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TrailGators

By TrailGators
in West and Southwest

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SD Rowdies

+SD Rowdies

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Lesson 11. Photoshop CS2 Vanishing Point Filter

 

An interesting new feature of Photoshop Version 9.0 of the CS2 suite is the Vanishing Point Filter. This new filter is quite unusual, rather more like a sub-editor than a filter. The Vanishing Point Filter allows one to define isometric editing planes within a background image that will impose vanishing-point geometry onto any image element that is cloned, moved, or copied into the region of a vanishing-point plane.

 

Better yet multiple vanishing-point planes can be defined within the same background image, say for intersecting walls, so that image elements can be moved from one plane to another and the vanishing-point geometry will automatically switch from one plane to the other. The automatic switching is instantaneous and borders on being an astonishing thing to see. I dare say that you will exclaim or giggle when you first see this feature do its thing.

 

Now, it is true that one can use traditional Edit/Transform/Perspective editing feature to impose vanishing-point geometry onto image elements; however, the new filter goes well beyond the basic level of perspective transformation. One superior feature is that the Vanishing Point Filter provides a Healing adjustment to automatically handle the job of blending copied, moved, or cloned image areas into the prevailing coloration and texture of the background image.

 

The Vanishing Point Filter editing layout is somewhat like the Photoshop Extract Filter in that a special window is provided for processing images. Special editing windows normally include a small toolbar with a limited number of editing tools for tasks at hand. Worth noting is that once in a special editing window one cannot access Photoshop menu bar options nor the tools of the standard toolbar. The good news is that important editing tools can be accessed by way of keyboard shortcuts. Certain keyboard shortcuts are absolutely essential to vanishing point editing.

 

Another exciting aspect of this new editing filter is that it is so new and different that the publishing, tutorial, and image-editing seminar industries have been struggling to acquire marketable expertise with it. For example I have browsed the index pages of every new CS2 book on the shelves and find very little coverage for the Vanishing Point Filter. In a very few cases the latest releases include a single vanishing point exercise but fail to explore the subject in depth. Woe is the person that tries to master this new tool alone for it is, shall we say, not intuitive.

 

All that said there’s no reason to fear the Vanishing Point Filter because old uncle Harmon is about to make things perfectly clear. To put it another way, If he can figure the darned thing out then you surely can too.

 

Source Images

 

791d28ea-bf82-4d73-bcda-aff17e001ef5.jpg

 

Whodat at Sandy Creek Cowboy Cache No. 3?

 

5206aa75-9bae-4642-bca9-24e7976f0103.jpg

 

Part 1. Pasting a Selection onto a Vanishing Point Plane

 

Step 1. Using Photoshop CS2 (Photoshop Version 9.0), open the background image provided with this lesson. On the Layers Pallet right-click the title of the “Background” layer and create a “Background copy” layer. Deactivate the Background layer by clicking the “Background Layer" eyeball icon. Now add a new “Layer 1” layer by clicking the tiny “Create a new layer” button at the bottom of the Layer Pallet.

 

b6c52c9c-3492-4a89-ab84-08b1e7f8054e.jpg

 

Step 2. Open the YMS image provided with this lesson. Select the entire image using keyboard shortcut “Ctrl-A.” Press “Ctrl-C” to place a copy of the selection on the Windows clipboard.

 

Step 3. From the Menu bar select “Filter/Vanishing Point.” Take a look at the features of the Vanishing Point editing window. In particular note the eight editing tools at the upper-left of the window; Edit Plane Tool, Create Plane Tool, Marquee Tool, Stamp Tool, Transform Tool, Eyedropper Tool, Hand Tool, and Zoom tool.

