Displacements and distortions and textures manual

Displacement /textures / distortions for Photoshop ® Installation of displacements maps Please place the displacement map (* . PSD) files in the ‘displacement maps’ folder in the plug-ins folder.

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop ...\Plug-ins\Displacement Maps HD:Applications:Adobe Photoshop...:Plug-ins:Displacement Maps

Access the displacement map PSD files via the displace filter

or glass filter

or texturizer ...

Serial numbers Please store the serial numbers for reference, for future updates, for replacement CDs. This is generally stored in a folder marked as keep for reference or store

Displacement maps installation issues If you have problems installing or using this product, please e-mail our tech support at support@graphicxtras.com

Comments If you have any suggestions to how we can improve our products or manual, or if there is something that is hard to understand or badly stated, please contact us and we will try to correct any errors or misunderstandings in the next release of the manual. It is always great to hear your feedback.

Other items We also have a number of other items for Photoshop such as plug-ins and custom shapes and brushes.

System requirements Applications supported - Photoshop 速 6 7 CS1 CS2 CS3 CS4, Elements, Windows 98, NT, ME, 2000 XP Vista (they can be used on OS 9 but they need to be converted to OS 9 PSD files), the files can be used on OS X

Other applications

Applications that fully support the PSD format (though these applications are not supported) such as Paint Shop Pro 速 Photo X2 X1 X etc

Minimum requirements At least 64 MB of memory, though some operations might require a lot more.

Trademarks The displacement maps were designed by Andrew Buckle, and copyright 19992009 (depending on the set), Andrew Buckle and Abneil Software ltd All products mentioned in this manual are trademarked or probably trademarked by their respective owners. Illustrator and Photoshop and Adobe and After Effects are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated. Paint Shop Pro is registered trademark of Corel Corporation We have no connection whatsoever with Adobe or Corel We have no connection whatsoever with Adobe.

Adobe product screen shot(s) reprinted with kind permission from Adobe Systems Incorporated.

Company contact details Telephone / Fax: UK 01622 688 375 http://www.graphicxtras.com support@graphicxtras.com

Displacement map hints and tips Displacement maps are PSD files, Photoshop format and grayscale (in most cases) They can be used throughout Photoshop (as well as other applications by exporting to a format such as TIFF for maximum compatibility)

Displacement maps and filters The PSD files can be used in the displace filter, glass, canvas and texturizer native plug-ins. In the latest version (Photoshop 速 CS 1 / CS 2), the glass filter and others are now accessible via the filter gallery. The filter gallery allows multiple layers of glass filters (or texture) using different distortion displacement maps in one single application of the filter

Displacement maps / settings Sometimes the effect can be achieved by a high displacement, blasting the image or text, but more subtle distortions can be achieved by applying lower values and re-applying the displacement

The filters can be action-ed so you can save this for future.

Filter->Distort->Displace Horizontal Scale / Vertical Scale / stretch or tile / wrap around or repeat edge pixels. The displacement maps are not displayed, you have to select them from the displacement maps folder (best to select them using the thumbnails display option in XP). You can use a variety of scale and stretch / tile settings to create totally different distortion effects.

Filter->Distort->Glass Distortion / Smoothness / Texture (select a displacement map via the right arrow menu option) / scaling / invert option. Again, using a variety of settings and combinations of glass displacement maps, many different glassy effects can be created.

The glass can be re-applied within the same filter gallery, so add multiple glass effects. Below, three glass effects have been added. They all use the same glass PSD file but they could use different files. The distortion and smoothness and scaling vary for each effect

The glass effect can be re-applied again and again by using the repeat last command instead (top item in the filter menu)

The file used by the glass / filter gallery is modified via the texture setting (frosted etc, you will find a little dropdown beside the frosted etc texture listing)

The glass effect can also be added to an action

Displacement maps / layers The displacement maps can also be applied on a new duplicated layer and reblended with the image, great for grungy effects etc Create a duplicated layer as below

Apply the displace (or glass etc) filter to the top layer

Change the layer blending mode as required

Displacement maps and other color modes The displacement maps filter ‘displace’ can be used in other color modes other than RGB (glass etc are disabled). The distortion can be applied to a CMYK document as well as a LAB document but not currently (?) to 16 bit images

Displacement maps / channels Displacement maps can also be applied to a channel, either an actual channel or new channel (use the calculations command to create a selection from the new channel's displacement map) and use as a source for a new layer and apply layer effects etc Below, select the Red channel

Go to the displace filter

Apply displace filter to red channel (or equally the blue or green, or perhaps different settings for each channel) Go back to the RGB channel for the final result.

