The Diffuse Glow filter renders an image as though it were viewed through a soft diffusion filter. This filter adds see-through white noise to an image, with the glow fading from the center of a selection.
The Displace filter uses an image, called a displacement map, to determine how to distort a selection. For example, using a parabola-shaped displacement map, you can create an image that appears to be printed on a cloth held at its corners.
This filter requires a displacement map file composed of either a flattened image saved in Photoshop format or an image in bitmap mode. You can use your own files or the files included in the Photoshop Elements 8/Plug‑Ins/Displacement Maps folder or the Photoshop Elements 8/Presets/Textures folder.
Apply the Displace filter
The Glass filter makes an image appear as if it were being viewed through different types of glass. You can choose a glass effect or create your own glass surface as a Photoshop file and apply it. You can adjust scaling, distortion, and smoothness settings. When using surface controls with a file, follow the instructions for the Displace filter.
The Liquify filter makes it easy to manipulate areas of an image as if those areas had been melted. You work with a preview image of the current layer, using special tools to warp, twirl, expand, contract, shift, or reflect areas of the image. You can make subtle changes to retouch an image or drastic distortions to create an artistic effect.
Choose a zoom level from the pop‑up menu in the lower-left area of the dialog box.
Select the Zoom tool from the toolbox in the dialog box, and click in the image to zoom in, or Alt-click (Option-click in Mac OS) to zoom out. You can also use the Zoom tool to drag over an area of the preview you want to magnify.
Select a tool from the toolbox.
Smoothly scrambles pixels and creates fire, clouds, waves, and similar effects. To adjust the smoothness, drag the Turbulent Jitter pop‑up slider in the Tool Options section, or enter a value between 1 and 100 in the text box. Higher values increase smoothness.
Moves pixels perpendicularly to the stroke direction. Drag to move pixels to the left, and Alt-drag (Option-drag in Mac OS) to move pixels to the right.
Copies pixels to the brush area. Drag to reflect the area perpendicular to the direction of the stroke (to the left of or below the stroke). Alt-drag (Option-drag in Mac OS) to reflect the area in the direction opposite the stroke (for example, the area above a downward stroke). Use overlapping strokes to create an effect similar to a reflection in water.
To change the brush size, drag the pop‑up slider, or enter a brush size value from 1 to 600 pixels.
To change the brush pressure, drag the pop‑up slider, or enter a brush pressure value from 1 to 100.
A low brush pressure makes more gradual changes.
To create the effect of dragging in a straight line between the current point and the previous point that you clicked, Shift-click with the Warp, Shift Pixels, or Reflection tool.
Select the Reconstruct tool , and hold down the mouse button or drag over the distorted areas. The restoration occurs more quickly at the brush center. Shift-click to reconstruct in a straight line between the current point and the previous point that you clicked.
To restore the entire preview image to its state when you opened the dialog box, press Alt (Option in Mac OS) and click Reset. Alternatively, click Revert to restore the original image and reset the tools to their previous settings.
The Ocean Ripple filter adds randomly spaced ripples to the image's surface, making the image look as if it were under water.
The Polar Coordinates filter converts a selection from its rectangular to polar coordinates, and vice versa, according to a selected option. You can use this filter to create a cylinder anamorphosis—art popular in the 18th century—in which the distorted image appears normal when viewed in a mirrored cylinder.
The Ripple filter creates an undulating pattern on a selection, like ripples on the surface of a pond. For greater control, use the Wave filter. Options include the amount and size of ripples.
The Spherize filter gives objects a 3D effect by wrapping a selection around or inside a spherical shape, distorting and stretching the image.
The Twirl filter rotates an image or selection more sharply in the center than at the edges. Specifying an angle produces a twirl pattern. You can drag the slider to the right into positive values to twirl the image clockwise, drag the slider to the left into negative values to twirl counterclockwise, or enter a value between ‑999 and 999.
The ZigZag filter distorts a selection radially, depending on the radius of the pixels in your selection.