical cursor
Drag an anchor or a side either up or down.
The horizontal cursor
Drag an anchor or a side to the left or to the right.
The diagonal cursors
Drag an anchor diagonally or freely in any direction.
The right-down cursor
Drag the upper side of the kite-shaped control path diagonally up to the right or down to the left.
Drag the top or bottom side to the left or to the right to shear a rectangle control path or straighten up a skewed control path; or drag the side up or down. Shearing the control path horizontally creates brick repeats.
Drag the left side or the right side up or down to shear a rectangle control path or straighten up a skewed control path; or drag the side to the left or to the right. Shearing the control path vertically creates drop repeats.
The rotational shear cursor
Shear a triangle control path by rotating the upper anchor around the base side; or drag the anchor up or down. Shearing a triangle control path creates brick repeats with additional symmetries.
When the mouse hovers over the source image outside the control path area, you can rotate or move the image relative to the control path. In this case, the cursor may change into one of the following:
The image rotate cursor
Drag the image clockwise or counterclockwise to rotate it around the center of the control path. As you drag, a circle appears that indicates rotation.
The image move cursor
Drag the image left, right, up, or down to move it relative to the control path.
Hold down the Space key to switch from the image rotate cursor to the image move cursor.
Finally, using the Hand tool , you can move the control path and the image together, relative to the Source Image window. In this case, the mouse pointer indicates the Hand tool:
The hand cursor
Drag the control path and the image relative to the window.
Hold down the Alt key (Windows) or the Option key (Mac OS) and then press the Space key to temporarily activate the Hand tool while working with the Arrow tool.