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Each layer can have one of sixteen textures applied to it, using ten different texture modes:

Using the "Fill With Texture" mode, you can have whole pictures in the background of docks too.

You can also customise the built in textures as much as you want by just copying and pasting images into the appropriate section of the Preferences window. When you are happy you can save off a set of 16 textures as a file to give to somebody else, just like you can with the colours.

Making a texture

The default textures in DragThing are a little conservative, but you can make them as wild as you want. But you should probably know a little about how they work to help you get the best results.

The textures are designed to work in conjunction with the layer colours and styles, and are blended on top. A texture which just consists of a 50% grey fill will not be visible at all, any pixel lighter than 50% will make the corresponding pixel in the dock lighter by that amount, and anything darker than 50% will make the corresponding pixel in the dock darker.

If the texture includes any colours, they will be blended with the colour of the layer, although the user can override this with the different texture modes.

Here are two of the textures that ship with DragThing 4.1 by default, "Brushed Metal" and "Bubbles".

You'll notice they are grey and not too contrasting. Also, they tile seamlessly, such that if you place one next to a copy of itself, you won't see the join.

These are both 128x128, but they can be any size, memory permitting, and don't need to be square. Some of the included textures are just 1x4 pixels in size, and some are 256x256. If you want to use giant textures, you can, but it will take a lot of memory, and you might need to increase the memory allocated to the application on Mac OS 9. On Mac OS X, you should be able to paste in any size texture, but be careful if you try to use the same settings on Mac OS 9 again.

If you want to create a texture from scratch, it's probably best to start with a 50% grey filled image. If the texture has areas in it which are too dark or light, it will be hard to make out the items in the dock because there is too much contrast in the background. If you have a tool in your graphics application to reduce the contrast of an image, use that.

In Photoshop, here's the "Bubbles" texture as viewed in the Levels dialog.

You can see that most of the image is concentrated around the midpoint. If the peak of the graph is off-centre, or too wide, the texture will probably be too distracting. If your texture is too light or dark, it will cause the layer to get brighter or darker overall when applied. You should aim to keep the general brightness of each texture the same.

It's also possible to have a picture filling the entire background of the dock with none of the style or colours showing through - if you set the texture mode to "Fill With Texture" the texture will be drawn straight with no blending. In that case, your image will be drawn in the background of the dock exactly as it looks in your graphics application.

Basically, just experiment - and if you come up with any cool textures, let me know!

Texturific Rules

The next version of DragThing, due out within a few weeks, will support background textures. The effect is outstanding! Do you think you're talented enough to make a great seamless texture? Then maybe James will include in the release version of DragThing - and you'll win a free copy!

Here's the fine print. Four ResExcellence readers will have their textures included with DragThing and receive a free registration for this excellent utility. James has created a tutorial with more details on the textures. Email him your textures and if he selects it, you'll receive a registration and the fame and accolades of your peers. Contest ends at midnight Friday, August 24th.

All textures must be your original creations. Take the textures and a READ ME including some info about your self and create a Stuffit Archive. Attach it to an email and send it to James. Stop by ResExcellence on Monday, August 27th to find out if you won!

Let's show James what great artists ResEx readers are! Good Luck.