Phil Parsons

Displacement Maps

Ok for the first tutorial on the blog this is probably slightly advanced but once explained its pretty simple and can be used in a multitude of different projects. So lets get cracking………

Images for tutorial:

Flag image | Gold Material image

Step 1:

First thing we need to do, obviously, is open up Photoshop with the two images you just downloaded from above. Drag the flag image over onto the gold material image by holding down ctrl with any tool from dodge/burn upwards to access the move tool on the fly. You should now have the flag kindly inserted on its own layer above the gold material. You will need to resize the flag layer to roughly the same size as the gold material by hitting ctrl + T and dragging the corner handles while holding down the shift key to constrain the dimensions while resizing. Next we want to copy the background layer using ctrl + j and move it up above the flag as below.

Step 2:

Now we need to de-saturate the layer we just copied and placed on top using ctrl + shift + u. Next step is to add a little blur to that layer which is going to be used as our displacement map, so making sure the layer is still selected go to filter>blur>Gaussian blur and apply a setting of around 5 pixels. Using a bit of blur will improve the overall look of the distortion from the displace filter and give a much more convincing effect.

Step 3:

Right click on the now blurred layer and select duplicate layer from the menu. In the dialogue box select “New” from the drop down menu of the Document field and hit ok. You should now have a brand new document with a copy of the layer we just blurred. Hit ctrl + s to save this new document as a PSD file to somewhere that is easy to access such as your desktop and with an easily recognised file name such as map. Once saved close the document.

Step 4:

Return to our original document and hide the background copy layer (blurred layer) using the eye symbol along side the layer. Select the flag layer and go to filter>distort>displace… and in the dialogue box select a value of around 30 pixels for both the horizontal and vertical scales with stretch to fit and repeat edge pixels also selected and hit ok.

You will now be asked to select a distortion map which, low and behold, we have sat waiting for us on our desktop. Navigate to the file you saved earlier on your desktop called map and select it. You should now have a result like the image below.

Step 5:

Ok so I know what you are thinking right, “Phil man this looks totally pants now, my map image is all messed up and jagged”, but panic no more. Go back and select the background copy layer we hid earlier and make it visible once more. Now set the layer blend mode to Hard Light from the menu at the top of the layers palette…..

et voila a beautiful realistic material flag right before your eyes!

Posted on September 19th, 2008 under Photoshop tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.