1. Start with a new file, 100x100 pixels, in 24-Bit RGB color. Double-click on the Fill tool to open the Fill roll-up. Select the Texture Fill icon, and select the Edit icon. Next, select the Samples library, and select the Banded Malachite fill as shown below. Click the Fill tool on the image to apply the texture fill to the image. Texture fills are not automatically seamless, so we'll use a few tricks to make this image seamless.

2. Now, apply the Offset filter so that you can clean up any unsightly edges. Apply Effects/2D/Offset, with the Horizontal and Vertical values set to 50, and the Wrap Around radio button selected. The outer edges of the image will be wrapped to the center, where any seams will be clearly visible and therefore easier to eliminate.

Start to clean up the edges by double-clicking the Effect tool, which will open the Tool Settings roll-up. Select Smudge, 4 pixel size; Transparency, 5; Soft Edge, 0. You may want to save this smudge brush for later use on other web projects. Select the Save Brush button and name the brush you've created.

3. Next, smudge the vertical edge by using the Smudge brush. If the image you're trying to make seamless has an obvious pattern, it helps to follow the pattern with the smudge tool. There are a number of ways to clean up edges. Use the Lasoo Mask tool, and select an irregular area. Double click the tool to finish the selection. Apply Mask/Feather; Width, 2; Direction, Inside. Next, select Edit/Copy (or Control+C) and Edit/Paste/As Object (or Control+V). Drag the copy into position to cover the horizontal edge, as shown in step 3 above. In addition, you could use the Brush tool or the Clone tool to cover up the edges.

Next, save the tile you've created. We'll be saving this image as a tif, so that we can use it to practice lightening images to use as backgrounds in Chapter 5. If you've used the Lasso Mask tool, you'll have created some floating objects that will need to be merged before you can save the image as a tif. Select Objects/Combine/Combine All Objects With Background. Then save as tif.