Vanishing Point Filter in Photoshop – Part 1

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The Vanishing Point Filter is another one of those hidden gems in Photoshop.  Basically, you define a 3D-wire-frame and have Photoshop use it as a guide.  Sure, you can Clone in this 3D space, but did you know that you can Copy-and-Paste also?  Take a look at the Before and After pictures below.  I used the Vanishing Point Filter to add the cloud reflections to the windows.

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1. Prepare file in Photoshop

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In Photoshop, I duplicated the original layer for use in the Vanishing Point Filter.  I also selected the portion of the clouds to be used as the reflection source.  This selection must be Copied (Control-C or Command-C) BEFORE you launch the Vanishing Point Filter located in the Filters drop-down menu.

2. Create the 3D Plane

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Using the Create Plane Tool, I set four points to define the first plane.  Photoshop automatically defines a grid around these four points.  You can use the Edit Plane Tool to tweak these 4 points.

3. Paste selection into Vanishing Point Filter

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With the Plane defined, simply Paste (Control-V or Command-P) into the Vanishing Point Filter.  The selection will appear as a floating layer in the upper left corner.

4. Drag selection onto Plane

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Now, it is just a matter of dragging the pasted selection onto the Plane.  I then used the Transform Tool to edit the selection to fill the Plane.  Once completed, I just clicked OK to apply the Vanishing Point Filter to the duplicate layer.

5. Finish in Photoshop

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The Vanishing Point Filter does not have Opacity Controls to vary the strength of this tools.  That is why I created a duplicate layer specifically for this effect.  I used the Layer Blend mode to vary the strength of the layer.  Soft Light blending works perfectly to create reflections.  I just fine-tooled the effect by adding a Layer Mask to only reveal the portion covering the windows.

The final effect in very natural.

Tomorrow, I will cover another variation on the Vanishing Point Filter.

 

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