Focus Effects

The Focus commands in the Effects menu let you create sharpening, softening, motion blurring, and glass distortion effects.

Camera Motion Blur

This effect creates a blur similar to what you'd get in a photograph by jostling the camera during a long exposure. It's particularly effective with an image showing lights on a dark background.

Using the Camera Motion Blur to create a blur.

To apply camera motion blur

1. Select a layer or area of the canvas.

If you want to apply the effect to the entire image, make sure there are no selections.

2. Choose Effects menu > Focus > Camera Motion Blur.
3. In the image window, drag to create the blur motion.

The direction and intensity of the blur is determined by your pointer movement. For example, fast movement produces a different blur than slow. A longer drag path increases the amount of blur. Straight, curved, and zigzag movements also produce different effects.

4. In the Camera Motion Blur dialog box, adjust the Bias slider to move the origin of motion along the drag path.
5. When you are satisfied with the settings, click OK to apply the effect.

Depth of Field

This effect creates a blur based on "distance from the plane of camera focus." Because you're working in a 2D image, you can use the control medium to describe the distance of different pixels.

The "M" is a floating shape. The blur on the shadow was created using Depth of Field.

The Depth of Field effect is a variable "circle of confusion" blur. You can specify the radius of the confusion circles for different regions of the image.

To apply depth of field

1. Select a layer or area of the canvas.

If you want to apply the effect to the entire image, make sure there are no selections.

2. Choose Effects menu > Focus > Depth of Field.
3. In the Depth of Field dialog box, choose a source from the Using pop-up menu.

Darker regions of the source receive greater blur.

4. Adjust the sliders to set the minimum and maximum radius of the blur regions.

The maximum size must be greater than the minimum size.

• This effect can take quite a while to process-especially with larger Min Size and Max Size settings.

Glass Distortion

The Glass Distortion effect creates the kind of distortions you would see if you were looking at your image through a sheet of glass. You can make your image appear as if it is behind the pebble glass of a shower door, or you can distort your image beyond recognition.

Glass distortion works by relocating the pixels of the image based on a displacement map. The map is created by combining displacement information from a source with a preset map type.

The Glass Distortion effect.

There are five sources of displacement information:

• Paper uses the information in a paper texture to displace pixels. More displacement is applied to light areas of the texture and less to dark areas. Paper texture is good for creating the pebbled glass effect. Unless you want frosted glass, you'll probably want to increase the scale of the paper.
• 3D Brush Strokes uses the difference in luminance between the clone source and the current document.
• Image Luminance uses the light and dark areas in the current document to determine the intensity of distortions.
• Original Luminance uses the clone source's luminance. Use a tessellation as the clone source to produce a bumpy glass effect.
• [Alpha channel] or [Layer mask] uses the luminance of a channel or layer mask. More distortion appears in the light areas of the channel. You must have a saved alpha channel or layer mask to use this source.

This is a good choice for a controlled distortion map. For example, gradations in the channel lead to a progressive distortion effect. Shapes in the channel produce distortions with distinct outlines.

There are three types of maps:

• Refraction displaces pixels in the same way that an optical lens bends light. This is the best map type for distortions you'd expect from looking through glass.
• Vector Displacement moves pixels in a specific direction.
• Angle Displacement moves pixels in different directions.

To apply a glass distortion effect

1. Select a layer or area of the canvas.

If you want to apply the effect to the entire image, make sure there are no selections.

2. Choose Effects menu > Focus > Glass Distortion.
3. In the Glass Distortion dialog box, choose a source from the Using pop-up menu.

The amount of displacement depends on the value assigned to the image pixels from the Using source.

If you want to work with an inversion of the selected source, enable the Inverted check box.

4. Adjust the Softness slider to control the transitions between displaced colors.

Increasing Softness creates more intermediate steps, which produces a smoother distortion. If you experience aliasing in a glass distortion, try increasing Softness.

5. Choose a map type from the Map pop-up menu.
6. Choose Fast or Good from the Quality pop-up menu.
7. Adjust the following sliders:

• Amount controls the degree of displacement. Increasing the Amount distorts your image more.
• Variance creates multiple variations in the neighborhood of the displacement. The result of increasing variance depends on the type of image and other settings.
• Direction controls the direction of displacement. Three o'clock corresponds to 0°. The Refraction map type is not dependent on direction.

As you make changes, the preview window shows their effect.

8. Click OK to apply the effect.

Motion Blur

This effect makes an image appear as if it has been blurred by movement.

Motion blur applied to a photograph.

To apply a motion blur effect

1. Select a layer or area of the canvas.

If you want to apply the effect to the entire image, make sure there are no selections.

2. Choose Effects menu > Focus > Motion Blur.

In the Motion Blur dialog box, adjust the following sliders:

• Radius sets the amount (distance) of blur. Moving the slider to the right makes the image look as though it's moving faster.
• Angle sets the direction in which the image appears to travel. Zero degrees blurs in the direction of 3 o'clock.
• Thinness blurs the image in a direction perpendicular to the angle you choose with the Angle slider.

3. Click OK to apply the effect.

Sharpen

This effect heightens contrast by intensifying highlights and shadows. Sharper images are created using either Gaussian or circular aperture. Gaussian aperture sharpens the red, green, and blue components of color; circular aperture sharpens an image based on luminance.

Using the Sharpen dialog to sharpen the focus.

To sharpen focus

1. Select a layer or area of the canvas.

If you want to apply the effect to the entire image, make sure there are no selections.

2. Choose Effects menu > Focus > Sharpen.
3. In the Sharpen dialog box, enable one of the following aperture options:

• Gaussian
• Circular

4. Use the following guidelines to adjust the sliders:

• Amount determines how much of the edge of an element is affected.
• Highlight determines the intensity of the bright areas. Move the slider to the right to brighten the highlights.
• Shadow determines the depth of the shadows. The higher the percentage, the darker the shadows.

If you have chosen the Gaussian aperture and you want to sharpen only selected colors, enable any of the Red, Green, or Blue check boxes.

5. Click OK to apply the effect.

Soften

This effect increases the transition from one part of your image to another, enhancing the anti-aliasing of strokes. Images are softened using either Gaussian or circular aperture. Gaussian aperture is useful for creating smooth, optical blurs or defocusing; circular aperture is useful for creating shadow maps cast by a circular light source like the sun.

The Super Soften effect is a stronger version of Soften.

To soften focus

1. Select a layer or area of the canvas.

If you want to apply the effect to the entire image, make sure there are no selections.

2. Choose Effects menu > Focus > Soften.
3. In the Soften dialog box, choose one of the following apertures:

• Gaussian
• Circular

4. Adjust the Amount slider.

The farther the slider is to the right, the more steps there are between image elements, which creates more blurring.

5. When you are satisfied with the settings, click OK to apply the effect.

Zoom Blur

This effect creates a blur by zooming in on (or out from) an area. Imagery around the zoom point stays clear. Imagery distant from the zoom point is blurred more. This is a great way to call attention to a particular area of the image.

Using the Zoom Blur dialog to blur the focus.

To apply zoom blur

1. Select a layer or area of the canvas.

If you want to apply the effect to the entire image, make sure there are no selections.

2. Choose Effects menu > Focus > Zoom Blur.
3. In the document window, click the image to specify the zoom point.
4. In the Zoom Blur dialog box, adjust the Amount slider to determine the amount of blur.

If you want to create the blur by zooming in, enable the Zoom In check box. If you want to create the blur by zooming out, disable the Zoom In check box.

5. When you are satisfied with the settings, click OK to apply the effect.