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B-Shoe
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November 3, 2023
Question

Trying to recreate a smudge jitter effect from years ago - help

  • November 3, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 1104 views

Hello, I am looking back at some old work I made in 2016 and I remember using the smudge tool to achieve these semi-transparent 'clones' of the object I was smudging. I've played around with strength jitter and spacing, but I'm unable to recreate the clean, spaced out smudges that replicate the object (but faded). In the upper left I recreate parts of the figure with generous spacing, and then towards the middle I have a few faded copies of the blue diamond illustration.

 

I'm attaching the images with arrows pointing to the effects I want to recreate and also the failed attempt to recreate it (the ring on the bottom right). Any help would be appreciated, even if it's using another tool. I would prefer to use the smudge tool so I can "paint" around with this effect. 

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    2 replies

    Trevor.Dennis
    Community Expert
    Trevor.DennisCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    November 5, 2023

    I am really struggling to think how that could have been done with the Smudge tool.  Assuming the original is the lowermost object, then how did the ghosted copies get behind the original?  To drag the object and maintain its outline you'd need to set the Smudge tool to 100%, and that would move the original and not copy it.  Alt smudge just leaves a dark 'smudge'

    Was the blue shape on its own layer or baked into the background?  Either way, using Sample All Layers would not change what I said above.  

     

    I am going to guess that this is how it was done.

    I selected the original shape and inverted the selection.

    Then used the clone tool set to 50% opacity.

    I did the top left ghost first, which repeated the dark yellow background to the right of that ghost.

    Then reset the clone tool offset and copied both of the shapes on the left. 

    The selection was maintained right through the process.

     

    Does that sound plausable?  I honestly don't think it could have been done with the smudge tool,

    B
    B-ShoeAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    November 5, 2023

    @Trevor.Dennis Ok thanks! yeah this was done in 2016, I'm probably off about the diamond. But what about the other figure on the top left, that seems like it could've been done with smudge? Basically what I want to do with the smudgle tool is get really spaced out smudges so they aren't all blended together - like a ghosting effect (is that the right term?). 

    Kevin Stohlmeyer
    Community Expert
    Kevin StohlmeyerCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    November 6, 2023

    @B-Shoe the smudge tool cannot make copies like you are seeing.

    This is an example of the smudge tool on an object using various brush controls including spacing and scattering. As you can see the result are a smudged image, not a ghosted copy.

    However using the clone stamp tool you can create similar effects to what you are showing:

     

    Kevin Stohlmeyer
    Community Expert
    Kevin StohlmeyerCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    November 3, 2023

    @B-Shoe the first step would be to use the clone stamp tool at a lesser opacity to duplicate that image as a repeat, then smudge the results.

    B
    B-ShoeAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    November 5, 2023

    @Kevin Stohlmeyer ah ok but I specifically did this using just a smugle tool. Clone stamping and then smudging takes out the 'painterly' process I'm going for. Too labor intensive. 

     

    Does anyone know what settings to apply to the smudge tool brush settings to get the desired affect? 

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