Photoshop 6 for Windows Bible- P19 potx

Figure 11-15: After applying the Gaussian Blur filter, I pinched the image 10 times and applied the Radial Blur filter to create a conical gradation.. The result is a spiral of colors t

Both filters can affect elliptical regions only If a selection outline is not elliptical,

Photoshop applies the filter to the largest ellipse that fits inside the selection As

a result, the filter may leave behind a noticeable elliptical boundary between the

affected and unaffected portions of the selection To avoid this effect, select the

region you want to edit with the elliptical marquee tool and then feather the

selec-tion before filtering it This softens the effect of the filter and provides a more

grad-ual transition (even more so than Pinch already affords)

One of the more remarkable properties of the Pinch filter is that it lets you turn any

image into a conical gradation Figure 11-15 illustrates how the process works First,

blur the image to eliminate any harsh edges between color transitions Then apply

the Pinch filter at full strength (100 percent) Reapply the filter several more times

Each time you press Ctrl+F, the center portion of the image recedes farther and

far-ther into the distance, as shown in Figure 11-15 After 10 repetitions, the face in the

example all but disappeared

Figure 11-15: After applying the Gaussian Blur filter, I pinched

the image 10 times and applied the Radial Blur filter to create

a conical gradation

Next, apply the Radial Blur filter set to Spin 10 pixels or so to mix the color

bound-aries a bit The result is a type of gradation that you can’t create using Photoshop’s

gradient tool

Pinch x 5

Original Gaussian blur, 5.0

Pinch x 3 Pinch x 10, Radial Blur

Pinch, 100%

Tip

place The result is a spiral of colors that looks for all the world as if you poured the image into a blender set to a very slow speed.

When you choose Filter ➪ Distort ➪ Twirl, Photoshop displays the Twirl dialog box,shown in Figure 11-16 Enter a positive value from 1 to 999 degrees to spiral theimage in a clockwise direction Enter a negative value to spiral the image in a coun-terclockwise direction As you are probably already aware, 360 degrees make a fullcircle, so the maximum 999-degree value equates to a spiral that circles aroundalmost three times, as shown in the bottom-right example in Figure 11-17

Figure 11-16: The Twirl dialog box

enables you to create spiraling images

The Twirl filter produces smoother effects when you use lower Angle values.Therefore, you’re better off applying a 100-degree spiral 10 times rather than applying a 999-degree spiral once, as you can see in Figure 11-17

Tip

Figure 11-17: The effects of applying the Twirl filter Repeatedly

applying the Twirl filter at a moderate value (bottom middle)

produces a smoother effect than applying the filter once at a

high value (bottom right)

In addition to creating ice-cream swirls like those shown in Figure 11-17, you can

use the Twirl filter to create organic images virtually from scratch, as witnessed by

Figures 11-18 and 11-19

To create the images shown in Figure 11-18, I used the Spherize filter to flex the

conical gradation vertically by entering 100 percent in the Amount option box and

selecting Vertical Only from the Mode pop-up menu After repeating this filter

sev-eral times, I eventually achieved a stalactite-stalagmite effect, as shown in the

cen-ter example of the figure I then repeatedly applied the Twirl filcen-ter to curl the flexed

gradations like two symmetrical hairs The result merges the simplicity of pure

math with the beauty of bitmapped imagery

Figure 11-19 illustrates a droplet technique designed by Mark Collen I took the

liberty of breaking down the technique into the following steps

Twirl, 100° x 10

Original Twirl, 100°

Twirl, 100° x 5 Twirl, 999°

Twirl, 100° x 3

using distortion filtersexclusively.

Figure 11-19: Although they

appear as if they might be theresult of the ZigZag filter, theseimages were created entirely byusing the gradient tool, the Twirlfilter, and a couple of

STEPS: Creating a Thick-Liquid Droplet

1 Press D to restore the default foreground and background colors.

2 Shift-drag with the rectangular marquee tool to select a square portion of

an image.

3 Create a linear gradation by dragging inside the selection outline with the

gradient tool Before you drag, select the linear gradient style on the Options

bar and select the foreground to background gradient from the Gradients

drop-down palette, also on the Options bar Drag a short distance near the

center of the selection from upper left to lower right, creating the gradation

shown in the top-left box in Figure 11-19

4 Choose the Twirl filter and apply it at –360 degrees so that the spiral moves

counterclockwise To create the top-right image in the figure, I applied the Twirl

filter three times Each repetition of the filter adds another ring of ripples

5 Press Ctrl+J to copy the selection to a layer.

6 Choose Edit ➪ Transform ➪ Flip Horizontal.

7 Lower the Opacity value to 50 percent You can do this from the keyboard by

selecting the rectangular marquee tool and pressing 5 The result appears in

the lower-left example in Figure 11-19

8 Choose Edit ➪ Transform ➪ Rotate 90° CW This rotates the layer a quarter

turn, thus creating the last image in the figure You can achieve other

interest-ing effects by choosinterest-ing Lighten, Darken, and others from the brush modes

pop-up menu

Now, if a few twirls and transformations can produce an effect this entertaining in

black and white, just imagine what you can do in color On second thought, don’t

imagine; check out Color Plate 11-6 instead The first row in this eight-part color

plate is nothing more than a color version of Figure 11-19, intended merely to set the

scene As you can see, I’ve created a gradation using two complementary colors,

blue and yellow In the fifth example (lower left), I apply the Difference blend mode

to the layer (Shift+Alt+E with a non-painting tool selected) and return the Opacity

setting to 100 percent Next, I clone that layer and rotate it another 90 degrees

clock-wise to produce the sixth example The Difference blend mode remains in effect for

this cloned layer as well Not satisfied, I clone that layer, rotate it another 90 degrees,

and flip it horizontally The result, also subject to Difference, is the seventh example

Then for the coup de grâce, I randomly apply the Twirl, Spherize, and ZigZag filters

to the layers to mutate the concentric rings into something a little more interesting

If that went a little fast for you, not to worry More important than the specific

effects is this general category of distortion drawings A filter such as Pinch or

Twirl permits you to create wild imagery without ever drawing a brushstroke or

scanning a photograph If you can do this much with a simple two-color gradation,

just think of what you can do if you throw in a few more colors Pixels are little

more than fodder for these very powerful functions

bolts, wriggling snakes, scribbles — anything that alternately changes directions

along an axis, like the letter Z The ZigZag filter does arrange colors into zigzag

pat-terns, but it does so in a radial fashion, meaning that the zigzags emanate from thecenter of the image like spokes in a wheel The result is a series of concentric rip-ples If you want parallel zigzags, check out the Ripple and Wave filters, described

in the next section (The ZigZag filter creates ripples and the Ripple filter createszigzags Go figure.)

When you choose Filter ➪ Distort ➪ ZigZag, Photoshop displays the ZigZag dialogbox, shown in Figure 11-20 The dialog box offers the following options:

✦ Amount: Enter an amount between negative and positive 100 in whole-number

increments to specify the depth of the ripples If you enter a negative value, theripples descend below the surface If you enter a positive value, the ripplesprotrude upward Examples of three representative Amount values appear inFigure 11-21

Figure 11-20: The ZigZag dialog box lets

you add concentric ripples to an image, as

if the image were reflected in a pond intowhich you dropped a pebble

Figure 11-21: The effects of the ZigZag filter subject to three Amount

values and the Pond Ripples, Out From Center, and Around Center

settings In all cases, the Ridges value was 5

✦ Ridges: This option box controls the number of ripples in the selected area

and accepts any value from 1 to 20 Figure 11-22 demonstrates the effect of

three Ridges values

✦ Pond Ripples: This option is really a cross between the two that follow It

moves pixels outward and rotates them around the center of the selection to

create circular patterns As demonstrated in the top rows of Figures 11-21 and

11-22, this option truly results in a pond ripple effect

Figure 11-22: The effects of the ZigZag filter using three Ridges

values and each of the three Style pop-up menu settings In all cases, the Amount value was 20

✦ Out From Center: When you select this option, Photoshop moves pixels

outward in rhythmic bursts according to the value in the Ridges option box.Because the gradation image I created in Figure 11-15 was already arranged in

a radial pattern, I brought in Moses to demonstrate the effect of the Out FromCenter option, as shown in the second rows of Figures 11-21 and 11-22

✦ Around Center: Select this option to rotate pixels in alternating directions

around the circle without moving them outward This is the only option thatproduces what I would term a zigzag effect The last rows of Figures 11-21 and11-22 show the effects of the Around Center option

10Ridges = 5

Ridges = 5Ridges = 5

20

PondRipples

OutFromCenter

AroundCenter

Creating parallel ripples and waves

Photoshop provides four means to distort an image in parallel waves, as if the

image were lying on the bottom of a shimmering or undulating pool Of the four, the

ripple filters — which include Ripple, Ocean Ripple, and Glass — are only

moder-ately sophisticated, but they’re also relatively easy to apply The fourth filter, Wave,

affords you greater control, but its options are among the most complex Photoshop

has to offer

The Ripple filter

To use the Ripple filter, choose Filter ➪ Distort ➪ Ripple Photoshop displays the

Ripple dialog box shown in Figure 11-23 You have the following options:

✦ Amount: Enter an amount between negative and positive 999 in whole-number

increments to specify the width of the ripples from side to side Negative and

positive values change the direction of the ripples, but visually speaking, they

produce identical effects The ripples are measured as a ratio of the Size value

and the dimensions of the selection — all of which translates to, “Experiment

and see what happens.” You can count on getting ragged effects from any value

over 300, as illustrated in Figure 11-24

Figure 11-23: The Ripple filter makes

an image appear as if it were refracted through flowing water

✦ Size: Select one of the three options in the Size drop-down menu to change

the length of the ripples The Small option results in the shortest ripples and

therefore the most ripples As shown in the upper-right corner of Figure 11-24,

combining the Small option with a high Amount value results in a

textured-glass effect The Large option results in the longest and fewest ripples

Figure 11-24: The effects of combining three different

Ripple filter Amount values with three different Size settings

You can create a blistered effect by overlaying a negative ripple onto a tive ripple Try this: First, copy the selection Then apply the Ripple filter with

posi-a positive Amount vposi-alue — sposi-ay, 300 Next, pposi-aste the copied selection posi-andapply the Ripple filter at the exact opposite Amount value, in this case, –300.Press 5 to change the Opacity value to 50 percent The result is a series of dia-metrically opposed ripples that cross each other to create teardrop blisters

Ocean Ripple and Glass

The Ocean Ripple and Glass filters are gifts from Gallery Effects Both filters

emu-late the effect of looking at an image through textured glass These two distorters

so closely resemble each other that they would be better merged into one But

where the effects filters are concerned, interface design is as fickle and transitory

as the face on the cover of Tiger Beat Magazine.

The Ocean Ripple and Glass dialog boxes appear joined at the hip in Figure 11-25

While the names and effects of the specific slider bars vary, the only real difference

between the two filters is that Ocean Ripple subscribes to a fixed ripple texture,

and Glass lets you switch out the texture by selecting from a pop-up menu

Figure 11-25: The Ocean Ripple and Glass effects filters are

two birds of a feather, ultimately born from the same egg

To guide you in your experimentations, Figure 11-26 shows the Pinch gradation

sub-ject to several Ocean Ripple settings The first number represents the Ripple Size

value (listed first in the dialog box); the second number in the figure represents the

Ripple Magnitude value As you can see, you can vary the Size value with impunity

But raise the Magnitude value, and you’re looking through sculpted glass

Figure 11-26: Raising the Ripple Size value (first number in

each pair) spreads out the effect; raising the Ripple Magnitude (second number) adds more depth and contrast to the ripples

The Wave filter

Now that you’ve met the ripple family, it’s time to ride the Wave I’ve come to lovethis filter — I use it all the time — but it’s complex enough to warrant its own book

It wouldn’t be a very big book and no one would buy it, but you never know what a

freelancer like me will do next Keep an eye out for Wave Filter Bible at your local

bookstore

In the meantime, choose Filter ➪ Distort ➪ Wave (that’s the easy part) to display theWave dialog box shown in Figure 11-27 Photoshop presents you with the followingoptions, which make applying a distortion every bit as easy as operating an oscillo-scope:

✦ Number of Generators: Right off the bat, the Wave dialog box boggles the

brain A friend of mine likened this option to the number of rocks you throw inthe water to start it rippling One generator means that you throw in one rock

to create one set of waves, as demonstrated in Figure 11-28 You can throw in

3, 20 8, 20 15, 20

two rocks to create two sets of waves (see Figure 11-29), three rocks to create

three sets of waves, and all the way up to a quarryful of 999 rocks to create,

well, you get the idea If you enter a high value, however, be prepared to wait

a few years for the preview to update If you can’t wait, press Escape, which

turns off the preview until the next time you enter a value in the dialog box

Figure 11-27: The Wave dialog box lets you wreak scientific

havoc on an image Put on your pocket protector, take out your

slide rule, and give it a whirl

✦ Wavelength and Amplitude: Beginning to feel like you’re playing with a ham

radio? The Wave filter produces random results by varying the number and

length of waves (Wavelength) as well as the height of the waves (Amplitude)

between minimum and maximum values, which can range from 1 to 999 (The

Wavelength and Amplitude options, therefore, correspond in theory to the

Size and Amount options in the Ripple dialog box.) Figures 11-28 and 11-29

show examples of representative Wavelength and Amplitude values

✦ Scale: You can scale the effects of the Wave filter between 1 and 100 percent

horizontally and vertically All the effects featured in Figures 11-28 and 11-29

were created by setting both Scale options to 15 percent

Figure 11-28: The effect of three sets of Maximum Wavelength

(first value) and Amplitude (second value) settings when combined with each of the three Type settings The Number of Generators value was 1 in all cases

✦ Type: You can select from three kinds of waves The Sine option produces

standard sine waves that rise and fall smoothly in bell-shaped curves, just likereal waves The Triangle option creates zigzags that rise and fall in straightlines, like the edge of a piece of fabric cut with pinking shears The Squareoption has nothing to do with waves at all, but rather organizes an image into

a series of rectangular groupings, reminiscent of Cubism You might think ofthis option as an extension of the Mosaic filter Figures 11-28 and 11-29 demon-strate all three options

Square

Figure 11-29: The only difference between these images and their

counterparts in Figure 11-28 is that the Number of Generators value

used for all images was 2

✦ Randomize: The Wave filter is random by nature If you don’t like the effect

you see in the preview box, click the Randomize button to stir things up a bit

You can keep clicking the button until you get an effect you like

✦ Undefined Areas: The Wave filter distorts a selection to the extent that gaps

may appear around the edges You can fill those gaps either by repeating

pix-els along the edge of the selection, as in the figures, or by wrapping pixpix-els

from the left side of the selection onto the right side and pixels from the top

edge of the selection onto the bottom