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photodrawken
photodrawken
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Tip:  non-destructive texture

Jun 27, 2012 9:57 PM

If you're working on an image with a lot of layers, and you want to add some texture, instead of merging all the layers into a new one and applying the texture to that merged layer, you can:

  1. Create a new "Overlay" layer above the layers you want to have the texture.  You need to use Layer...New from the main menu bar and select the "Overlay" mode and the "Fill with neutral color" option.
  2. Apply your texture to that overlay layer.

 

For example:

texture layers.png

 

For this image effect:

Lighthouse_Painting 02.png

 

The advantages of doing this: 

  • If you don't like the effect, you only need to delete that one layer to start again.
  • You can adjust the opacity of the layer to fine-tune the texture effect.
  • You can create more than one texture layer, using whichever texture is appropriate for the final output.

 

 

 

This works for the Filter...Noise...Add Noise, as well as several textures from the Filter Gallery, including Film Grain.

 

Ken

631 Views   10 Replies   Latest reply: photodrawken, Jun 29, 2012 10:07 AM
 
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  • R_Kelly
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    1. R_Kelly,
    Jun 27, 2012 10:50 PM   in reply to photodrawken
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    That's a nice tip Ken.

     

    Also if you want to use one the preset patterns, one could fill the layer (the paper texture layer in your screenshot); Edit>Fill>Pattern and use Filter>Stylize>Emboss to get the same look as the texturizer filter.

     
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  • photodrawken
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    2. photodrawken,
    Jun 28, 2012 1:26 AM   in reply to R_Kelly
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    Excellent!  Thanks for mentioning the "Emboss" -- doing that to an applied pattern opens up a whole lot of options for the image texture.

     

    Ken

     
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  • Mark Sand
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    3. Mark Sand,
    Jun 28, 2012 4:22 AM   in reply to photodrawken
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    Good tips, guys!

     
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  • photodrawken
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    4. photodrawken,
    Jun 28, 2012 2:54 PM   in reply to R_Kelly
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    It turns out that applying the Filter...Sketch...Bas Relief to the texture works much better than the "Emboss" for simulating the look of a paper texture.  In this example, I used the Artist Surface...Parchment pattern and compared, with both overlay layers set to an opacity of 51%:

    texture comparison.png

     

    Ken

     
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  • 99jon
    10,084 posts
    Jan 6, 2010
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    5. 99jon,
    Jun 28, 2012 2:59 PM   in reply to photodrawken
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    Nice tip Ken. Someone was asking about creating a canvas texture and I’m sure your technique would be suitable. Thanks for sharing with us.

     

     

     
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  • photodrawken
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    6. photodrawken,
    Jun 28, 2012 3:03 PM   in reply to 99jon
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    99jon,

     

    Thanks.  That's sort of how I stumbled on the technique -- I was noodling around in PainterEssentials4, wound up with a nice "painted" effect on a textured "paper", and wanted to see if I could duplicate the effect in PSE.

     

    Ken

     
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  • R_Kelly
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    7. R_Kelly,
    Jun 28, 2012 7:35 PM   in reply to photodrawken
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    It's not as easy using the emboss filter. One needs to adjust the three parameters to achieve the same effect as the filters in the filter gallery.

    But the filter gallery has a lot more options such as combining the filter effects.

     

    Message was edited by: R_Kelly

     
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  • photodrawken
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    8. photodrawken,
    Jun 28, 2012 8:10 PM   in reply to R_Kelly
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    I used to think that the Filter Gallery's "Texturizer" filter was too limited, since it only has 4 textures, and other "painting" programs have multitudes of artistic surfaces; but now I see that those 4 textures can achieve a wide variety of effects, especially when combined. 

     

    Good to know that PSE can surpass the textues done by some of those other programs....

     

    Ken

     
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  • MichelBParis
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    9. MichelBParis,
    Jun 29, 2012 1:14 AM   in reply to photodrawken
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    A variant method to apply textures is to add a new 'Fill layer/pattern...' in overlay mode.

    - click on the small triangle on the right of the image in the dialog,

    - in the new panel, click on the small double triangle

    and from the dropdown menu, choose a pattern.

     

    This method gives you access to a host of standard various patterns and textures. Remember you can easily create your own patterns from your own pictures. (Menu edit/define pattern). Most of the time you'll use soft light or overlay blend modes.

     

    You also can transform a home-made pattern with the high pass filter at various radius settings. This can be more natural as it does not add color.

     
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  • photodrawken
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    10. photodrawken,
    Jun 29, 2012 10:07 AM   in reply to MichelBParis
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    Michel,

     

    That's a nice idea.  The pattern fill layer has the advantage of its "Scale" option.  Once the pattern fill layer is created, simplifying the layer and applying the Bas Relief filter gives the effect as above.

     

    Ken

     
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