Since my first computer in 1986 I've been dabbling about with graphics in one form or another.  I've always had a fascination for desktop wallpaper (sad isn't it?) and coupled with my healthy appetite for all things Sci Fi, I decided to create my own stuff.  I have used Paint Shop Pro since it was just a 'file format changer' and have to admit, I haven't found anything else better.  I won a copy of Photoshop 5.5 last year and promptly sold it to buy the then new Paint Shop Pro 6 and some KPT plugins.  

After years of experimenting and doodling I started to amass a substantial amount of wallpapers and tiles, not to mention several 1000 icons and a silly amount of fonts!  My friends were always asking for samples of my stuff so to make things easy for all concerned I created my first website 'TextureFX' in 1998.  After a year of practice at making sites and finding a decent ISP I relaunched as 'Digital Meltdown' in Sep '99.

The site has been through several metamorphic changes, it started life as Texture FX and after a year changed to Digital Meltdown.  Realising that most of my visitors come back for the textures I decided to change to the 'Texture Zone' and here we are today!  I'm probably going to use my Digital Meltdown domain for my future busines ventures in the UK, if and when I get the backing for some of my business ventures.  Need to do a lot of practising before I can sell the stuff.

After many long nights experimenting with plugins I finally found a mixing technique for creating (what I thought) some passable impersonations of 'Alien' type textures. 
I blend these with some of my anatomical texture experiments - and that's my style.
I use plugins primarily to make the bases for my images,  KPT & Greggs Factory are my favourites as they can provide an infinite source of texture backgrounds to play with.  I also like to use Rendersoft Illusionae for texture bases and Ultimate Paint for mixing stuff as it has loads of great plugins built in, including some of my favourites. 

With Paint Shop Pro 6 I started to incorporate many more layers within textures, the result being much more sophisticated textures.  I, like many other amateurs, spend a good deal of time scouring the web for inspiration, my absolute favourite being Bruce Mcleods Bryce Gallery - a veritable feast of 3D artwork. My favourite contempary artist is obviously HR Giger, my favourite Classical artist is Mr Angelo himself.  I would like to see some serious biomechanoid cherubs floating in clouds, interesting...

The beauty of layers is that you can put so much more information into an image and alter the context of the image substantially by a small tweak in a layer parameter. A trick a lot of people don't try is to use different plugin effects on different layers, I've made some wonderful discoveries doing this, my favourite being the 'Whales of Narn' which is still my favourite image to date (I kid myself I have talent when I look at it!)

To answer how I get that fine engineering finish of some of the textures, well first of all you need a working base - Greggs Factory plugins are my favourite - then create a texture with a strong angular pattern (not symmetrical or it won't look organic) and experiment blending the two together until it looks 'interesting'.  Soften the sharp edges with the retouch tool or globally using Gaussian type filters, finish of with the old Hot wax, plastic wrap or laquer and there you have it.  I've made an awful lot of textures that failed quality control, I might post them all up one day if I get space! 

The feedback I was getting at this stage was 'Do more scary stuff!' - well I've never been one to disappoint so I endeavored to make some pretty graphic stuff, my favourite being 'Alien Metamorphis' from which I attained my much coveted selection for the Bryce Select Gallery - I must admit this piece took a very long time to make!

Everyone tells me I should 'sell' my stuff and make some money for my work - My reply is quite simple, I don't pay anything to look at anyone else's stuff, most of which is far better than mine.  I fund my growing graphics software collection by doing a bit of web design for friends,  but still get my kicks from my website hits.

I do have other interests, I play heavy rock guitar ('typical!' I hear someone cry), I like  listen to music - anything that provokes thought and provides inspiration - my current favourites are Gladiator soundtrack, Secret Garden and Corelli Sonatas.

I enjoy doodling on my PC and never seem to tire of experimenting with new progs or operating systems.  I'm eternally grateful to all those who create things of beauty or interest on the web, I hope my small contribution adds to the flavour of your PC!   

Please visit my links page and if you like something - tell the person who made it ! it's nice to know you are appreciated !

FAQ 

Recipe for Instant Textures - 'Just add water' etc

Rule No 1 - there's no magic, witchcraft or superpowerful computer involved, anyone can make these

Rule No 2 - You will need patience, a comfy chair, lot's of time, an eye for detail and  a vivid imagination !

Rule No 3 - Get Paint Shop Pro and trawl the web for every freebie plugin and texture maker from my Links

Right ! let's get started !

Mandatory ingredients:  (the first three will do for basic stuff)

Paint Shop Pro Version 6  
Greggs Factory Filter      
Neology Filters
Rendersoft Illusionae
KPT 3 (Metacreations)
Harm's tile 99

How to Install the Filters

Unzip the file to the Plugin folder of Paint Shop Pro, if the directory doesn't exist create it.  Ensure you have the file
Msvcrt10.dll in you Windows directory otherwise some of you plugins may not work, this is an easy file to find and download from the web.

Open up Paint Shop Pro and click on File - Preferences - General Progam Preferences - Plugin Filters and specify the
plugin directory where all your plugins live, click on Ok and now we're ready to make some serious textures !

Making a Basic Textured Desktop Wallpaper

Open up Paint Shop Pro, and make a new image for the size of your desktop.

From the top menu, click on Image - Plugin Filters - Greggs Factory Output - Sine Blobs I

Play about with the various sliders, don't mess about too much with the colours for now, the default is Ok to start with

Click on Ok when you are happy hey presto, your first base texture has arrived.

For the immediate metallic look, from the top menu click on Image - Other - Hot Wax Coating

If your texture is all black check to make sure the Color Palette is set to a fairly light colour, too dark - black texture

By now you should have your 1st useable desktop wallpaper, wasn't that easy ! Have a practice with this bit for a while ..

Making a Tile from your Textured Desktop Wallpaper

This is quite a tricky process to get right, you need to practise this a bit ....

Find an area of the wallpaper which has some symetry well away from the edges and select a square about 250 x 250

Use Paint Shop Pro's  'Convert to Seamless Pattern' from the 'Selections' menu.

Create a new image (800x600) and fill with the seamless image you have just created.

This may look OK straight off, chances are it won't!  Now you have to start playing about with it

Identify the areas of the tile which do not blend together properly - use combinations of gaussian blur/soften/darken RGB/clone to blend the areas together.  Don't forget to sharpen up the areas you have just edited or the finished product will look awful.

Use Plugins to apply effects to the tile image to hide the 'joins' - Hot Wax, Plastic Wrap are my faves (you can tell can't you ?)

After you have finished editing, cut out a square that has been altered the same size as the original texture and save as a new tile

Create  a new 800x 600 image again and fill with the new tile to test it, you may have to do this several time to get it right.

Hot Tips

1.    Do use proprietry texture making programs to provide the base for your textures, by blending these together you can create a variety of unique textures with which you can experiment with.  (See programs in my Links)

2.   Making tiles is a lot easier with dark textures, it's a lot more difficult to see the joins and provides better contrast with light text.

3.   When you are messing about with stuff and something looks interesting, cut it out and save it for later - some of my best tiles have been fashioned by mixing a few 'samples'.  Experiment with anything and everything, I've used national geographic photos !

4.   Do try your tiles in different resolutions, most common users are have either 800x600 or 1024x768 desktops, making tiles which look like muddy screen will not win you any hits !  Try offering in a two sizes ( I do mine in 100x100 and 200x200)

5.   Do offer a preview page, surfers like to see what they are downloading, a well presented page with easy previews will add your site to many peoples favourites.