This Photoshop tutorial teaches how to use displacement maps to distort text and images. It is meant for intermediate users and takes about 5 minutes. The tutorial walks the user through 8 stages to open an image, duplicate its red channel to create a displacement map, blur the map, add and rasterize text, apply the Displacement Filter using the map, and adjust layers to complete the effect of text wrapping around curves like satin. Examples are given of other displacement map uses.

1. Photoshop Tutorial
Displacement Maps
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Skill level: Intermediate
Duration: 5 minutes
Requirements: Photoshop version 5 or higher
Stage 01.
Start by opening the file satin.bmp
Click on the Channels tab and click on
the channels red, green or blue until
you find the one with the most
contrast (the greatest variation from
white to black).
For this image it happens to be red.
Stage 02.
Right click on the red channel and
select Duplicate Channel.
In the dialog that appears, type
map in the As and Name fields
Next to Document, select
New.

2. Stage 03.
A new image will appear. We will be
using this as our Displacement Map.
To smooth the final output, let’s blur it
slightly. Go to the Filter menu and
select Blur, Gaussian Blur, and give it a
value of 0.7 Click OK. Now save this
image anywhere to your hard drive (to
your desktop perhaps) and name it
map. Once saved, close the image.
Stage 04.
In the Channels tab, click on RGB to
show all the colours and then click the
Layers tab.
Now grab the Type tool, click on the
image and start typing. Large, bold
fonts will work best for this tutorial.
Make sure your text fills most of the
width of the image area. Click the
Move tool to apply your type.
Stage 05.
In the Layers pallets you will notice a
new layer which has the same name as
the text you just typed. We need to
rasterise this layer.
Right click on the layer and select
Rasterise Layer.
(Tip: When text is rasterised, you can
not edit it again without back tracking
in the history.)

3. Stage 06.
Now for the fun stuff. Go to the Filter menu
and select Distort, and then Displace.
You will see this dialog appear. Leave all the
values as default and clock OK.
You will then be prompted to open a file.
Browse to the file you saved earlier (which is
named map) and click Open.
Stage 07.
The displacement map has now been applied to the
image.
Note that the text is now displaced in a manner that
it appears to be wrapping with the curves of the
satin sheet.
To complete the illusion, change the layer mode of
the text layer (named Mike in my case) and select
Overlay.
Stage 08.
Now drop the opacity down to about
70 (try different values for your own
desired effect).
If your final image looks something
like this, then pat yourself on the
back!
You can use this method to apply
displacement maps to just about
anything. Here are a few examples…

4. Examples.
Rust Planet
Leopard spots Original Guy Image
I used these 3 different images (small versions and original guy shown
above) to make the displacement maps for the 3 different images on the
following page…

5. This tutorial was produced by Michael Ott
www.rustylime.com