PatternFill

LayOut
#1

I wanted to create some Hatched Patternfills using MS Paint, but they are fuzzy compared to the Layout Patternfills. In this example, I took the “Brick Common Face” Patternfill, opened it in MS Paint and then simply saved it as “MSP Brick Common Face” without making any changes.

The rectangle on the left is filled with “Brick Common Face”, and the one on the right is filled with “MSP Brick Common Face”. Both files are PNG 64 x 64, but the LO version is 1.19 KB, and the MSP version is 1.29 KB.

The Patternfill in the bottom rectangle is MS Paint, 16 x 16 PNG square with a single pixel line drawn diagonally. I suppose a blind man would be pleased to see the difference, but I’d be interested if there is something I’m missing here as I’m new to Layout and feeling my way round.

It’s great. :grinning:

Untitled.layout (15.0 KB)

#2

Your MSP version of the 64 x 64 pattern has a white background while the original has a transparent background. I imagine that accounts for at least some of the file size difference. Likely MS Paint adds some header info, too.

I don’t see a bottom rectangle. Only the two side by side. I haven’t had my coffee yet so maybe I’m missing something.

Screenshot - 12_29_2020 , 5_18_37 AM
Screenshot - 12_29_2020 , 5_18_37 AM972×682 8.19 KB

Make your hatch patterns the same 64x64 instead of 16x16 and I expect you’ll find the resolution better. As it is, the 16x16 image gets stretched to be 64 x 64 when it is imported as a hatch pattern which would reduce the resolution.

#3

Thanks, Dave. That just about wraps it up. Sorry for sending the wrong file. :woozy_face:

Layout seems fine with 8 x 8 PNGs for what I’m doing here. I drew in the extra lines to turn the 8 x 8 into a 64 x 64 and it comes out just the same.

As for the white background, MS Paint saves the PNG with a message “Any transparency will be lost if you save this picture. Do you want to continue? OK/Cancel”.

The Layout Patternfill is crisper, but I’ll be going with the Slightly Dottier Style from now on.

Thank you, and Happy New Year. :partying_face:

Untitled.layout (36.7 KB)

1 Like
#4

Perhaps using a slightly more sophisticated image editor might be recommended. There are many even free ones that are better than MS Paint.

1 Like
#5

Fair point. I try to stick to the basics, though, as I can leave Sketchup for long periods and want to be able to pick things up where I left off without too much head scratching.

After posting my original question, I noticed that you can scale, and rotate, Patternfills.
image

But I made a redundant set of patterns so its all fairly obvious.

Thanks. :grinning: