Bend picture for follow a shape

[giordi]

hi everybody what's up???
i have a picture of my back i would like to stick on it a picture of my HS mascotte , i found a tutorial for make it like a tatoo (awesome) but is there a way for bend the picture in the way it follows the shape of my back? becuase without it it looks really fake

 

[SCTRWD]

I think, the best way in your case is to use Liquify tool. To begin with go to Channels pallete and choose the channel with the best contrast. Make a copy of it. Go back to RGB channel and to your mascot layer. Now go to Filter->Liquify... For mask choose the copy of the channel you've created. Grab the Forward Warp Tool, choose a fairly big brush and paint over your tatoo upwards or sidewards. Your tatoo should distort according to the bends on the channel. Experiment freely with different options and don't forget about Reconstruct tool to undo.

 

[giordi]

holy cow i m not a newbie with PS but u said pro stuff! ok i will try i think it will be hard follow all the shape of the back :S

 

[hawkeye]

The displace filter would work best. Filter-Distort-Displace. Google for a tutorial in it.

 

[SCTRWD]

Of course you can use Displace filter. But as of the time Liquify came to the scene I found it much more usefull.

Filter-Distort-Displace is hardly the best choice. Filter->Liquify... gives you much more control and options. Just for example, other than just shift the tatoo on giordi's back it can bloat it on upper areas and pucker it inside of the folders. While Displace only does just what it's name implies - displace. That is - move pixels around. It's just a hell of the task to simulate bloat or spherize effect with Displace filter, just try it sometime Surely the Liquify tool is much more straightforward, precise, fault-forgiven and user-friendly.You yourself decide what and where and how much to distort. And the mask of the channel constrains your distortion just the right way.

 

[hawkeye]

Of course you can use Displace filter. But as of the time Liquify came to the scene I found it much more usefull.

Filter-Distort-Displace is hardly the best choice. Filter->Liquify... gives you much more control and options. Just for example, other than just shift the tatoo on giordi's back it can bloat it on upper areas and pucker it inside of the folders. While Displace only does just what it's name implies - displace. That is - move pixels around. It's just a hell of the task to simulate bloat or spherize effect with Displace filter, just try it sometime Surely the Liquify tool is much more straightforward, precise, fault-forgiven and user-friendly.You yourself decide what and where and how much to distort. And the mask of the channel constrains your distortion just the right way.

Filter-distort-displace...Try this using liquify, and see how long it takes:

 

[iDad]

LOL .....just LOL

 

[SCTRWD]

This image just proves my point. Just take a look at it. The line of sight is right at the nostrils level. So the flag lines should bend down under the nose, be alomost straight at the nose levels and bend up above the nose. The way they are they don't look natural. No way Displace will do it.

As for the time, I think using Liquify will take no longer then your Displace. Let's not fool anybody - your Displace has taken quite a number of tries and probes and undos before you found the right parameters. I think you missed the key moment I talked about in my post - the Mask. The Mask is the most essential part of it.

 

[hawkeye]

This image just proves my point. Just take a look at it. The line of sight is right at the nostrils level. So the flag lines should bend down under the nose, be alomost straight at the nose levels and bend up above the nose. The way they are they don't look natural. No way Displace will do it.

As for the time, I think using Liquify will take no longer then your Displace. Let's not fool anybody - your Displace has taken quite a number of tries and probes and undos before you found the right parameters. I think you missed the key moment I talked about in my post - the Mask. The Mask is the most essential part of it.

Whatever tool works best for you is certainly what you should use. In this case this was the first and only application of displace. Did I get lucky? Perhaps, but also knowing how it works and how to use it speeds things up considerably. (Channel, blur, levels, displace settings, etc. to get the best effect) Obviously there was cleanup involved as the flag is larger than the face.

But again whatever tool works best for you is the one to choose. When more than one method exists, it's best to try them all and see which one best suits the situation or your workflow.

 

[pswift]

This image just proves my point. Just take a look at it. The line of sight is right at the nostrils level. So the flag lines should bend down under the nose, be alomost straight at the nose levels and bend up above the nose. The way they are they don't look natural. No way Displace will do it.

It's a face and not a ball. While displace is not perfect, it well suited for most projects, since a large majority of the viewers will just think that it looks cool and they can't be bothered with the technical accuracy or in other words, mission accomplished.

As for the time, I think using Liquify will take no longer then your Displace. Let's not fool anybody - your Displace has taken quite a number of tries and probes and undos before you found the right parameters. I think you missed the key moment I talked about in my post - the Mask. The Mask is the most essential part of it.

You fail to understand that liquify requires more than just knowing how the tool works. As for displace; why is he fooling anyone? Displace is an easy tool to use if you know how it works and what kind of things you have to watch out for.

 

[SCTRWD]

It's a face and not a ball. While displace is not perfect, it well suited for most projects, since a large majority of the viewers will just think that it looks cool and they can't be bothered with the technical accuracy or in other words, mission accomplished.

The quality is the thing you judge yourself. If you settle for a hackwork then so be it. Haltura - as we put it in russian.

You fail to understand that liquify requires more than just knowing how the tool works. As for displace; why is he fooling anyone? Displace is an easy tool to use if you know how it works and what kind of things you have to watch out for.

So, you know. What next? Next you start to FIX the "things you have to watch out for", right? You do not just let them be, do you?

Let me guess. There are tons of black and white regions, which do not reflect the profile of the face: black hair of a brunette, cast shadows(under nose, on the neck, in the eye sockets, just shadows from other objects), black eyebrows, white teeth, blackness in the nostrils, ears, eye whites and so on, and on, and on... All of them has to be found and fixed some way or the other. And "knowing" doesn't help much here - this work still has to be done, "knowing" or not. So much for "an easy tool to use"

 

[pswift]

I don't understand why you're trying to convince me that displace is not perfect, when I just stated that it's not perfect.

hawkeye's suggestion was a good one. He understands what kind of people visit this forum and what their goals are. He doesn't overwhelm them with non-Photoshop techniques (because that's needed if you need good results with liquify to do what he did with hat face), but sticks to straightforward techniques that give results that satisfy most people. It's also a technique that is suggested by most professionals like Scott Kelby, Deke McClelland, Matt Kloskowski, etc, because also they understand the needs of beginners.
You fail to understand that all people who ask such questions on this forum aren't pros, pros don't come here to ask questions.

Anyway, just my $0.02