 

Step 4. Select the “Create Plane Tool” and draw a parallelogram over the background image that carefully follows the edges of the right-side wall. Because the background image doesn’t show the intersection line between the two walls then just draw down from near the top of the ladder along a line that parallels the right edge of the wall. Once the four corners of the parallelogram are drawn then click the “Edit Plane Tool” button. Note the color of the parallelogram, if it is blue then you have defined an acceptable parallelogram. If yellow or red then use the “Edit Plane Tool” to drag the plane into agreement with the outer edges of the right wall. Note also that you can use the midline handles of the plane to extend the Vanishing-Point editing plane beyond the initial coverage. There you have it, a very nice Vanishing Point editing plane.

 

2772a5c5-c7bd-4c06-9a95-7eb441a3b4e6.jpg

 

Step 5. Now comes the fun part. Note that you don’t have access to the Photoshop Menu Bar nor standard Toolbar. Also remember that you placed a copy of the YMS image on the Windows clipboard so just press “Ctrl-V” to paste that image into the editing window. Depending on the relative sizes of the Background and YMS images the pasted image may appear much too large for the intended purpose.

 

Step 6. From the editing Window toolbar choose the “Transform Tool” to resize the pasted selection by holding “Alt-Shift” down while you drag the image smaller using a transformation corner-handle.

 

Step 7. Now watch carefully while you use the “Transformation Tool” to drag the resized YMS image over onto the blue vanishing-point plane. Shazam, the YMS image literally leaps into the perspective dictated by the vanishing point plane. Once in the plane use the “Transform Tool” to reposition and resize the YMS image to fill out a major area of that wall of the old Buckman Bottling Plant. Now click OK.

 

Step 8. Once out of the Vanishing Point edit window check that the transformed YMS image appears on “Layer 1” of the Layer Pallet. That’s a good thing because we can now use standard Photoshop editing tools to refine the YMS image. On the Layer Pallet adjust “Layer 1” Opacity to about 60% and select the “Overlay” blending mode to encourage the YMS image to feel at home on the weathered interior wall of the old Buckman Bottling Plant.

 

e7899ab5-652c-4132-8bd1-8a63474974b2.jpg

 

Step 9. From the Menu Bar save your project by selecting “File/Save as” and choose the .psd file extension. Of course you will want to save a .jpg version that is sized correctly for posting on the SD Banter Thread. At top-right off the Layer Pallet click the tiny button that has the black arrowhead icon and choose “Flatten Image” and then click OK to discard unused layers. Now resize the flattened image to about 550 or 600 pixels in width using Menu Bar option “Image/Image Size” Save the resized image using Menu Bar option “File/Save as” and make sure to choose the .jpg file extension and set the “Image Options” Quality Slider to maximum value “12.”

 

Part 2. Moving a Selection from One Plane to Another

 

Step 1. Start afresh and open the background image as you did in part 1. On the Layers Pallet right-click the title of the “Background” layer and create a “Background copy” layer. Deactivate the Background layer by clicking the “Background” Layer eyeball icon. Now add a new “Layer 1” layer by clicking the tiny “Create a new layer” button at the bottom of the Layer Pallet.

 

Step 2. Once again enter the Vanishing Point editor and select the “Create Plane Tool.” Draw a vanishing point editing plane over both the right and the left wall of the building. Use the editing-plane handles to pull each plane so that they cover the wall sections and intersect right at the presumed corner of the building.

 

Step 3. Now choose the “Marquee Tool” and draw a rectangle that encompasses and slightly overlaps the window opening that’s on the left wall of the old building. Copy the selection to Windows clipboard using shortcut keys “Ctrl-C.” Now press shortcut keys “Ctrl-Alt-Z” to get rid of the selection marquee.

 

24d89e1a-5ac9-4352-a41d-b6a7359cbeea.jpg

 

Step 4. Change the “Heal” setting of the editing workspace to “On” by using the drop-down selection list.

 

Step 5. Press shortcut keys “Ctrl-V” to replace a clipboard copy of the window selection back onto the working image. Watch carefully while you use the “Marquee Tool” to drag the selected window from the left wall to the right wall. It will not only snap into the geometric characteristics of the right frame it will also flip horizontally to place the interior of the window opening on the left side of the opening. Note further that the small amount of left-wall surface that surrounded the relocated window opening has now taken on the coloration and texture of the right wall. Shazam!

