Photoshop® CS4 All-in-One For Dummies®

Chapter 3. Distorting with the Liquify Command

In This Chapter

• Checking out the Liquify window

• Liquifying an image

• Protecting/unprotecting with freezing and thawing

• Canceling your transformations with Reconstruction

• Extending transformations to other areas

Liquify is the only Photoshop filter that gets a chapter of its own. But, then again, Liquify is no ordinary filter; it's the ultimate in image distortion tools and therefore is a good deal more complex than most of its kin on the Filter menu. What other filter has its own hefty tools panel, loads of buttons, several different modes, and more than a dozen option categories that amount to dozens more variations?

The Liquify command lets you push and pull on parts of your image; twist, turn, and pinch other parts; bloat sections; freeze portions in place so that they remain immune to the transformations going on around them; and perform selective reconstructions if you don't like everything you've done. You can perform this magic with a remarkable degree of control, too.

This chapter explores all the features of the Liquify command and shows you how to use these features to create sensational images.

Exploring the Liquify Window

At first glance, the Liquify window is a little daunting. It's a little daunting on second, third, and fourth glances, too. But when you quit glancing and dive into this versatile filter, you'll find that the tools ...