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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,
@Broderick30478794x9ys 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:
AFAIK the smudge tool will only move pixels, and not copy them. I even tried adding the Alt/Opt key as a modifier, (try it yourself). With careful control of the brush size with a fully soft preset, and careful control of the start position of the stroke, I could get a sort of ghost effect, but the ghost is always on top of the copied pixels, and never underneath.
Ah HAH!! I've cracked it. You have to look at it back to front, so the lower right ghost was the original.
The smudge tool preset was fully soft and about twice the size of the selection. Strength was 100%.
I made a selection that encompassed the original, and dragged up and left, but reversed the stroke about half way.
I am going to have to do this again to be sure I have this right
I am not entirely confident I can do this again, but this is my starting point
Hmmm it wasn't working, but then I remembered I gave the selection a hefty feather.
Try again. I think I should have used a larger brush size for the smudge tool. You can just about see where I finished the stroke before reversing it.
It is very sensitive about the selection size and where you start the smudge too stroke. It was interesting trying to work this out, but the bottom line is that there is an easier and more consitant way to the end result.
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