The same can be done with the cyan of the CYMK mode etc

History brush and maps A useful tool to use in combo with the displacement maps is the history brush, apply the effect, and use the history palette and then apply the history brush to paint on the displacement effect to certain parts of the image.

Seamless / displacement maps The displacement maps are generally seamless, though some of the seamless maps might work well as displace files but not so well as glass distortion files without tweaking the smoothness and tiling settings

Starting point / create new maps The displacement map PSD files are only starting points and they can be reedited and using tools like the Tile Maker (via ImageReady), new tiles can be created. Try and avoid modifying any of the edges of the displacement map The displacement maps can also be modified and made seamless via 3rd party texture plug-ins such as Terrazzo (and others) The displacement map can also be distorted as long as you don’t distort to the edges, (create a selection to preserve the edges). Modify the center of the displacement map, perhaps by applying a pinch filter command or a warping brush. Below shows a displacement map with a pinch effect filter applied, the pinch effect does not modify the edge of the displacement.

To save the displacement map, simply save the displacement map as a new PSD or overwrite the original displacement map if so desired.

The displacement maps can also be inverted to create different distortions effects, you can then save an inverted image as a new displacement map

Define as a pattern, use in layer effects By using the define pattern (on the displacement map) you can also load the displacement maps in as textures (you can of course, also color the displacement maps) and then use as a texture in layer effects (texture / bevel / pattern overlay) or as a brush texture in PS 7 and CS and CS2 and CS3 and CS4 as well Elements brushes palette.

Brush stroke source / displacement maps The displacement maps can also be used as a source for brush strokes, simply open the displacement map file in Photoshop and then go to the edit->define brush menu option.

If the PSD file is greater than the brush file size limit, the define brush command will be grayed out. The brush is then defined, but to save the brush you must save the current brush palette via the preset manager options at the right of the brush palette.

The brush can then be dabbed, spaced, applied with multiple colors, and more to great effect.

Displacement converted to custom shapes / distress images The displacement maps can also be converted to custom shapes. Open the displacement maps file and use the selection commands to select the black / white areas and then use the path palette to convert to a path. Once the displacement map is a path, the path can be converted to a custom shape and saved as such. The displacement map can then be re-applied, warped, distorted, overlay and more. The shape can be re-applied repeatedly, changing colors, varying opacity. As the shape conversion often results in a rougher version of the original displacement map, the shape tool can be used to create distressed and grunge effects easily; designs far removed from the clean vector origins of a normal shape.

Actions and displacement maps

Displacement maps are also useful combined with actions as well as batch actions and scripting (where the name of the map can be randomized or the scaling or the direction or the method of displacement or the glass distortion smoothing altered.

Many amazing scripted effects can be created such as creating smeary randomized paint effects.

Bump maps / materials in Paint Shop Pro 速 The displacement maps can also be used as bump maps etc and textures in Paint Shop Pro 速 and any other application that supports PSD file format of Photoshop. Add the displacement map PSD files to the Paint Shop Pro folders containing patterns, bump maps, textures, etc. These are generally found in the corel_01 etc folders in recent versions. Paint Shop Pro file locations can also be set via the file preferences settings panel.

Once the displacement map PSD file has been located, the displacement map will appear in the materials / bump map etc dropdown along with the native texture / pattern files. Once selected, the displacement map application can be modified by the palette controls, such as smoothness and depth and size

The displacement map can be used in fills via the materials palette in Paint Shop Pro, either as a pattern or a texture for the fill. Same with brush strokes and other areas of Paint Shop Pro

Exporting PSD files The files can also be exported for use in 3D applications such as Carrara. By converting the the PSD format to BMP or TIFF or JPG the displacement maps can also be used as textures in frame plug-ins or in third party plug-ins such as [ Spheroid designer ] plug-in from Corel / KPT

Displacement maps and selections The displacement map cannot be used as a selection directly (though it can, the displacement map size is fairly small and perhaps limited as a direct selection). You can always open the displacement map and use the define pattern

command to add to the pattern palette. Create a large document (say 2000 x 2000) and then fill the document with the generated pattern and then use the selection command [ color range] to create a selection from the pattern.

Drag the selection from the pattern filled document to another image and use selection to apply effects etc to the displacement selection

Displacement maps and use in their own right The displacement maps are fairly small files, so to use them in their own right (and not as a displacement or distortion), it is probably best to convert the displacement into a pattern via the define pattern command and then fill a large document (say 2000 x 2000) with the pattern. The displacement file is like any other file and can then be manipulated, effects applied, used as a layer and much more

Here the displacement map initial layer has been duplicated and then the layer setting has been set to lighten. The background layer has been blurred and a gradient applied.