Preserved Topic: KPT 5

Hi everyone!

I was going over Cheney's web site and liked his ruby tutuorial. This is an effect I've always wanted to use; however, I don't have KPT 5. I googled and found that it is no longer being produced. Amazon and several other places I've looked at no longer stock it. Does anyone know where I may obtain this software for a Mac?

No need for KPT5 for that particular tutorial.

ShapeShifter

I do have a variation that is a bit more friendly. I'll talk about this when I get the chance. Damn kids.

[This message has been edited by warjournal (edited 04-21-2003).]

[This message has been edited by warjournal (edited 04-21-2003).]

Interesting stuff. I'm going to give it a whirl.

Well, I tried the tutorial and was impressed. It is a definite improvement over the Spherize filter in results.

I am still pursuing that Blue Sky Heart glass look however.

Sorry I've been taking so long getting back to this.

Blue Sky heart look? If you are talking about what I think you are talking about, I can show you to do that as well. Care to post a link?

http://www.blueskyheart.com/

My two main inspirations in photoshop art has been Doc Ozone and Layne Karkruff.

Please note I'm not asking how to do this so I can rip off Layne. It's more like a personal fulfillment goal that I can capture the look. I am still working on the Moth style. Whatever that may be.

Still not in the mood for this, but I've been putting it off for a long time. Not just for this thread, but things that I've been thinking about for a long time.

Ramble Ahoy!
Here we go.

Reflection Map

So you want to make a 2d thingy shiny. One of the best tricks is to use a reflection map. I mean, you want it to look kinda real, and shiny things reflect the world around it. Toss one on and :bam: a little extra oomph.

KPT5 comes with ShapeShifter. With ShapeShifter, you can use a reflection map. The most notorious map is coolkitchen.jpg. It's a very solid picture to use as a reflection map. It's a picture taken with a fisheye lens giving it some built-in distortion, and it's got excellent contrast. I mean, that distorted white square admist all that darkness is just plain cool.

Don't have coolkitchen.jpg? Hell, make your own. Err... make your own reflection map.

I haven't tried it, but I imagine a good way of going about it is to take a picture of a mirrored ball. A decent sized ballbearing might do the trick. Or maybe you have a neighbor with a cheesy lawn ornament. Or maybe even a picture of a anti-theft mirror seen in the corner of a lot of stores. Or maybe you are really lucky and have access to a fisheye lens.

Probably a good idea to Levels or Curves or whatever the reflection map. It's a personal thing. Whatever your heart desires.

Can't find a good, curved reflective surface? Or don't have access to a fisheye lens? Don't worry: PhotoShop can accommodate.

Distortion

Gotta get some distortion in there. Curved surfaces don't reflect flat don't ya know.

Of course, I recommend Filter > Distort > Diplace. Strange love affair that filter and I have. :sigh:

For round things, it's fairly easy. Start with what I call the Zoom Cube. Toss in a Layer Mask, a circular gradient, and some Curves. I do have an easily tweakable version, but I'm going to save this for another day.

Before we go any further, I recommend making two things:

1. A mask of the target shape. This will come in handy for masking out the border and other things. Just a bunch of white in the middle, black on the outside, and perhaps a touch of Gauss to soften it up a tad - in an Alpha channel of course.

2. A height map of the shape. One of the better techniques for making this is Doc's Multi-Gauss technique. DL-44 using in Phase II. Also in an Alpha channel.

I've already quickly gone through how to make a D-Map for circular things. What about making a D-Map for irregular shapes? I live for questions like that.

Irregular D-Maps

1. Use Lighting Effects and the height map. A red light going one way and a green light going another. I talk about this in More Fakery

2. Use Emboss and the height map. Basically, cut-n-paste the height map into a new Layer. Go to the Red channel and run Emboss. Go to the Green channel and run Emboss again - same settings as Red but at a 90° angle. Personally, I like to fill the Blue channel with 50% gray.

Hopefully you have a mask for the shape laying in your Alpha palette, because you just might need it to clean the D-Map.

However you go about it, save it as a PSD and Displace away.

Finishing Touches

I hate talking about finishing touches. To me, finishing touches are a very personal thing and can't be taught. I'll give it a shot anyways.

One of my favorite tricks is to cut-n-paste the height map into the target document. Start a new Layer, fill with 50% grey, run Lighting Effects and use the height map, and set the Layer to Hard Light. Sometimes I'll copy the Layer, set one to Screen and the other to Multiply. Then use Levels or Curves to tighten things up. Maybe even toss in some HSB to add some tint.

Or maybe use Emboss and the D-Map on top of that. You know, something like Steve's Hand Made Highlight and Shadow Masks, but with Displace tossed in at the end.

Or maybe even a variation on DarkGarden's Water Droplets.