 

Step 6. Use the editing plane “Transform” tool to resize and reposition the relocated window to suit.

 

4fc3a4ba-0b87-4794-95e4-40ba873384a9.jpg

 

Step 7. Save your project .psd file and a usable .jpg image file in the usual way.

 

Comments

 

Be aware that many other uses for the Vanishing Point Filter can be imagined. To mention an expected one try experimenting with the editing plane “Clone Tool.” Use it to clone part of the left wall onto the right wall. You will see that the “Clone Tool” has an unusual behavior in that instead of a crosshair cursor it will show a resizable swatch of the image being cloned. To resize this cloning swatch either decrease it in size using the ‘[‘ key or increase it using the ‘]’ key.

 

Do post result for others to enjoy and don’t forget to have fun.

 

One last thing, Janie, I'm sorry ... I'll use a photo of you next lesson.

Edited by SD Rowdies
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Dan-oh

+Dan-oh

Posted
Posted

Yes she is!  :) If PW and D-Jollymon installed a webcam in one of their new cruel caches we'd have a lot of Banter material!  ;)

Cruel caches? I just had a flash...a cache based off a Steve Martin story...

GCS&M 'The Cruel Cache'

Interesting...

 

Oh, you must have one more pair. . . .

No, not one more . . . . Well, we have the cruel shoes, but no one would want to try . . .

Yes, let me see the cruel shoes!

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TrailGators

+TrailGators

Posted
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Posted

Yes she is!  ;) If PW and D-Jollymon installed a webcam in one of their new cruel caches we'd have a lot of Banter material!  :)

Cruel caches? I just had a flash...a cache based off a Steve Martin story...

GCS&M 'The Cruel Cache'

Interesting...

 

Oh, you must have one more pair. . . .

No, not one more . . . . Well, we have the cruel shoes, but no one would want to try . . .

Yes, let me see the cruel shoes!

;)

How’d you get so funky?

Did you do the monkey?

Born in Arizona,

Moved to Babylonia....

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SD Rowdies

+SD Rowdies

Posted
Posted (edited)
Lesson 11.1 Photoshop CS2 Vanishing Point Filter

Pasting a Selection onto a Vanishing Point Plane:

3d80f64e-d351-48fd-b671-c4dcf359ad77.jpg

This tool will be very fun to Banter with!! Thanks for preparing that lesson Harmon! Now it's time to look at 11.2..... :)

My gosh, you mean it actually worked? Kidding aside that's a nice job you did. Nice blend into the old wall as well.

 

Welcome to the world of vanishing-point photo editing. That nifty new CS2 filter really interested me from the start. Took a while to catch on to it. Interesting how much it depends on keyboard shortcuts.

 

The only reason that I 'shopped that chemical-toilet image was to show another example of using the vanishing-point filter with a dropped-shadow effect. That's the reason for adding a new layer just before the V-P filter is executed, so that the resulting V-P transformation can be edited in a standard way after the filter work is completed.

 

Hope to see it being used here on the Banter thread. Should be a few more results posted after Christmas.

 

Merry Christmas,

Harmon

Edited by SD Rowdies
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SD Rowdies

+SD Rowdies

Posted
Posted (edited)
Lesson 11.2 Photoshop CS2 Vanishing Point Filter

Moving a Selection from One Plane to Another:

ca1138e5-0fcd-4ec5-a0e3-d2dc59a92efb.jpg

 

Harmon, didn't you tell Splashette to use a ladder on SSC#3?! :)

Just between you and me I am not permitted to "tell" the Geobabes anything. When they assimilated me into the Borg Cherokee I was given two prime directives - "Sit in back" and "No whining."

 

At the outset I felt an urge to point out that it is illogical to have two prime directives but they cut off my data feed before I could whine about it. Taught me a lesson it did.

