Flip Document - Horizontal

[Alan9940]

Can someone, please, enlighten me on how to flip a document horizontally?

Thanks!

Kind regards,
Alan

[photoken]

From the main menu: Layer...Rotate/Mirror Layer...Flip Horizontal.

[Alan9940]

Thanks, Ken! Duh...I knew that and was just coming back here to post a "never mind", but ya beat me to it.

Btw, since I've got ya here... How do I convert from a grayscale image to RGB?

Thanks!

Kind regards,
Alan

[photoken]

Use either:

• Layer...Convert Layer Type
• The Layer Properties panel to change the "Type"

[Alan9940]

Beautiful!! Thanks, again, Ken.

What I need is for you to be here over my shoulder until I get fully versed with PL!! Ever thought about writing a book?

Kind regards,
Alan

[photoken]

What I need is for you to be here over my shoulder until I get fully versed with PL!!

On a day like today when Chicago is suffering under yet another snowstorm, that sounds mighty good!

Ever thought about writing a book?

No, I'll limit myself to the occassional tutorial....

[brucet]

Hijacking the thread!!!

Mirroring a selection vertical or horizontal is the easy bit. But I want to rotate on an axis. ???

Example. The below car is sitting in water. I need a reflection. So I mirror the car. Change opacity etc. But when I do that I also need to make 2 more adjustments. First I need to rotate the reflection clockwise so that the rear wheel touches the rear wheel. Easy. Now the tricky one. I want to 'roll' the reflection so it is on the same plane as the side of the car. ie I need to change the reflections perspective. So that the reflection is 'under' the car and not 'beside' the car. Now as you can see I did it ok but it takes some trial and error. Pulling on handles etc.

Is it possible to have a feature, or imitate an action, that allows you to not only mirror and rotate but also to roll a selection while changing the perspective?

regards
ps Ken. If Chicago is cold you should be here sitting by our pool. Hot and humid!!!

[photoken]

Is it possible to have a feature, or imitate an action, that allows you to not only mirror and rotate but also to roll a selection while changing the perspective?

OK, I see what you had to do:

car reflection.jpg

It did require using various handles and the Layer tool in "Extended" mode, as you described, but was fairly straightforward. It's not a bad way to do this, considering that the perspective of the reflection will need to be customized to the angle of the original object.

To do all that with one tool would necessitate a new, dedicated "Reflection" tool/effect. That's certainly a valid feature request, IMO.

ps Ken. If Chicago is cold you should be here sitting by our pool. Hot and humid!!!

I'm there in spirit, brother, there in spirit....

[brucet]

Ah yes Ken but look at the reflection of the front of your car! Plus your reflection is too deep. Your windshield shouldn't be visible. Sorry if I'm being harsh. But my clients see these details.

The trick is keeping all in perspective. So the trick is to have a tool that locks a line that everything else can be dragged around.

regards

[photoken]

Sorry if I'm being harsh.

No problem. I wasn't concerned with anything but figuring out what tools to use....

[Hoogo]

It takes more than just one layer to create a really perfect result. Imagine all the changes in perspective when you move the camera up and down, how pieces of the interior become visible if you move high enough... That takes a lot of hidden information and depth, and none of that is there. And a reflection is just like moving the camera below the floor.

But besides of that: If the car layer was already in perspective and not flat on the screen, then mirroring it would only take 2 skews. But I don't have an idea how to turn the flat layer into a perspectively distorted that looks the same.

[photoken]

That takes a lot of hidden information and depth, and none of that is there.

Exactly right. Doing a reflection from a simple 2D image will always be a matter of many compromises, and will never look quite right. But it might get "close enough".

[brucet]

OK there will always be limits due to factors that Hoogo mentions. But many objects could work.

A simple thought?? No comments please.
Step 1. If you could draw a line with two end points. Say the two wheels in the car example. Then ask PL to mirror to that line. (To a new layer).
Step 2. Create a three dimensional BOX/CUBE from the same initial line around, based on, the new mirrored object. Each corner of that BOX/CUBE would have handles.
Step 3. Allow the user to drag each of those handle in any direction to create the desired affect.

Now it may not be a perfect, mathematical, solution but with a bit of skill and practice the user could get very close and creative.

The car is a good example but as Hoogo mentions may facets of a car would be missing. In my example you wouldn't get the correct detail under the front bumper. (Mine is sprayed on in a new layer). A 3d object would always be an issue. You can't work with data you haven't got! But that's where creativity would come in.

regards

[Herbert123]

A true reflection can only be painted into an image of a car like that. If I was doing a photo session of an object which required a reflection in post, I would bring a reflective flat surface and place it under the object, and take pictures from all the angles I might need in post. Of course, that may not be entirely possible with a larger object such as a car. And you might not have had control over the conditions of the car shoot in the first place, or someone else took the phto.

This is why a lot of those car images are nowadays done in CG - with a fake 3d car which is later composited into the final image. This gives you all the freedom you require, and for modern cars it is not a problem at all getting a 3d model from the client nowadays. Or you have someone model it for you (or do it yourself). This does drive up the cost, however.

This image demonstrates the issues with reflections: for simple box like objects you can easily extend it downward, but for other objects the perspective is a major headache.

53.jpg

But physically other material interactions may occur as well. Here is a quick render I made in Blender, which is comparable to the red car image posted earlier in this thread - I pulled up the reflective factor of the material of the ground surface:

car.jpg

A reflection is never of the same intensity as the original object. The roughness of the material will have a very noticeable effect on the reflection as well. Fading out may occur as well depending on the surface properties (a trick I often use to do simpler reflections on objects which have a flat perspective, such as people). All these effects are visible in the image above.

*edit* improved the render of the car.

[brucet]

Herbert123's car example is a good one. You can see that there is detail in the front right wheel in the reflection that isn't in the car photo. These details need to be 'created'.
Next week I'll be at a car show with 4000+ cars. All parked and displayed in various conditions. Many on grass. So creation a reflection needs a lot of extra work. Even though I go with a photographer pass I'm still stuck with photographing the cars as they are where they are. Studio work is something I have never done.
However if PL had a feature that could at least give the bulk of the reflection then the rest is easy. Mirroring and rotating is easy. It's the rolling that is the tricky bit.
Many CAD programs have such a feature. I wonder if it's possible to create a similar, albeit basic, feature for photographs?

edit - keep in mind that not all objects are suitable. You do need a suitable starting photograph.

regards