Rippling an Image tutorial


One of the most powerful features of Photogenics is the DisplaceMap paint mode. With this you can distort one picture using another picture, selected as the secondary buffer, as a 'map'. You can use any picture as a displacement map, but it works best with pictures that are primarily greys, and it is best if the background is set to a mid grey. Pictures created with the Emboss paint mode can work particularly well.

Here are a few tricks you can do with DisplaceMap. . . .

Step 1. Open an example picture, we will use 'Graphics/ExampleImages/Girl.JPG' for this one.

Step 2. Create a displacement map: Do `new/blackpage' Change the width and height in the requester to match the width and height of the picture you loaded (200 wide and 256 high for the Girl.JPG example) and select "Ripples" from the Effects list (use the right mousebutton on the word 'Ripples' to open the pop-up, and select APPLY from the pop-up window). The requester (centre co-ordinates) just press OK.

Step 3. The concentric circles image you have just created will be an ideal DisplaceMap. Select the image (by clicking on the title bar of the image) and select 'Options/Use as Secondary' from the menu (or drag it into the S box on the Images window, it should now disappear.

Step 4. Select the main image again. click on the MODE button in the toolbar and select 'DisplaceMap' from the list.

Step 5. Fill the screen (with the white button above FIX in the toolbar) for instant ripples! You can mess around with the strength of the ripples by changing the mode options for DisplaceMap (the button to the right of the MODE button in the toolbar). Try different combinations of large and small values for X and Y for different effects.

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