Step 1: Pick a Color, Any Color

Start with a panel filled with the wood-like color you desire. This color happens to be, in the user-friendly hexadecimal, #BD841C sized at 256x256. Pick any color and size you like. I like working with squares rather than rectangles because I'm planning to make it tilable later.

Step 2: Make Some Noise

Using the Photoshop Noise Filter (Filter > Noise > Add Noise) treat your texture-to-be with somewhere between 10 and 20 percent noise. This sample is about 15%. Make sure to check the Gaussian and monochromatic boxes.

Step 3: Put it into Motion

Using the Motion Blur filter (Filter > Blur . Motion Blur) Crank this effect all the way to the top! Leave the angle at zero for now, save it for later when you want to play with some interesting variations.

Step 4: Make Some Waves

Now the event we've all been waiting for. Select the Wave filter (Filter > Distort > Wave) and check off the Sine type and Wrap Around options. The sliders make for and infinite number of variations, many usable here and many not. The settings used here are: # of Generators =39, Wavelength Min. = 1, Max. = 69, Amplitude Min. =1, Max. = 40, Scale Horiz. =57, Vert. = 100.

Voila! Wood.

Step 5: Play Around With It

This is a great texture to have some fun with since wood comes in a seemingly endless array of variations. Try adding some contrasting grain like we did here. Between Steps 3 and 4 we've painted in a few contrasting stripes and then continued to Step 4.

Wood

If your first attempts at Step 4 aren't exactly what you had in mind, hit the Randomize Button until you see something you like. There's no doubt in our minds, here, that you'll find settings to improve on this effect many times over, but it'll keep you busy for a while.

Hope you'll find this useful!.

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