 

Married to an ex-nun and assimilated by a pair of vine-ripened Geobabes. Surely you can appreciate some of the troubles I endure. Your image of Splashette levitating SCCC #3 pretty much tells the tale.

 

Of course it isn't all bad tunneling through space on a Geocaching voyage with the Geobabes. The supreme moment is when they turn on the food pump and fill me with a chocolate-covered-cherry DQ Blizzard.

 

Harmon

Edited by SD Rowdies
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zoltig

+zoltig

Posted
Posted
.post

Lurking from Colorado are we? Howdy, are you here to beg us into taking Rocket Man back?

Yeah! We are taking up a collection. We have enough right now for a one way ticket on a Greyhound bus. :)

Here's the deal. You can take up a collection to send to us to keep him here.

BUT! I am warning you, it will beeee costly. :) VERY COSTLY :):):P

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SD Rowdies

+SD Rowdies

Posted
Posted (edited)
.post

Lurking from Colorado are we? Howdy, are you here to beg us into taking Rocket Man back?

Yeah! We are taking up a collection. We have enough right now for a one way ticket on a Greyhound bus. :)

Here's the deal. You can take up a collection to send to us to keep him here.

BUT! I am warning you, it will beeee costly. :) VERY COSTLY :P:):)

Thanks for having an open mind and a famous offer. I'll consult with the locals and see what we can scrape together.

 

By the way, it would be on a permanent basis wouldn't it?

 

Just so there's no long-term backlash I think you should see this Rocket Man photo before cutting the deal. In case you meet him in person just remember where his hand has been.

 

c54b3af0-f870-4675-ba57-ae7bf8577e13.jpg

Edited by SD Rowdies
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SD Rowdies

+SD Rowdies

Posted
Posted (edited)
Your image of Splashette levitating SCCC #3 pretty much tells the tale.

Oops! :P I completely forgot to add the drop shadow!

Here is the new improved version.... :)

9041b1bd-6be2-46f4-a1f4-226eb17c57b5.jpg

Killer effect. Just look at what a shadow can do for an image.

 

A crate of apples from you and you could become my star student.

 

And she says it's all about the numbers. Haw.

Edited by SD Rowdies
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zoltig

+zoltig

Posted
Posted
.post

Lurking from Colorado are we? Howdy, are you here to beg us into taking Rocket Man back?

Yeah! We are taking up a collection. We have enough right now for a one way ticket on a Greyhound bus. :P

Here's the deal. You can take up a collection to send to us to keep him here.

BUT! I am warning you, it will beeee costly. :P VERY COSTLY :D:D:P

Thanks for having an open mind and a famous offer. I'll consult with the locals and see what we can scrape together.

 

By the way, it would be on a permanent basis wouldn't it?

 

Just so there's no long-term backlash I think you should see this Rocket Man photo before cutting the deal. In case you meet him in person just remember where his hand has been.

 

c54b3af0-f870-4675-ba57-ae7bf8577e13.jpg

On a permanent basis?? :D:P

UHHH? I dunno? I'll see what the rest of the Colorado gang sez!

HEY! Better idea. Why not pool our Colorado and San Diego money and send him to another part of the country. hehehe.

Yeah. After seeing what he does with his hands, he may be the next Michael Jackson. :P

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SD Rowdies

+SD Rowdies

Posted
Posted (edited)
.post

Lurking from Colorado are we? Howdy, are you here to beg us into taking Rocket Man back?

Yeah! We are taking up a collection. We have enough right now for a one way ticket on a Greyhound bus. :D

Here's the deal. You can take up a collection to send to us to keep him here.

BUT! I am warning you, it will beeee costly. :D VERY COSTLY :P:P:P

Thanks for having an open mind and a famous offer. I'll consult with the locals and see what we can scrape together.

 

By the way, it would be on a permanent basis wouldn't it?

 

Just so there's no long-term backlash I think you should see this Rocket Man photo before cutting the deal. In case you meet him in person just remember where his hand has been.

