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Posted on 27/05/14 06:48:22 AM |
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srawland
Pixel Perfectionist Posts: 885 Reply  |
Stumbling over A massive block of ice
I am running through the lesson on pp. 254-255 in the 6th edition for a second time because the first time things sort of fell apart for me once I got to step 9. I'm pretty sure things went wrong there because I must have done something incorrectly at a earlier step or steps. I don't think I did step three correctly. I did copy the duplicated layer and moved it to the top, set the mode to hard light and then lowered the opacity. I noticed in the picture that you offset that layer only towards the right. Was I supposed to paint the joints? I left them unpainted. Was I supposed to merge the dissolve layer with the rest of the ice layers? Once I tried adding the displace filter the dissolve layer didn't fit any more. It's possible I did something wrong when I skipped to p. 350 because I couldn't do step 10 at all owing to the fact there was only one Ice layer now and no refracted layer to add some Gaussian blur to or lower the contrast of. I'm feeling lost and confused. On the plus side other than the dissolve layer poking out at the edges. the letters really did look like ice once I ran them through the plastic wrap filter and changed the layer mode to hard light. If anyone out there can help me with this, I would be ever so thankful. -Sara _________________ I'm still learning. |
Posted on 27/05/14 07:14:40 AM |
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Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7023 Reply  |
Re: Stumbling over A massive block of ice
All your layers should have been merged together before step 7. Then paint with the brush set to Dissolve at a very low opacity - about 10%. This produces a very fine spray. The Displace action is performed on the copy of the background, not on the ice layer: it's to distort the view seen through the ice, not the ice itself. Can you post a screenshot showing your layers panel, and the image as far as you've got? This would help me to see what's going wrong. |
Posted on 27/05/14 10:07:42 AM |
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srawland
Pixel Perfectionist Posts: 885 Reply |
Re: Stumbling over A massive block of ice
Thank you, Steve, for responding so quickly. Part of my problem may be in the fact that I've been up since 4:45 AM yesterday morning and I've only had a cup of coffee to eat all day. Here is the screenshot of my first attempt. I didn't get very far with my second attempt. The screenshot for it will follow. Thank you for your continued help. -Sara  _________________ I'm still learning. |
Posted on 27/05/14 10:08:51 AM |
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srawland
Pixel Perfectionist Posts: 885 Reply |
Re: Stumbling over A massive block of ice
Here is the screenshot of my second attempt so far. -Sara  _________________ I'm still learning. |
Posted on 27/05/14 10:10:44 AM |
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srawland
Pixel Perfectionist Posts: 885 Reply |
Re: Stumbling over A massive block of ice
Just in case, here is the screenshot of the displacement map file. Thank you once again. -Sara  _________________ I'm still learning. |
Posted on 27/05/14 10:26:24 AM |
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Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7023 Reply |
Re: Stumbling over A massive block of ice
OK, I see the problem. You should save just the ice as the displacement map, and then apply that to a copy of the background. It's the background that needs to be distorted, not the ice! |
Posted on 27/05/14 10:46:23 AM |
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srawland
Pixel Perfectionist Posts: 885 Reply |
Re: Stumbling over A massive block of ice
Thank you for taking the time to correct this. I must have read the directions wrong. I'm still a little confused by step 9 it reads: Hide the background, and then save the document with just the ice layer visible. Then reveal the background and duplicate it; use the Displace filter on the copy to distort the view seen through the block (see page 350). The whole background will shift, so delete the area outside the ice. I had thought that the copy referred to in the instructions was the duplicated background. Now from what you are saying "save the document with just the ice layer visible" means to save that as a different document and use that newly saved one as the displacement map. I guess I was too tired to read this way. Thank you again for pointing me in the right direction. Thank you again for your help. I was afraid you might not respond after what I did to you in the Friday Challenge section. Actually, I was afraid I had pushed the boundary too far and would be blacklisted from the forum. -Sara _________________ I'm still learning. |
Posted on 28/05/14 07:32:01 AM |
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Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7023 Reply |
Re: Stumbling over A massive block of ice
In fact you don't need to save the Displacement Map as a separate document. If you hide all the layers except the ice and then save, you can choose the document itself as the Displacement Map, and because only that layer was visible when it was saved that's the view that will be used. Blacklisted? It takes a lot more than that to upset me! |