DOCS/Modifiers

Tile

Repeat

Repeat the layer as a pattern that fills its box.

Tile turns the layer into wallpaper. It stamps the artwork on a fixed grid and clips the result to the output box, so you get a pattern fill rather than a countable array.

The difference from Repeater is intent. Repeater builds an object out of copies. Tile builds a surface — a background, a texture, a fill you scroll behind something else.

Try itTile

Tile width70 px

Tile height58 px

Phase0%

Shift rows, not columnsMirror alternate tiles

This stage redraws the effect for the page; the editor runs it through the full layer pipeline, so expect the shape of the behaviour to match and the exact pixels not to.

When to reach for it#

Backgrounds and textures that should keep going past the frame edge.
Seamless patterns you want to scroll or drift.
Halftone-ish fills built from one small motif.

How it works#

Tile width and height define the cell. Anything smaller than the cell leaves gaps; anything larger overlaps into neighbouring cells, which is often how a pattern gets its interlock.

Phase shifts alternate rows or columns. At 50% with row shifting on, you get a brick bond. Mirror alternate tiles flips every other cell, which forces the edges to match — the cheapest route to a seamless pattern when your motif is not designed to tile.

Parameters#

Tile width / heighttileWidth#

The cell size in pixels. This is the pattern period, not the artwork size — the artwork keeps whatever size it already had and gets repeated on this spacing.

Phasephase#

Offsets alternate rows or columns as a percentage of the cell. 50% is the brick bond. Small values like 12% break the grid up without reading as deliberate.

Shift rows, not columnshorizontalPhaseShift#

Which direction the phase applies. On, alternate rows slide sideways (brick wall). Off, alternate columns slide vertically (a stacked-tile look).

Mirror alternate tilesmirrorEdges#

Flips every other cell horizontally and vertically. Guarantees the edges meet, at the cost of a visible reflection symmetry across the pattern. Worth it when the motif has a hard edge that would otherwise show a seam.

Output width / heightoutputWidth#

The area the pattern fills. It is independent of the tile size, so you set the pattern scale and the coverage separately.

Recipes#

A drifting background texture

Draw a small motif — a dot, a cross, a short diagonal line.
Add Tile and set Tile width and height a bit larger than the motif.
Set Output width and height to cover the canvas with a margin on all sides.
Add an Oscillate driver on Position X with a low frequency, or just keyframe the layer moving one full tile width.

Move it exactly one tile width and the loop is seamless — the pattern lands back on itself, so the keyframe join is invisible.

Things that catch people out#

It clips to the output box

Set the output area too small and the pattern stops at a hard rectangle edge. Give it a margin beyond the canvas if you intend to move it.

Mirror mode reveals symmetry in busy motifs

On a plain dot nobody notices. On anything with direction — an arrow, a letterform — mirrored cells read as an obvious flip. Design the motif to tile instead, or accept the reflection as part of the look.