On a few rare occassions, I have opted for painting the highlights and shadows. This can really break up the sterileness of doing it by the numbers. You know, some imperfection can be a very good thing.

Too many things to do and try when it comes to finishing touches.

That's about all I have the strength for tonight.

I leave you with this:
Specularity, Reflection and Gloss by Leigh.
Geared towards 3d, but certainly applicable.

play.fiddle.learn

You rock.


I truley appreciate the information you are giving me. I hope that whatever has been on your mind lately can be resolved.

By the way, I have two copies of coolkitchen.jpg

I knew about reflections making things look shiny; however, it always been the distortions that have tripped me up. The correct D-map is hard to figure out when it isn't a sphere Your links and instructions will set me on the correct path.



[This message has been edited by Moth (edited 05-01-2003).]

Well, it's kind of a thing on my mind. Basically having something to say, or a lot of things to say, but not saying it. I have a tendency to think about things for a long time before talking about it. I've been meaning to talk about reflection maps and all that jazz for the longest time, but I haven't. Your post was kind of the poke in the ribs that I needed. The suck part is that I still have more to say. Can you stand it?

Anyways, here is the tweak friendly D-Map that I mentioned. Notice that a few things are different.



At the bottom, a Zoom Cube that is inverted. Doesn't have to be, but it helps me keep things straight in my head. Next up is a basic gradient set to Exclusion. Clipped to that is the tweak Curves Ad-Layer. Finally, on top of it all is the "mask".

The reason for Exclusion is because they changed the way Layers behave when clipped. Long story. But it is important to note that "Blend Clipped as Group" is turned on. If it's not, you'll get funkiness.

Also, I didn't feel like messing with a Layer Mask and a Layer on the bottom filled with 50% Gray. So I just tossed a makeshift "mask" on top with a slight Gauss. No big deal.

The dynamics are basically the same for an irregular shape. Make your height map, toss it in the Layer palette, and set to Exclusion. Or you could go with Lighting Effects, or the Emboss route. I'm sure you can make a height map, so doing the tweakable version is probably the easier route.

Back to the salt mine.

play.fiddle.learn

Damn dude, you never fail to surprise me as to how technical one can get with Photoshop.

Nice shit, very nice indeed.

hmm is there a 2 or 3 step version of that tut?

There really is no pleasing some people, is there...

i was just kidding. but could i see an example of the finished product before i attempt all that?

Aww, just go ahead and try it. Be brave.

But be careful...you might learn something.

Good to know my efforts are appreciated, if a bit bizarre, esoteric, or technical at times. Thank you for that. And you are most certaintly welcome.

So I had a few minutes to play. I knocked out a quick example using an irregular shape in the tweak friendly D-Map.



D-Map is 500x500. Laid down the custom shape heart and tossed it into an Alpha. Copied and started Gaussing at 40 and worked my way down from there. I probably should have started at around 60 because I had to Curve it just a tad. Also should have done something about the top in the middle. I mean, that part is just plain pants.

Used a photo of a building, as if you couldn't tell. Then Lighting Effects and a few other quick things. Could stand some airbrushing between the red and blue. I'll prolly airbrush it later just so I can feel better about it.

I tried it on a photo of a butterfly that I have, and it was fantabulous. Seeing the shapes conform and twist around at the same was one of the spiffier things I've done in a long time.

Anyways, just a quickie to show that an irregular shape can work with the tweak friendly D-Map.

Have at it, Moth.
Have at it, Drac.
And the same goes for the rest of you folks, damn it.

Well, I'm off for a few days. See ya'll in a day or two shy of a week. You know what to do while I'm gone.

play.fiddle.learn

hellfire: Heh, don't mind me. I'm just a midget trying not to get stepped on by the giants in this forum.

dont worry i wont mind you suho

Thanks, you're a pal.

This thread definitely needs to go into the faqs.

Hopefully this thread won't scroll off before warjournal returns...

warjournal, the heart is nice. I didn't post too much yesterday. I had a root canal and I was still woozy from the anethesia and pain.

You are right about finishing touches. They are so much the result of personal preferences. That's the problem with so many tutorials out on the web. They add the finishing touchs with the result that newbies think that is the only way to do something. Everything ends up looking the same. I fell into this trap myself more than once.

I'll fiddle with what you showed me here and post the results when I am done.

Just out of curiosity, on your shapeshifter page there are two links. I know what chrome is but what is pank metal? The links didn't work for me.

OK added to FAQ:

:FAQ: Making a 2D Thing Shiney

Any suggestions for a better name would be gratefully received

Thanks to wj for making this available - long may the esoteric noodling continue

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor

I am also at a loss for a good name. Maybe "How to do reflections (for advanced photoshop users)?"

or "Putting the Shiny in the Shiny stuff?"

