Filter>Distort>Displace- nothing happens

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Posted By
EvelynC
Mar 16, 2009
Views
1055
Replies
10
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Closed
I got some great help here back in February when I had only been studying Photoshop for two weeks. Now I’m a seasoned user of three months. [Hysterical laughter!] I’m on that hamster wheel where you do the thing over and over again and can’t see why it isn’t working. Excuse me while I run to the kitchen for some cracked corn and greens…

I’m wanting to wrap a snake texture over a woman’s face similar to what I found in a tutorial here: <http://www.tutcity.com/view/texture-wrapping.2843.html>

When I did this tutorial everything worked fine, but it is not working when I do it with my own document. The breakdown is in the filter>distort>displace step.

This is what happens when I do it
I created a grayscale image of a face and saved it on the background layer (which I unlocked by renaming it Layer 1).
The grayscale image has plenty of light and dark areas– good contrast. I saved that doc as "bighead.psd," and it has only one [unlocked] layer. I DID save with Maximize Compatibility turned ON. And I saved it in a folder with the snakeskin document that I will be wrapping over it. [These were two possible displace function issues that I found in a search of this forum.]
I go to the doc that has the snakeskin on a layer. I control-click on the layer thumbnail to select the snakeskin.
I go to filter>distort>displace.
I choose 10% horizontal and 10% vertical, stretch to fit, and repeat edge pixels. I navigate to the document "bighead.psd" and hit okay. Not only does nothing happen, but NOTHING EVEN SHOWS UP IN THE HISTORY PANEL.

After doing this a zillion times, I tried an experiment. I went to the document with the snakeskin, control-clicked on the layer thumbnail to select. I chose filter>distort>displace, but instead of navigating to bighead.psd (the displacement map I created), I navigated to the displacement map that I downloaded used earlier today when I was doing the tutorial (also a psd document, a grayscale image of a woman’s face).

I made exactly the same choices as described above, and when I hit "open," the displacement DID work and the step "displace" DID show up in the history panel. I figured something must be different about the two displacement map documents???

I’ve brought both displacement map documents up side by side in two windows and I’ve been going back and forth between them trying to see any difference.

I know the software is very literal-minded, so there must be some small thing wrong that I’m not seeing. I hope someone can see what I’m not seeing.

Thanks.

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EvelynC
Mar 16, 2009
Oh dear…

Is this thing ON? <Taps microphone…>
TF
Terri_Foster
Mar 16, 2009
Evelyn,

The displacement map isn’t working because it is buried within too many folders.

Here’s how deep the distort filter works…

Adobe<presets<textures<named folder<folder…at this level and deeper the distort filter fails.

HTH,
Terri
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EvelynC
Mar 16, 2009
Thanks for the reply.

I don’t know exactly what you mean by "buried." Did you read my whole (I admit, VERY LONG) post? I said that the displacement map document is in the same folder with the texture that I want to wrap on it.

Also when I use the displacement map from the tutorial, which is in a different folder, the process works.

If you mean something else by "buried," please explain.

Today I tried another experiment. I took the displacement map ("A") from the tutorial, which has always worked, and I placed the new face that I want to use ("B") on a different layer in document A. Then I erased the layer with picture A on it, so in effect, whatever settings were present that were causing the displacement to work on A were now applied to B. And sure enough, the displacement map worked.

The only thing I’ve been able to see that is different from the maps that work and the map that is not working is that in the color palette, the maps that work have "gradient ramp" selected in the drop-down menu and the only slider present is "K.". My teacher says that shouldn’t matter because you can make a gradient map in RGB or indeed in either R or G or B.

So… although I very much appreciate your reply, no, it didn’t help.
TF
Terri_Foster
Mar 17, 2009
I said that the displacement map document is in the same folder with the texture that I want to wrap on it.

Whether they are together or not shouldn’t be a factor. FWIW, they don’t have to be in the same folder for displacement.

When I say buried, I’m talking about how many folders the displacement map is enclosed in.

Try this:

Move the displacement map you made onto your desktop.

Run the displacement filter.

Does the distort filter apply the displacement map from the desktop location?

If it applies, the problem is where you stored the displacement map…not the map itself.
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EvelynC
Mar 17, 2009
Okay, I put the displacement on the desktop and it did work. Thanks for that great suggestion. 🙂

Why did the displace function work repeatedly with the displacement map that I downloaded with the tutorial? It was "buried" also???

Does this mean that whenever I want to use this function, I need to drag the displacement map to the desktop? If so, that’s okay… I can do that.
JJ
John Joslin
Mar 17, 2009
Did you read my whole (I admit, VERY LONG) post?

I think the length was one reason why you didn’t get a quicker reply. Some people tend to skim through the questions and answers and, when they come across a whole page of dense text, their eyes glaze over and they move quickly on.

Short and punchy always beats long and rambling! 🙂
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EvelynC
Mar 17, 2009
Rambling…? Harrumph. 😉

That is certainly an issue.

But so often on these techie boards, someone will post, "I can’t get my widget to come up," and then someone has to ask, "What system are you on, what software are you using, what version, what EXACTLY were you trying to do, what EXACTLY did you get as an error message, yaddayaddayadda…"

So I was doing a pre-emptive strike. 🙂
JJ
John Joslin
Mar 17, 2009
That’s why this is at the top of the page:

Nobody reads that stuff either. 🙂
TF
Terri_Foster
Mar 17, 2009
Why did the displace function work repeatedly with the displacement map that I downloaded with the tutorial? It was "buried" also???

Since the displacement map worked from the desktop, the other file worked because it had a shorter file path.

The file name could have also played a part as giving the displacement make a file name with too many characters causes the same error.

Maybe, the file path + file name combined to go over the character limit.

Does this mean that whenever I want to use this function, I need to drag the displacement map to the desktop?

No, you don’t have to run them from desktop. Just experiment to find a good location to store them.

HTH,
Terri
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EvelynC
Mar 17, 2009
Yes, THAT definitely helps! Thanks a million! 🙂

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