 

c54b3af0-f870-4675-ba57-ae7bf8577e13.jpg

On a permanent basis?? :P:P

UHHH? I dunno? I'll see what the rest of the Colorado gang sez!

HEY! Better idea. Why not pool our Colorado and San Diego money and send him to another part of the country. hehehe.

Yeah. After seeing what he does with his hands, he may be the next Michael Jackson. :D

O.K., here's th' final deal, we all chip in and Fedex him to New Jersey to pester that other ex-SOCAL rascal Tucson Thompsen.

 

b828a0f5-5e8b-45a0-a46e-5a2163753f60.jpg

Edited by SD Rowdies
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SD Rowdies

+SD Rowdies

Posted
Posted (edited)
Lesson 10 - Very Cool Stuff - Thanks Harmon

 

6f85d728-e576-424e-9fa7-d4adb988480e.jpg

Ain't that Janie th' sweetest thang? Wonder if we could get her to pose like that in a set of spangled leotards?

 

Love your spotlight effect RM and good going on the cast shadow. Looking forward to your Lesson 11 result.

Edited by SD Rowdies
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SD Rowdies

+SD Rowdies

Posted
Posted (edited)
O.K., here's th' final deal, we all chip in and Fedex him to New Jersey to pester that other ex-SOCAL rascal Tucson Thompsen.

The funny thing is that we have New Jersey folks in the two houses on each side of us. :P

Hey, just for me, ask both of 'em if they can do that New Jersey farty arm-pit trick.

Edited by SD Rowdies
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TrailGators

+TrailGators

Posted
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Posted
Here are links to all the Harmon lessons to date:

 

Note: Some of the lesson resources are posted here (The one labeled Lesson 6 here is actually Lesson7)

 

Lesson 1

 

Lesson 2

 

Lesson 3

 

Lesson 4

 

Lesson 5

 

Lesson 6

 

Lesson 7

 

Lesson 8 (Labeled Lesson 6 on thread)

 

Lesson 9

 

Lesson 10

 

Lesson 11

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I'll quick bookmark this link! Thanks Dave!

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RocketMan

+RocketMan

Posted
Posted
Here are links to all the Harmon lessons to date:

 

Note: Some of the lesson resources are posted here (The one labeled Lesson 6 here is actually Lesson7)

 

Lesson 1

 

Lesson 2

 

Lesson 3

 

Lesson 4

 

Lesson 5

 

Lesson 6

 

Lesson 7

 

Lesson 8 (Labeled Lesson 6 on thread)

 

Lesson 9

 

Lesson 10

 

Lesson 11

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I'll quick bookmark this link! Thanks Dave!

I've got them on a word document and I will post them here preiodically now that I went to the trouble to dig them all up. B)

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SD Rowdies

+SD Rowdies

Posted
Posted (edited)
Here are links to all the Harmon lessons to date:

 

Note: Some of the lesson resources are posted here (The one labeled Lesson 6 here is actually Lesson7)

 

Lesson 1

 

Lesson 2

 

Lesson 3

 

Lesson 4

 

Lesson 5

 

Lesson 6

 

Lesson 7

 

Lesson 8 (Labeled Lesson 6 on thread)

 

Lesson 9

 

Lesson 10

 

Lesson 11

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Danged 'rithmetic, sure screwed up the numbers didn't I? Sorry, well you know, sort o'. I hate it when those Edit buttons disappear.

Edited by SD Rowdies
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SD Rowdies

+SD Rowdies

Posted
Posted (edited)
Lesson 10. Cast Reflections

Applied to a new image!  :o

7935bd94-2464-4722-8ded-4dff5a530b79.jpg

See th' thanks I get for Photoshop lessons? Dad gummit, where's my leotards?

 

Well. o.k., I admit that you did a terrific job on the cast reflection. Good choice of shiny floor for the effect I must say. Grade A+ I suppose.

 

Now I know how Dr. Frankenstein must have felt after his charge started acting on its own.

