photoshop gradient map

#1

Hi there,

Just wondering if anyone knew if it’s possible to replicate the photoshop gradient map effect in combustion?

#2

Yeah, but it’s a bit different. Add a paint operator, and then doubleclick on the operator in the workspace to select it. Go to the toolbar, and select the filled rectangle tool, then draw a rectangle around your composition. Now, select the filled rectangle in the workspace (beneath the paint operator), go to modes from the paint controls tab, and check the gradient box in the middle (make sure that the object is set to ‘shape’, not ‘mask’, or you won’t be able to apply the gradient).
Now, select the gradient tab. At this point, it’s just like creating gradient ramps in 3ds max; you click somewhere on the color or opacity blocks to apply a tab, doubleclick on the tab to give it a color, and then you get a gradient between each tab for the different colors.

#3

Hi Vormav,

Thanks!

I’ve tried this out, and it’s good but not entirely what I was after. In photoshop when you apply the gradient map it, from left to right in the gradient applies the colour to the dark areas of the underlying image and to the right of the gradient that colour is applied to the light areas of the image.

Do you know if this can be tweaked to create that effect?

Many Thanks.

#4

I’m not entirely clear about what you’re talking about, but it sounds like a different layering mode. I believe Photoshop (CS anyway) defaults to multiply as the layering mode for gradients.
You can set the layering mode (called “draw mode” in this case) by selecting your gradient object from within the paint operator, then by accessing the ‘modes’ menu from the paint controls tab, and then changing the value right to the left of the ‘gradient’ option (It probably reads ‘paint’ as the default value).
Although I’m pretty sure that Photoshop defaults to multiply as the layering mode from gradients, the layering you’re describing sounds a lot more like “overlay.”

If you want to quickly be able to scroll between the different layering options, double-click your gradient, and then open up the timeline; if you scroll to the bottom, you should see “Draw Mode” listed (right above “draw mode pressure”). Left click and hold on the simple draw mode selection, and you can quickly skim through the different layering modes by moving the mouse left and right.

#5

I’m talking about this effect in photoshop, which in the help doc is explained as this…

“The Gradient Map command maps the equivalent grayscale range of an image to the colors of a specified gradient fill. If you specify a two-color gradient fill, for example, shadows in the image map to one of the endpoint colors of the gradient fill, highlights map to the other endpoint color, and midtones map to the gradations in between.”

It gives a much different effect to just layering a transparent or blending a gradient over the top.

Have you used that in photoshop before? You can do it as a leyer effect in the layers palette or by going to image > adjustments > gradient map. Also in after effects there’s something similar called ‘colorama’

I did find a thread which seems to explain it, but I couldn’t follow the explanation…
http://www.highend2d.com/boards/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=shakeforum&Number=183725&page=18&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=

#6

that’s exactly what you want. Unfortunately I don’t know Combustion well enough to explain it to you, but find someone who can. The way Gradient Maps work in Photoshop is like you said, but it maps to the Luminosity of the image. (you can find the luminosity easily by witching to LAB mode. It’s the Lightness channel)
Obviously the guy in that thread knows how to manually map the gradient to the luminosity of the image. Sorry I can’t help more.

#7

Yeah, I’ll keep trying. Thanks for your help anyway.

#8

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.