How to Create a Tiled Image with MidJourney
What are tile images?
Prompting MidJourney for an image that can be tiled
How to create a seamless pattern with a tile image
What are tile images?
Tile images are images that, when placed next to each other, create a seamless, repeating pattern. Tiled images can be used for creating backgrounds, textures, and patterns for 3D graphics. A tile image can also be used to easily create patterns on physical products such as shirts, phone cases, etc.
Prompting MidJourney for an image that can be tiled
To create tile images with MidJourney, the parameter --tile must be included in the prompt. The --tile parameter works with the following MidJourney algorithms: v1, v2, v3, test, and testp. At the time of writing this article, it has not been enabled on v4.
To demonstrate how --tile works, I generated a grid of images with each MidJourney algorithm where --tile is enabled. I like creating square images to use as tiles, however, --tile also works with different aspect ratios. The Midjourney prompts I used are shown beneath each image grid below.
/imagine beautiful spring flowers --v 1 --tile
/imagine beautiful spring flowers --v 2 --tile
/imagine beautiful spring flowers --v 3 --tile
/imagine beautiful spring flowers --test --tile
/imagine beautiful spring flowers --testp --tile
How to create a seamless pattern with a tile image
Once you have generated a tile image, you will likely want to see how well that translates to a pattern. There are a number of programs and tools available to do this.
IMGonline.com.ua
This is an easy-to-use online tool that allows you to upload your tile image and specify how many blocks wide and how many blocks tall you want your output pattern to be. After it creates your patterned image, you have options to open it to view it or download it.
Use it here: https://www.imgonline.com.ua/eng/check-texture-tiling.php.
PowerPoint
PowerPoint can be used as a quick way to see what your image looks like as a tiled pattern. PowerPoint will use the dimensions of your input tile image as-is. In other words, if your input tile image is a 2000px x 2000px square, it will take up the whole slide background. I recommend resizing your input tile image to 100 x 100 pixels or 200 x 200 pixels, so you get a better idea of what it looks like as a seamless pattern.
Open a new, blank PowerPoint document
Right click anywhere on the slide and select "Format Background"
In the window that pops up, select "Fill" on the upper left, if it is not already selected. Then select the "Picture of texture fill" radio button.
Click the "File..." button below "Insert from:"
Select the image you want to tile
Then check the "Tile picture as texture" box and close out of the Format Background window
From here you can save your PowerPoint slide as an image, pdf, or take a screenshot.
Photoshop
To create a tiled pattern in Photoshop, you must first add the input tile image to a set of defined patterns. Just as in PowerPoint, it will use the dimensions of your tile image as-is, by default.
Open the tile image that you want to use as a pattern.
Select the area of the image you want to use. Ctrl+a if you want to select the whole image.
Go to the Edit menu and select "Define Pattern"
Give your pattern a name and click OK
Open up a new, blank document by going to the File menu and clicking "New"
The size of the tile image you used to define the pattern will influence the dimensions you will want to use for your new document. For example, if you used a 100 x 100 pixel tile image to define the pattern and want to create a pattern that is 10 rows x 10 columns, you would create a new document that is 1000 x 1000 pixels.
On the Edit menu, click "Fill"
In the "Fill" window that pops up, select "Pattern" from the Contents dropdown. Then select your pattern next to "Custom Pattern".
If you want to play around with changing sizes or making other interesting patterns with your tile image, you can check the "Script" box and try out some of those options.
Click OK and you're done!
Redbubble
This isn't a tool like those above, but I think it is still worth mentioning. If you just want to go directly to creating a physical product, then you may consider a site like Redbubble. Redbubble in an online marketplace, similar to Society6 and Zazzle, where you can upload your artwork and place it on physical products such as shirts, phone cases, laptop skins, mugs, and more. When you are creating your products, you can upload the original tile image and do not need to create the repeating pattern beforehand. These types of websites often have built-in features to take your tile image and automatically create a repeating pattern of it on the product.
Examples of Repeated Patterns from Tile Images
I picked one image from each of the grids, shown above, to upscale and turn into a pattern. I opted to use IMGonline.com.ua to create the pattern, because it is simple and straight-forward when you just want a quick pattern generated.
Upscaled image #3 from v1
A 4×4 pattern created from v1 image #3
Upscaled image #2 from v2
A 3×3 pattern created from v2 image #2
Upscaled image #4 from v3
A 3×3 pattern created from v3 image #4
Upscaled image # 1 from the test algorithm
A 4×4 pattern created from test image #1
Upscaled image #2 from the testp algorithm
A 3×3 pattern created from testp image #2
Summary
In summary, including --tile in MidJourney prompts is a great way to generate tile images that can be used to create seamless, repeating patterns. These repeated patterns can be used as backgrounds, textures, patterns for 3D modeling, and as prints on physical products. There are also multiple tools available to quickly create a seamless pattern using a tile image.