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Special effects categories

The following are all the categories of special effects available, each of which includes several different effects that you can apply:

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3-D special effects
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Art strokes
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Blur
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Camera
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Color transform
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Contour
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Creative
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Custom
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Distort
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Noise
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Texture

For information about the Sharpen special effects, see “Sharpening images.” For information about the Remove moiré and Remove noise effects, see “Improving scanned images.”


3-D special effects

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You can apply three-dimensional special effects to an image to create the illusion of depth.

The three-dimensional special effects are

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3-D rotate — lets you rotate an image by adjusting an interactive, three-dimensional model
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Bevel effect — lets you create the appearance of a raised surface by applying a sloped edge along an editable area. For more information, see “Applying Bevel effects.”
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Cylinder — shapes an image into a cylinder
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Emboss — transforms an image into a relief, with details appearing as ridges and crevices on a flat surface. You can choose the embossing color or depth, as well as the direction of the light source.
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Glass — places a three-dimensional, glass-like surface over an editable area. You can specify the width of the bevel, the area that is slanted to produce the three-dimensional look, the sharpness of the bevel’s edges, and the angle at which the light is bent at the edges. You can also specify the brightness, direction, and angle of the light that strikes the bevel. The Glass effect lets you apply preset styles and create custom preset styles.
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Page curl — makes one of the corners of an image roll in on itself. You can specify a corner and set the curl orientation, transparency, and size. You can also choose a color for the curl and the background that is exposed where the image curls away from the paper.
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Perspective — gives an image three-dimensional depth, as if the image recedes into the distance. You can also skew an image into different shapes.
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Pinch/punch — warps an image by pinching it toward you or punching it away from you. You can position the effect by setting a center point.
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Sphere — wraps an image around the inside or outside of a sphere. You can set a center point around which an image wraps, and you can control the wrapping. Positive values expand the central pixels toward the edges of an image resulting in a convex shape. Negative values compress pixels toward the center of an image resulting in a concave shape.
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The Boss — raises the area of the image that falls along the edges of a mask. You can specify the width, height, and smoothness of the raised edge, as well as the brightness, sharpness, direction, and angle of the light sources. The Boss effect lets you apply preset styles and create custom preset styles.
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Zig zag — creates waves of straight lines and angles that twist an image outward from an adjustable center point. You can choose the type of waves and specify their number and strength.

Art strokes special effects

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The art strokes special effects give images a hand-painted look. You can use these effects to make images look like pastel drawings, sponge paintings, and watercolors, or to create textured backgrounds.

The art strokes special effects are

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Charcoal — makes an image look like a black-and-white charcoal drawing
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Conte crayon — simulates textures produced with a conté crayon. You can select multiple crayon colors and set the crayon pressure and the granularity of the texture.
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Crayon — makes an image look like a wax crayon drawing. You can specify the crayon pressure and create dark outlines around elements in the image.
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Cubist — groups similarly colored pixels into squares to produce an image that resembles a cubist painting. You can specify the square size, the amount of light, and the paper color.
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Dabble — makes image pixels look like dabs of paint. You can choose from a variety of brushstrokes and specify the brushstroke size.
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Impressionist — makes an image look like an impressionist painting. You can customize the dabs of color or the brushstrokes and specify the amount of light in the image.
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Palette knife — creates the impression that an image was created by spreading paint on a canvas with a palette knife. You can specify the amount of smudging and the size and direction of the brushstrokes.
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Pastels — makes an image look like a pastel drawing. You can specify the size and color variation of the brushstrokes.
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Pen and ink — makes an image look like a pen-and-ink drawing created with a cross-hatching or stipple technique
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Pointillist — analyzes the main colors of an image and converts them to small dots. You can specify the size of the dots and the amount of light in the image.
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Scraperboard — scrapes away a black surface to reveal white or another color, making an image look like a sketchy drawing. You can specify the density of the paint and the brushstroke size.
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Sketch pad — makes an image look like a pencil sketch
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Watercolor — makes an image look like a watercolor painting. You can specify the brush size, granulation level, and image brightness. You can also specify the intensity of the colors and determine the degree to which the colors blend.
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Water marker — makes an image look like an abstract sketch created with color markers. You can change the brushstrokes by selecting different modes. You can also specify the size and color variation of the brushstrokes.
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Wave paper — makes an image look like a painting created on textured wave paper. You can create a black-and-white painting, or you can preserve the original color of the image.

Blur special effects

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The blur special effects change the pixels of an image to soften them, smooth their edges, blend them, or create motion effects.

