How To Create Photo-Realistic Chainmaille Inlay Patterns

Let’s learn how to design photo-realistic chainmaille inlays like a pro!

This is the method I use for photos but it’s definitely not the only way. Hopefully you find this helpful, all the same.

Also, this is specifically for photo-based inlay patterns. Lower detail inlays and sprites are their own animal, worthy of their own tutorial. Photos may require some lighting and color correction up front, but low-detail inlays often need a lot of pixel-by-pixel cleanup and smoothing at the end. I’ll try to put one together someday.

0. Find A Good Picture
1. Tools You’ll Need
2. GIMP – Setting Up Your Palette
3. GIMP – Resizing
4. GIMP - Recoloring and Indexing Colors
5. Irregular Grid Painter (IGP)
6. IGP - Pattern Instructions
7. Final Thoughts

0. Find A Good Picture

Colorful and dynamic helps. Subtle shadows tend to become dark voids. Keep in mind, the more detailed your base image, the more outrageously large your inlay will need to be to keep that detail.

So, without further ado, I’ve found the perfect muse, and HIS NAME IS JOHN CENA! /Trumpets 

First things first, convert your starting image to PNG or something else small and lossless. Saving as a JPG later on will screw up your perfectly indexed colors and will probably crash IGP. I also recommend saving each action/step as a different file. This method is destructive and we’re going to create a lot of variations until we find something that works.