Preserved Topic: Moon reflection

Some time ago, I tried to make a sig with my name reflected in water... Mahjqa patiently tried to show me how to do, ended up with two beautiful sigs... But I was not good enough to make something similar. Now I feel a bit better with PS, I tried to do it with a moon picture...

Here is a quick result (don't worry about the size, I didn't set neither the transparency nor the optimizations yet) :



I guess you see the problem, the water is not looking real at all. The displacement map I used for this effect is very simple. It's a picture of the same size of the original image. I tiled this piece : on the bottom part (10 pixels, so the animation repeats after 10 frames), and put some 50% grey on the top part.

Now I want to make a good sig of this... And a good water effect. So my question is : what displacement map should I use to make a more realistic water ? I tried many combinaisons, but none of them was good.

Edit : My host seems to be acting up again. Forgive me if the pictures are really slow to appear or doesn't work at all. My apologizes.

[This message has been edited by Moon Shadow (edited 06-02-2003).]

The pattern I used was made with [filter>noise>noise], with gaussian blur in a setting of (I think) three pixels, and motion blur, horizontally, 8 pixels or so. Then I cropped it to the right size, ad used [filter>other>offset] (set to 'wrap around') and the smudge tool to make everything tileable.

edit: misspelled 'noise'. Whoo-hoop-dee-frickin'-doo. Okay. I'll shut up already.



[This message has been edited by mahjqa (edited 06-02-2003).]

It's a lot better Thanks Mahjqa ! I still have a lot of work on it to make everything smoother and make a good transparency, but it's in a good way.

Edit : *slaps his forehead* Damn forgot perspective and gradient...



[This message has been edited by Moon Shadow (edited 06-02-2003).]

Methinks you forgot to set the matte color to 2B0404.

In fact, it wasn't the matte (it was already set on the good value), it was the dispersion filter that sent away too much the image



If there are comments on what should be made to make it better, please tell them


[This message has been edited by Moon Shadow (edited 06-03-2003).]

[This message has been edited by Moon Shadow (edited 06-03-2003).]

It's a great effect to get working properly I agree with you Moonshadow. Your first attempt looks like a heat shimmer which is also cool (heh). Are you going to include your name? You could easily leave your name off and it would still be recognisable.
I've been putting off the going through the tut's for this effect for too long. I think I will follow your example and try it myself. Good work tho MS

Here is an almost final version.



Your idea of including my name is good Taobaybee, I didn't even think to that. I will see what I can do about that.

Is the color better in orange, or was it better in white ?

Anyway, thanks for your nice comments bro

very nice one moon shadow. just wondering how this
works...

I've always been one for the Harvest Moon but i'm going to have to go with white on this. Of course.. you could just have both and use Suho's sig rotator. That's really nice MS. Good Job.

Ok, I've set it back to a light blue/white tone, and added my name... Seems to be the final version



Ok it is 51 kb... But I sincerely can't make it smaller.


[This message has been edited by Moon Shadow (edited 06-03-2003).]

[This message has been edited by Moon Shadow (edited 06-09-2003).]

Excuse me for stating the obvious, but... it's not so much 'Moon Shadow' as 'Moon Reflection'.

Now, that's not so important I guess (It's just a sig after all... just?) and while I fully appreciate where you're going with this, (yes, it's a great excersise, putting tutorials into practice)... D'oh! Maybe I'm just being pedantic?

Anyways, it's almost a great sig... not sure about the way you've handled the matte though... seems there's a great chunk of Asylum background where the moon should be?

Dufty, I'm well aware of the fact that it is more a moon reflection than a shadow... But actually Moon Shadow is my nickname so I'll stick with it

Otherwise you were right there were some "lost pixels" which value was around 2b0404, I removed them.

[This message has been edited by Moon Shadow (edited 06-04-2003).]

Speaking of Harvest Moon. There's one coming up pretty soon. The next full moon.


.quotes.

I know that Gilbert ! I actually I love when it happens, I can stay and contemplate it for hours, letting my thoughts and dreams wander...

I feel part of the universe at this moment... Some sort of communion with my existence, I don't know.

Oh man.. Am I mad ? lol.

hehe, you mean you are turning into a lunar "loonie" I think that is what the term means. My French is less than basic I'm thinking of lunettes or is that Fr for glasses?
If so, are you making a spectacle of yourself?
Well done on the sig you've got it pretty well nailed. I like both colours btw (btw means "by the way" right)?
I'm still nowhere near a good water reflection for my sig yet. I also share your love of looking into the night sky. Ever since I learned as a young boy that we are made from the material produced by the stars I was hooked! Next step for me is a reflecting telescope. MMmmm
Shine on

LOL Taobaybee, actually I never considered that, it's maybe some sort of selfishness I'm glad we share this love, it's quite amazing to think about stars and moon about ourselves at the same time, I love it.

Hehe and yes "lunettes" is the French term for glasses and "btw" means by the way (at least I know this one).

Well for the water reflection... I must admit I played with it several times to find a good displacement map. The one I used pleased me, even though it was not the one of my dreams. Follow Mahjqa's advise, it is really good. I had to play with it in my way, so will you have to, but the basis for a good displacement map is here.

Awaiting for your sig now