Photoshop® CS3 Bible

Chapter 12. Custom Effects

IN THIS CHAPTER

Understanding the non-scary math behind the Custom filter

Scaling the Custom values to maintain consistent image brightness

Using more than 50 unique sharpening, blurring, edge detection, and embossing effects

Understanding and applying displacement maps

Using single-channel and full-color displacement maps

Examining Photoshop's predefined displacement map files

Using the Pattern Maker

Creating filter-based textures and patterns

Here in this last chapter on filters, we'll cover three often-overlooked but important entries — Custom, Displace, and Pattern Maker — that enable you to create your own, custom-tailored special effects. Custom and Displace require some mathematical reasoning skills, and even then, you'll probably have occasional difficulty predicting the outcomes. It's not like other filters where you drag a slider and watch the Preview change, so you know when to stop or reverse your adjustments. With these first two filters, you're using numbers to make changes to the image, and you don't see the results until you've entered the numbers. Pattern Maker isn't quite so math-dependent.

Now, if math isn't your strong suit, or worse, if you simply hate dealing with any mathematical stuff, by all means don't put yourself through the torture; you can skip ahead to the Pattern Maker coverage at the end of this chapter. In defense of mathematical bravery, however, there are some cool results to be had by using these filters; but your life will remain ...