 

On the other hand I do look pretty trick on point for a seventy-one year old Tejano ballerina. Maybe I should start hangin' around with that other aged ballerina, what was his name. Nureyev?

 

What, begging for another Photoshop lesson so soon? Why I oughta ....

Edited by SD Rowdies
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TrailGators

+TrailGators

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Posted
What, begging for another Photoshop lesson so soon?

Weeellll, I thought after that image, TrailGators can give us a lesson! ;) With all those new books floating around, there should be lots of new ideas showing up! :D

I like the way you think.

I started reading Chapter 1 today! :) However, I'm not quite ready to create a lesson. But I do plan on making one someday based on something I find interesting in this book! :D

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SD Rowdies

+SD Rowdies

Posted
Posted (edited)

Photoshop Tip: Drop Shadow Layer Style the Easy Way

 

While reviewing a recently posted image of the lovely Splashette I was reminded of a minor drop-shadow tip that I failed to mention during an early Banter lesson. So here’s a holiday bonus for my Photoshop pals, a tip sheet about a more convenient way to use the Drop Shadow Layer Style.

 

Step 1. From any image make a selection. On the keyboard press keys “Ctrl-J.” That should place your selection on a separate layer. Verify that the new layer is active.

 

Step 2. At the very bottom of the Layer pallet click the tiny “Add a layer style” button. From the pop-up selection window click “Drop Shadow.”

 

Step 3. Rather than adjusting the “Layer Style/Structure” controls just place the cursor over any part of the image being edited and then left-click and drag the shadow as you wish. Note that the “Layer Style/Structure” settings follow along as you drag the shadow.

 

b9bc1f35-1155-4828-bb77-dcae8c6594b7.jpg

 

Happy New Year,

Harmon

Edited by SD Rowdies
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SD Rowdies

+SD Rowdies

Posted
Posted (edited)
Photoshop Tip: Drop Shadow Layer Style the Easy Way

[snip]

Cool trick Harmon! ;)

How do you make that little pointer hand?

Thanks.

 

The pointy-finger hand is actually a "Picture Tube" from an old version of Paint Shop Pro. One day I placed a large pointy hand on a separate Paint Shop Pro layer and saved the image on a transparent background. In Photoshop I just open the pointy hand image, select the hand, and then use the "Free Transform" feature to position, rotate, and resize it as needed. To point the hand right or left then just flip it vertically and then rotate, resize, and reposition as needed.

 

If I'm really in a hurry I add the pointy hand on a separate layer using Paint Shop Pro alone. This way the resizing adjustment is part of the Picture Tube.

 

I also use Paint Shop Pro "Import/Screen Capture" to grab the Photoshop workspace images provided with lessons.

 

d0c9dba1-72d3-4ab5-ac38-6fdb082671dc.jpg

Here's the pointy hand on a white background.

Edited by SD Rowdies
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TrailGators

+TrailGators

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)
Photoshop Tip: Drop Shadow Layer Style the Easy Way

[snip]

Cool trick Harmon! :)

How do you make that little pointer hand?

Thanks.

 

The pointy-finger hand is actually a "Picture Tube" from an old version of Paint Shop Pro. One day I placed a large pointy hand on a separate Paint Shop Pro layer and saved the image on a transparent background. In Photoshop I just open the pointy hand image, select the hand, and then use the "Free Transform" feature to position, rotate, and resize it as needed. To point the hand right or left then just flip it vertically and then rotate, resize, and reposition as needed.

 

If I'm really in a hurry I add the pointy hand on a separate layer using Paint Shop Pro alone. This way the resizing adjustment is part of the Picture Tube.

 

I also use Paint Shop Pro "Import/Screen Capture" to grab the Photoshop workspace images provided with lessons.

 

d0c9dba1-72d3-4ab5-ac38-6fdb082671dc.jpg

Here's the pointy hand on a white background.

Thanks for giving me a hand, Harmon! ;):rolleyes:

Edited by TrailGators
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