Liquify Filter
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PSDTUTS Photoshop Wiki / Photoshop Tutorials / Liquify Filter
The Liquify filter is a filter that comes with Photoshop for the purpose of distorting images in a variety of ways. This tool can be handy for minor touch-ups, making humorous images, or just goofing off.
The tool can be accessed from the Filter > Liquify menu option, or brought up using the keyboard shortcut Shift+Ctrl/Cmd+X.
Tools
The Forward Warp Tool (keyboard shortcut W) pushes pixels around as you drag the mouse, very much like the Smudge Tool.
The Reconstruct Tool (keyboard shortcut R) is used to reconstruct areas of the image that have been distorted to the way they looked before the image was manipulated. This only works for distortions that have been made during the current Liquify session—once you press OK, the changes are committed.
The Twirl Clockwise Tool (keyboard shortcut C) twirls the pixels around in a spiral as you hold or drag the mouse. By default it works in a clockwise direction, but when you hold Alt/Option, it will twirl in a counterclockwise direction.
The Pucker Tool (keyboard shortcut S) sucks the pixels within range of your brush towards the center of the brush, creating an effect similar to the Pinch filter.
The Bloat Tool (keyboard shortcut B) does the exact opposite of the Pucker Tool, pushing pixels from the center of the brush outwards. This creates an effect similar to that of the Punch filter.
The Push Left Tool (keyboard shortcut O) is a rather strangely named tool—it pushes pixels to the left only when you drag upwards, and to the right when you drag down. You can reverse this by holding Alt/Option as you drag, which will push pixels right when you drag upwards and left when you drag downwards. If you drag clockwise around an object, it will make it larger, whereas if you drag counterclockwise it’ll become smaller.
The Mirror Tool (keyboard shortcut M) paints mirrored pixels that are sampled perpendicular to the direction the brush is dragged in. You can alternate the direction by holding Alt/Option as you drag.
The Turbulence Tool (keyboard shortcut T) creates “turbulence” between pixels by scrambling them. It’s also somewhat reminiscent of the Smudge tool, but better for creating smooth ripple effects, painting fire, and so on.
The Freeze Mask Tool (keyboard shortcut F) allows you to paint in the areas of your image that you don’t wish the liquify tools to affect. Even if you brush over these areas with any of the above tools, nothing will happen.
The Thaw Mask Tool (keyboard shortcut D) allows you to remove or “thaw” the freeze mask on the image, making previously undistortable areas distortable again.
The Hand Tool (keyboard shortcut H) allows you to move the image around as you manipulate it. When using other tools, simply hold down the space bar to toggle to the Hand Tool. When you release the space bar, you’ll be switched back to the tool you were using, making this a handy feature for moving around as you perform a manipulation.
The Zoom Tool (keyboard shortcut Z) allows you to zoom in on certain areas of the image. You can zoom out by holding Alt/Option as you zoom.
The Mesh
Photoshop performs all of the above distortions using a mesh to calculate which pixels should be manipulated in which way. The mesh is how it achieves a smoother, almost liquid effect, whereas pure pixel manipulation would just look like another brush was used.
To see the mesh, you must tick Show Mesh under the View Options panel on the left side of the Liquify dialogue box. You can also set the size and color of the mesh grid itself.
If you wish to attain similar results the next time you use the liquify tool, you can save and load meshes using the buttons directly underneath the OK and Cancel buttons.
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