andrewjohn81
12-24-2004, 11:20 PM
I think the most powerful tool for distorting an image or vector art is the envelope distort. Why is it in Illustrator and not in Photoshop?
For those of you who do not know what the envelope distort tool does I will explain and you will see it's incredible usefulness:
The envelope distort creates a mesh and distorts the bounding box of the object(s) you want to distort. You can create a custom shaped mesh, or let Illustrator create an even grid.
Editing this mesh is exactly the same as editing a gradient mesh. There are four handles for every center point, two handles for corners, and three handles for edge points. You can basically imagine that there is a gradient mesh applied and the handles control how much distort, and to which direction.
If you merely want to bloat an object you could create a circle and apply it as the envelope.
Also, if you wanted something, say on a computer screen in perspective in your image, you could create a box where you want the image> create the image you want there> make sure the box is in front of the image you want> and hit envelope distort - use front object.
That is the only way I could figure out how to easily change the perspective of a group of objects in illustrator.
OK - about photoshop. Now that you know exactly what tool I am talking about in Illustrator, and what it does, does anyone know of a comparable tool in photoshop. Liquify is the closest thing I could think of.
For those of you who do not know what the envelope distort tool does I will explain and you will see it's incredible usefulness:
The envelope distort creates a mesh and distorts the bounding box of the object(s) you want to distort. You can create a custom shaped mesh, or let Illustrator create an even grid.
Editing this mesh is exactly the same as editing a gradient mesh. There are four handles for every center point, two handles for corners, and three handles for edge points. You can basically imagine that there is a gradient mesh applied and the handles control how much distort, and to which direction.
If you merely want to bloat an object you could create a circle and apply it as the envelope.
Also, if you wanted something, say on a computer screen in perspective in your image, you could create a box where you want the image> create the image you want there> make sure the box is in front of the image you want> and hit envelope distort - use front object.
That is the only way I could figure out how to easily change the perspective of a group of objects in illustrator.
OK - about photoshop. Now that you know exactly what tool I am talking about in Illustrator, and what it does, does anyone know of a comparable tool in photoshop. Liquify is the closest thing I could think of.