DISPLACEMENT MASK

This tutorial will show you how to contour one image to the surface of another, making the depth of the one image control the distortion of the other.

It's called a displacement mask, and you can see what it does in this image.

*Your images need to be the same size in order for this to work.

To start you are going to need 2 images. One of your main subject, and one of what you are going to use with the displacement map.
I use textures for my displacement map, and for this tutorial I am using an image of some tile I took.
Open up your subject in Photoshop.
(Convert the images to 8-bit if it is a 16-bit image by going to Image->Modes->8Bit/Channels)

We don’t want to overwrite our originals by accident, so lets duplicate the image by going to Image->Duplicate

With the copy of the image go to Filters->Blur->Guassian Blur
I used a radius of 27 pixels.
Your image should look similar to this.

Now save this image as a PSD file.
Open up your texture.

Go to Filters->Distort->Displace
I used the following settings:
Horizontal Scale: 95
Vertical Scale: 95
Displacement Map: Stretch to Fit
Undefined Areas: Wrap Around

Click OK.
You will now be prompted to open your displacement map.
This is the blurred image you just saved as a PSD file.
Your image should now look distorted.

Now we get to the fun stuff. :)
In your layers palette, right click on the background layer and select “Layer From Background…”

This will let us edit/adjust the background if needed later on. A background layer has limitations that a layer does not. By converting the background to a layer, we are able to manipulate it in more ways than if it were just a background.

Now we need to copy the original image of our subject/model into the displacement image.

Lets organize our two images (the original and our new displacement map) side-by-side. Then select your Move tool. While holding down the shift key click on your original image and drag it on top of your displacement image.

Holding down the shift key automatically aligns the two new image layers up.
With your new layer selected, set the layer blending mode to Multiply. The blending modes are located in the drop down menu in the layers palette.

You should now have a interesting looking image.
Starting to look pretty cool isn’t it? Well we can make it better looking yet.

Lets duplicate the ‘Layer 1’ by right clicking on it and selecting “Duplicate this layer…”
Select your 'Layer 1 Copy' in the layers palette and set the layer blending mode to ‘Overlay.'

Now lets select “Layer 0" and turn the opacity down a little.
(I set the opacity to 66%)

If you haven’t been saving along the way, this is definitely a good time. Be sure to save this image as a PSD so your layers stay adjustable.

This is the time to play. Change the blending modes on the layers, change opacity, just keep playing until you find something you really like. I am sure you are going to come across some amazing combos. Also, you don’t need to limit yourself to just these layers, add more if you want.

I am going to add a 2nd part to this tutorial on using the quick mask to keep detail in parts of your image.

Reproduced on nikongear.com with kind permission of © Jesse Ascher.

December 31, 1969, 11:00:00 PM by

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Re: Tutorial: Displacement Map

1: April 24, 2007, 04:42:03 PM by Jesse

I actually think this will work with any version of Photoshop from 4.5 and up.

Re: Tutorial: Displacement Map

2: April 25, 2007, 07:02:28 AM by ThomasAdams

Jesse,

That is a great tutorial! I appreciate the time that you took in creating it. I am going to try it out!

Re: Tutorial: Displacement Map

3: April 26, 2007, 10:11:04 PM by Jesse

Displacement Maps can be a lot fun.  You can use them to fake a tattoo on a body part, carve initials into a tree, etc...

Post what you come up with!


Here are a few other displacement maps I've done.