.pat file converter?

[robert952]

I have a couple of .pat files (from Ron Deviney collections). I get that they are Photoshop files. But also (at least per my web searches) they can be used in COREL products (like PaintShop Pr0). Haven't found out how yet. (I'll look some more... but just spent last couple hours searching. And any 'converters' seem 'iffy'... apparently PAT used for more than PS/PSP/GIMP. (There's a PAT file in my Windows mail folder... go figure.)

Apparently GIMP can open them but multiple image PAT files are opened as Layers. Seems tedious to have to change/save each layer to JPG or PNG or PSPIMAGE. Before I go down that path...

Anyone find a .PAT converter (something similar to ABRVIEWER used for brush files)?

 

[Pendraia]

Interesting question...I mainly use ps these days but I know psp used brush files. I'm wondering if it would be possible to use them directly?

 

[robert952]

PS uses .ABR, PSP uses their own 'brushes', PSPBRUSH. They are not interchangeable. (Never looked to see if there's a converter/method from PSPBRUSH to ABR.) I like Ron Deviney's brushes, All his stuff is for PS. So, I have to convert for use in PSP. ABRVIEWER opens ABR files and converts the images there to PNG. Easy enough (though tedious) to convert to PSPBRUSH with PSP.

(I've used PSP since V1.0 when it was first released by a company call JASC. Back then it was the first real converter to go from BMP to GIF to JPG. To say PSP and I have 'grown up' together would be an accurate analogy.)

My 'ideal' is a converter similar to ABRVIEWER that will open PAT files and allow me to convert to PNG (or JPEG, TIFF, or GIF even). Free is ideal, but willing to pay reasonable price. So far no joy.

But back to the original point... (and to add info I got from Corel forum).... when I look at the actual files PSP uses for 'patterns', they are JPEGs and PSPIMAGE files. They act more like 'fill brushes'; not like true brushes which repeat the pattern based on number of steps and other options. So, a converter from PAT to JPEG will work.

Jean-Luc over at the Corel forum suggests a software called ReaConverter. I bit pricey for what I need it to do ($49.99 US). They have a 'lite version' that's free, but look like it won't open PAT; just JPEG, GIF, TIFF and BMP. They have a 7 day free trial available of their 'standard' so maybe I'll line up a bunch of files and do them all in a week. (Being the cheap, er, frugal, person that I am can't see spending 50 bucks for a software I'd use once or twice a year.

(I just had a thought... why not ping Ron? DOH!)

 

[Miss B]

(I just had a thought... why not ping Ron? DOH!)

Sounds like a good idea Robert. I can't imagine anyone knowing more about brushes and patterns than Ron.

 

[Pendraia]

I could have sworn that I used them in psp but I'm talking ten years back and maybe I'm confused...

 

[Lyrra Madril]

I think .pat is one of those blackbox formats. I have never seen any simple way of extracting images out of them once they go in. That being said .. the method I have used when I need to get an image out is to make a large square image, apply the .pat image at 100% scale and then crop the edges to the edge of the pattern repeat to make it seamless and save as a .tif. Needless to say, not the best method

Most people who make .pats also supply the images on their own, so you may be able to simply ignore the .pat files entirely.

LM