Thanks for faqing it. (Is faqing a word? Keep it rated G, asylumites )




[This message has been edited by Moth (edited 05-02-2003).]

[This message has been edited by Moth (edited 05-02-2003).]

How about "Advanced Displacment Map Techniques"

Damn you WJ, your antics are far too distracting, I have work to do damn it!

*ding!ding!ding!* I think we have a winner! *confetti falls from the ceiling*

*shakes Dracusis's hand* Congratulations on picking the winning name! What do you think, Emperor?

Moth: Sounds good - if wj gives it the thumbs up its in

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor

Back and trying to play catch-up while unpacking and keeping the kids busy. :whew: Who knew a few days off could be so hectic?

Feel free to call it whatever you guys decide on. When I get around to adding it to Tech-Slop, I'm going to call it "Reflection Maps". (Not sure when I'll get it up because Tech-Slop is getting a major code over-haul.) Personally, I try to stay away from using the word "advanced" because I'm never sure what advanced is. To me, this stuff is childs' play, but if you folks think it is advanced, then go for it.

OK a quick change then to:

:FAQ: Reflective Displacment Map Techniques

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor

warjournal, I saw your tutorials at theGuest's website. Pretty cool stuff. Funny thing, I was doing similiar effects using the RGB default lights and some home-made bump maps with the lighting effects filter to make psychodelic art. I just never thought to use the art as displacement maps. I attempted your matrix bullet trail effect as an entry for the monthly sig contest. Let me know what you think.

You saw that? Now I'm embarressed. It's not my usual caliber of a ramble. If I ever get around to cleaning it up some, I might post it over here. I'm still up in the air over that one. (I'm not saying the Asylum is deserving of my better efforts. It's that I got to thinking about it some more after posting it, and I realized I'm not entirely happy with it just yet.)

The sig? Yeah, I was going to ask about that. Now that I know, I won't ask.

And, since you ask, there are two things about that sig:
1. I love the text as is. I think it beautiful w/out the bullet trails. IMHO, the distortion distracts too much from the gorgeous text job.
2. Looks like you got a little crazy with the distortion, especially horizontal. It's like there is too much horizontal and not even vertical, either in the D-Map or the percentages.

Now I might have to whip out that moth picture that I mentioned and do ya one. Thanks a lot.

edit: 2. Or maybe the "column-ness" of the text isn't conducive for suggesting vertical displacement.


[This message has been edited by warjournal (edited 05-08-2003).]

Still not quite done with this ramble. Besides, I want to keep Emps the Faqor busy.

Tweak Friendly Mask

On Layer Mask and Invert, I give a quick peak into layering it up. Both of those examples are "as is" with no tweakability.

Curve It Other is a nasty example of tweaking an Invert with Curves. The problem is that it's non-tweak friendly. That is, it's destructive; if you want to change the Invert, then you have to back up a few steps and do it all over again. I hate that.

By using Exclusion, tweakability has been added when using Invert.

ShapeShifter shows how to use a Layer Mask. However, it's destructive. Again, if you want to tweak the Curves, you have to back up a few steps and do it all over. That's why I have two layers in there: Base and Tweak. Blah!

Well, since the Exclusion D-Map gives tweakability to Invert, can Exclusion do the same for a Layer Mask?

You bet. Check it out:



All it takes is an extra Curves Ad-Layer - everything else remains the same as the Exclusion Invert D-Map. The Exclusion "mask" now acts exactly like a Layer Mask. Now you can go back and play with ShapeShifter and/or irregular shapes with tweakability.

(I'm such a tweak freak. Hmm... I think I smell a sig with the phrase "tweak freak".)

All that is left now is to talk about the diffence between Layer Mask and Invert. It's fairly easy to figure out, but I do want to clarify this some day.

play.fiddle.learn

Niiiice.

I'll play with what you've posted and see what turns up. I've taken your tag to heart.

wj:

quote:

---

Still not quite done with this ramble. Besides, I want to keep Emps the Faqor busy.

---

Well I know I was sitting around twiddling my thumbs

FAQ updated.

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor

Hehehe.
Actually, Emps, I have a ramble for the heart-shaped D-Map on my HD. Basically for the newbs detailing how I made it.
And I've got one last ramble for this thread in the wings. This one is a quickie with a trick or two for exploring z-depth. Not much, but handy.

I'll toss the heart-shaped D-Map details in the FAQ in the next day or two (hopefully).
Not sure about the z-depth one just yet. We'll have to wait to see how this one fits into the scheme of things.

edit:
Thanks for asking about this, Moth. You are really forcing me to organize a bunch of thoughts that have been in my head for a long time. It's one thing to have techniques and what-not and being able to use them. It's quite another thing to give them to someone else in a meaningful, articulate manner.

Drac, I'm stealing your quote.


[This message has been edited by warjournal (edited 05-14-2003).]