Photoshop Gurus Forum
Welcome to Photoshop Gurus forum. Register a free account today to become a member! It's completely free. Once signed in, you'll enjoy an ad-free experience and be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
dv8_fx
Retired Administrator
- Messages
- 13,761
- Likes
- 4,789
A simple definition is a Displacement Map is used to create an illusion of bumps or shadows - to follow the contours in/of an image. The Maps can either be an image or texture which can be "mapped" around an image via Displace Filter.
Here's a little tutorial on DISPLACE FILTER..... Displacement Maps for Graphics in Photoshop CS4 - Layers Magazine | Layers Magazine
Here's another.... I think this best illustrates it... Photoshop Tutorial: Displacement Maps
Here's a little tutorial on DISPLACE FILTER..... Displacement Maps for Graphics in Photoshop CS4 - Layers Magazine | Layers Magazine
Here's another.... I think this best illustrates it... Photoshop Tutorial: Displacement Maps
Last edited:
dv8_fx
Retired Administrator
- Messages
- 13,761
- Likes
- 4,789
Your welcome....
If you noticed in AW the dragon added to your avatar.... the details of his scales? That is another form of the displacement map.... but in 3D, we call it a BUMP MAP... it makes the details/contours more prominent..... fyi....
If you noticed in AW the dragon added to your avatar.... the details of his scales? That is another form of the displacement map.... but in 3D, we call it a BUMP MAP... it makes the details/contours more prominent..... fyi....
"displacement map" is, as I call it, a tool for lazy ones. As of some time I don't use it at all.
Using some channel from the image itself usually gives you just some chaotic bumps. Sometimes, if you are lucky, it looks good. If a viewer does not look close, that is ...
But if you really care, you will notice that some "bumps" are pretty irregular and look pretty strange.
Or you willl have to work very hard on that "displacement map" channel. You we'll have to manually decide where and which tone changing is due to object form, and not some falling shadow or a natural object tone like white teeth and black hair. And if it goes the right way, but not the other way around.
Hold it in your mind that the resolution of the displacement is just 128 pixels and never more. If you work on hi-res images expect to see artifacts, like banding for one...
"displacement map" is very much of the help if it is some external map... And then there are lots of uses...
But most of the time it's just useless junk...
I use Liquify tool with some channel as as mask for addjustments for these things.
But, as I said, sometimes the client just says: hold it, this is great, I buy it... Then just cross and forget it like some bad nightmare...
P.S.
1. Most of the tuts suggest making the separate document for the "displacement map". It's not really necessary. You can make the map right in the source image. Just make the map on some layer and save the document. Then you can use the original doc as a "displacement map".
2. Using the "displacement map" is quite tediuos in Photoshop. If you have After Effects it could be much easier to use "displacement map" effect and make the addjusments(Blur, Levels, Curves, etc) and preview the effect in real time.
Using some channel from the image itself usually gives you just some chaotic bumps. Sometimes, if you are lucky, it looks good. If a viewer does not look close, that is ...
But if you really care, you will notice that some "bumps" are pretty irregular and look pretty strange.
Or you willl have to work very hard on that "displacement map" channel. You we'll have to manually decide where and which tone changing is due to object form, and not some falling shadow or a natural object tone like white teeth and black hair. And if it goes the right way, but not the other way around.
Hold it in your mind that the resolution of the displacement is just 128 pixels and never more. If you work on hi-res images expect to see artifacts, like banding for one...
"displacement map" is very much of the help if it is some external map... And then there are lots of uses...
But most of the time it's just useless junk...
I use Liquify tool with some channel as as mask for addjustments for these things.
But, as I said, sometimes the client just says: hold it, this is great, I buy it... Then just cross and forget it like some bad nightmare...
P.S.
1. Most of the tuts suggest making the separate document for the "displacement map". It's not really necessary. You can make the map right in the source image. Just make the map on some layer and save the document. Then you can use the original doc as a "displacement map".
2. Using the "displacement map" is quite tediuos in Photoshop. If you have After Effects it could be much easier to use "displacement map" effect and make the addjusments(Blur, Levels, Curves, etc) and preview the effect in real time.
Last edited:
hawkeye
Guru
- Messages
- 2,377
- Likes
- 1,113
hawkeye
Guru
- Messages
- 2,377
- Likes
- 1,113
No offense taken, but to make a blanket statement that it's a tool for lazy ones is just plain wrong. The point I was making is that Bert Monroy, who certainly no one would consider a lazy one, doesn't completely dismiss it's use as you have. He doesn't tell you about wasted hours because he understands how it works and therefore when to use it.
I've used it successfully on many occasions, but knowing how it works is essential to knowing when it will work. There are tools in PS that I don't use, magnetic lasso being one of them, but I'd not tell others that it is totally useless.
I've used it successfully on many occasions, but knowing how it works is essential to knowing when it will work. There are tools in PS that I don't use, magnetic lasso being one of them, but I'd not tell others that it is totally useless.
Last edited:
dv8_fx
Retired Administrator
- Messages
- 13,761
- Likes
- 4,789
No offense taken here either....
As I have said many times in the past.... there are many ways to do a single task in Photoshop. It all boils down on the image or the WIP at hand.
Your method works , definitely ... But when faced with a situation that may require a different approach, other tools that one may consider a waste of time may be of the greatest help. It's a question of two things.... DO YOU KNOW HOW TO DO IT and DO YOU KNOW WHEN TO USE IT.
Like hawkeye, there are a lot of tools or methods I don't use.... but I certainly don't consider them useless and I definitely know how to use them....
Monroy may have "wasted" many hours trying to use displacement maps... but he figured out the what, when and how to use them. At least, he and others took the effort to come up with tutes to make others aware of it's use. If it were really useless, adobe would have taken out that feature long ago.
Another logic behind creating a separate document for a displacement map? It's not only for work your doing at the moment.... It can also be used in other images as well.
As I have said many times in the past.... there are many ways to do a single task in Photoshop. It all boils down on the image or the WIP at hand.
Your method works , definitely ... But when faced with a situation that may require a different approach, other tools that one may consider a waste of time may be of the greatest help. It's a question of two things.... DO YOU KNOW HOW TO DO IT and DO YOU KNOW WHEN TO USE IT.
Like hawkeye, there are a lot of tools or methods I don't use.... but I certainly don't consider them useless and I definitely know how to use them....
Monroy may have "wasted" many hours trying to use displacement maps... but he figured out the what, when and how to use them. At least, he and others took the effort to come up with tutes to make others aware of it's use. If it were really useless, adobe would have taken out that feature long ago.
Another logic behind creating a separate document for a displacement map? It's not only for work your doing at the moment.... It can also be used in other images as well.
Last edited: