The August Tips and Tricks discussion

[Scotty]

Hi Big Frank,
thanks for the link still doesn't work...same problem..maybe my Kapersky doesn't like Imageskill website..
Ok Kapersky was the problem...I disabled and went to your site and it downloaded thanks.
Jim

[stygg2003]

Thanks for that Francis, that stain is useful for lots of things, one as you have shown in you pic for giving a variation on grass.

Stygg

[Gare]

I'm going to offer a big-time variation on this month's theme. A lot of the type of displacement we've been throwing around here has been because a pattern doesn't stay perfectly straight when something has depth, and when the depth is different in different areas, well, you can get an effect like a flag waving.

I discovered in a modeling program I use that a Depth of Field map can be used in this month's example with the Image Skills' Displacement filter! Now this is a render, and I didn't use a displacement filter or anything: I just mapped the same stripe pattern to a flat surface, and the decidedly not flat surface of a hand.




I've put a hand with an alpha channel in a Xara file, along with a gold and blue striped vector shape and a displaced copy based on the Depth of Field image. Can you "wrap" the pattern across the hand somewhat photorealistically?

Oh, yeah...



So when you get sick of doing flags, remember that Gary is happy to lend you a...hand.

Ouch,

Gary

[stygg2003]

I've tried every which way you can to do this hand but to no avail, I hold my hand(s) up So for now another flag from my service days, the white ensign, on all H.M. naval ships.

Stygg.

[wizard509]

That looks fab Stygg. I couldn't do the hand either, and, I tried over and over every way I could think of. I guess I just didn't think of the right way.

[Gare]

The "which way" to putting the displaced pattern on the hand is to run the Image Skills displacement filter, using the depth of field as the source, on a plain stripe pattern to get the displacement geometry. Then you manually trace the blue stripes as vector shapes and put them over the gold hand, or the white one.

It's do-able, but a challenge.

Did you expect strolls in the park from me?



Besides, we hardly know each other!

-g

P.S. Nice work with the latest flag.

[stygg2003]

Thanks for the helping hand Gary, will try again

Stygg

[Gare]

Here's some more help, folks—

I used these settings on the attached file:



Angle=0
Scale=100%
Smoothness=1%
Strength=100%

I put the Live Effect-ed vector displacement group of shapes over the hand in Stained Glass Transparency mode.

I think this looks pretty surreal and impressive for only a few steps.



My Best,

Gary

[stygg2003]

Thanks for that Larry, glad someone else as well owned up to being foxed with the hand.

Stygg

[Gare]

@stygg—

I think we posted at the same time!

With the exception of the DoF PNG image you need to put in the Displacement Maps folder in Image Skills, the attached Xara file has everything you need to reproduce what I did above. It's even completed for you and I used version 6, so most people can play along!

-g