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Known Participant
May 23, 2011
Open for Voting

P: Image Hose - Extend Clone Stamp tool

  • May 23, 2011
  • 70 replies
  • 3226 views

Nearly all other serious digital paint programs have some kind of randomized image "stamp" feature (Painter calls it Image Hose). This is seriously lacking in Photoshop. I can see a very sooth implementation by extending the Clone Stamp tool. You already have multiple clone sources - in its simplest implementation, it should be fairly straightforward to allow the user to define multiple clone sources and then randomize which one is being used each time the brush is "stamped" onto the layer. Add angle and size jitter and other randomization features like we find in the brushes palette and we're off to the races.

A better user experience would be to define "stamp sets". This would require a new palette which would open into a kind of "tree view". For each Stamp Set you could add multiple pixel-based images, similar to the way you define brush presets. Their thumbnails would then be visible, indented under the Stamp Set in the "tree view".

When a particular Stamp Set is selected, you have your jitter controls and other behavioural controls which get saved with that stamp set. Stamp sets can be saved like Brushes and other Preset Manager items. You could even offer a nice automation tool for importing a sequence of PSDs into a single stamp set.

You could extend this even further by exposing the same Layer Effects to your Stamp Sets. Unlike a layer effect, which applies, for example, a Drop Shadow to all the pixels of the layer at once; the Stamp Set effects would apply the effect(s) to each instance of a stamp. As an example, the difference would be that if you apply a drop shadow to your Stamp Set, if you stamped one item over top of another, its drop shadow would overlap the previous item, whereas if you just applied the Drop Shadow to the entire layer, there would be no "depth" between two "stamp" instances on the same layer.

Note that I'm not suggesting that each instance of a stamp would be an editable object or a smart object instance. Just like when you use the Brush tool, the results are "merged" into the active layer's pixels more-or-less instantly (or at least, once the mouse button is released to terminate the brush stroke).

70 replies

c.pfaffenbichler
Community Expert
Community Expert
November 30, 2011
Well, if I’m not mistaken (one of) the purpose(s) of this Forum is evaluating customer opinions – while maintaing the site may not incur a lot of costs setting it up just to ignore it might take Dilbert’s-pointy-haired-boss’-levels of mis-management.

Furthermore at least one frequent contributor from Adobe has their name featured on the Photoshop splash screen and other Adobe employees who contribute on this Forum seem to be listed further along in the credits, so I think Feature Requests on this Forum may not be wholly useless.

Naturally I have no idea (if and) how the information gathered here is utilized in Adobe’s development process/decisions in the end.
Known Participant
November 30, 2011
Hey thanks for taking up the torch. I seriously doubt anyone from Adobe who has influence over the Photoshop product roadmap actually reads these posts, but it's nice to know that at least one other user is familiar with the concept.
Inspiring
November 29, 2011
Here are some examples of image hose:
http://www.digitalimagemagazine.com/b...

Ad for DuPont - http://www.simontuckett.com/_Gotm/Got...
Inspiring
November 29, 2011
Content aware is only based on the information already available in an image. An image hose is more like.... differen't versions of say a leaf sprayed onto a canvas with a specific layer affect applied as well. In Painter there was a default dropshadow and bevel/emboss effect I believe you could adjust a bit. Hoses are created with a series of frames in which are placed the hose images. As these are sprayed, the layer like effects are applied to each image as it is applied. You can have sharp cut out or faded edge images in each frame, denoted using an alpha layer mask for each frame. This is nothing like Content Aware fills like using the patching/mending tools in photoshop.

I agree with Tom, it is a long time coming in Photoshop. Didn't PsP have an image hose function?
Known Participant
June 30, 2011
It's not even close to Content Aware fill. They have nothing whatsoever to do with one another. Please re-read my (rather detailed) post and let me know how you see this mapping to the content aware suite.
Inspiring
May 27, 2011
Again, no. Please take a look at the functionality he described in Painter or PaintShopPro.
Known Participant
May 27, 2011
@2306023, no, I don't think the functionality I'm describing maps to the Content Aware suite. I think it fits squarely under either Clone Stamp, or the Brush tool.
Inspiring
May 27, 2011
Brett - go take a look at Painter or PaintShopPro.
Inspiring
May 27, 2011
Um, no. Brett - go take a look at Painter or PaintShopPro.
Brett N
Adobe Employee
Adobe Employee
May 27, 2011
Sounds kinda like Content-Aware Fill with some manual controls...