The blur special effects are

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Tune blur — lets you apply any of four blurring effects, which are represented by thumbnails, to an image. You can adjust the blur effect and preview the image with softer or sharper focus while you are editing it. The Tune blur filter lets you improve image quality or create exciting visual effects.
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Directional smooth — smooths the regions of gradual change in an image while preserving edge detail and texture. You can use this filter to subtly blur the edges and surfaces of images without distorting the focus.
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Gaussian blur — produces a hazy effect, blurring the focus of an image according to Gaussian distribution, which spreads the pixel information outward using bell-shaped curves
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Jaggy despeckle — scatters colors in an image, creating a soft, blurred effect with minimal distortion. It is most effective for removing the jagged edges that can appear in line art or high-contrast images. The Jaggy despeckle effect is also a preset lens type.
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Low pass — removes sharp edges and detail from an image, leaving smooth gradients and low-frequency areas. The higher the settings you specify, the more image detail is erased.
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Motion blur — creates the illusion of movement in an image. You can specify the direction of movement.
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Radial blur — creates a blurring effect in an image that spins around or radiates outward from a center point that you specify
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Smooth — mutes the differences between adjacent pixels to smooth an image without losing detail. It is especially useful for removing the dithering that is created when you convert an image from the paletted mode to the RGB mode. The Smooth effect produces a more pronounced effect than the Soften effect. The Smooth effect is also a preset lens type.
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Soften — smooths and tones down the harsh edges in an image without losing important image detail. The difference between the Smooth and Soften effects is subtle but is often apparent when images are viewed at high resolution. The Soften effect is also a preset lens type.
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Zoom — blurs image pixels outward from a center point. The pixels closest to the center point are the least blurry.
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Smart blur — blurs an image but retains the edge detail. This effect is useful if you want to retain the sharp lines and edges, such as the ones that form the letters in text, when you export an image to a file format that would normally reduce the amount of detail.

Camera special effects

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The Camera special effects let you simulate the effect produced by photographic filters, such as spot filters and diffusion filters. You can also add lighting effects, such as sun flares or spot lights.

The camera special effects are

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Diffuse — softens images by distributing image pixels to fill in blank spaces and remove noise. The result simulates the soft focus of a photographer’s diffusion filter. You can make this effect smooth or blurry.
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Lens flare — produces rings of light on an RGB image, simulating the flare that appears on a photograph when the camera is aimed towards a direct, bright light. For more information, see “Applying Lens Flare effects.”
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Lighting effects — lets you add light sources to an RGB or grayscale image to create the illusion of spotlights, floodlights, or sunlight. You can also apply a texture to create embossed reliefs. You can use a preset light or texture style, or customize a preset style and save it in the preset list. For more information, see “Applying Lighting effects.”
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Spot filter — lets you control the focus area in an image and de-emphasize the surrounding area by applying a Gaussian blur to imitate a photographer’s use of depth of field. You can set the position and radius of the area in focus, control the edges and degree of the blur, and decrease light in the surrounding areas. You can use a preset style or customize a preset style and save it in the preset list.

Color transform special effects

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The color transform special effects let you create dramatic effects by changing the color of an image.

The color transform special effects are

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Bit planes — reduces an image to basic RGB color components and displays tonal changes using solid colors. You can adjust the tonal values of each color component individually or as a group.
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Halftone — gives an image the appearance of a color halftone. A color halftone is an image that has been converted from a continuous tone image to a series of dots of various sizes that represent different tones. You can specify the size of the biggest dot and vary the color pattern.
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Psychedelic — changes the colors in an image to bright, electric colors, such as orange, hot pink, cyan, and lime green. The Psychedelic effect is also a preset lens type.
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Solarize — transforms colors in an image by reversing image tones. The Solarize effect is also a preset lens type.

Contour special effects

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The contour special effects detect and accentuate the edges of objects, items, and editable areas in an image. You can adjust the level of edge detection, the type of edges that are detected, as well as the color of the edges that are detected.

The contour special effects are

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Edge detect — detects the edges in an image and converts them to lines on a single-color background. You can customize this effect by specifying the intensity of the outline and the background color.
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Find edges — locates edges in an image and lets you convert these edges to soft or solid lines. When you convert edges to soft lines you create a smooth blurred outline. Converting edges to solid lines creates a sharper outline. The Find edges filter is particularly useful for high-contrast images, such as images that contain text.
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Trace contour — highlights the edges of image elements using a 16-color palette. Trace contour lets you specify which edge pixels are highlighted.

Creative special effects

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The creative special effects use a variety of shapes and textures to transform an image into abstract art. They use craft items, crystals, fabric, glass, game pieces, frames, whirlpools, or raindrops as the foundation for creating something new.

The creative special effects are

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Crafts — makes an image look as though it was created with craft shapes, such as puzzle pieces, gears, marbles, candy, ceramic tile, and poker chips. You can specify the size and angle of the shapes, as well as the brightness of the effect.
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Crystalize — makes an image look as though it was created with crystals. You can control the effect by specifying the dimensions of the crystals. Lower values produce smaller crystals, causing less distortion. Higher values produce larger crystals and create a more abstract effect.
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Fabric — makes an image look as though it was created with textiles, such as needlepoint, rug hooking, quilts, strings, ribbons, and tissue collage. You can specify the size and angle of the textile, as well as the brightness.
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Frame — lets you frame an image with a preset frame, another image, or an area defined by a mask. You can change the color, opacity, and alignment of a frame, and you can save customized settings as preset styles.
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Glass block — makes an image look as though it is being viewed through thick glass blocks. You can control the effect by specifying the dimensions of the glass blocks.
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Kid’s play — makes an image look as though it was created with light pegs, building blocks, finger paint, or paint-by-numbers. You can specify the size and angle of the elements, as well as the brightness of the effect.
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Mosaic — breaks an image into unequal elliptical pieces to form the appearance of a mosaic. You can specify the size of the pieces and the background color. You can also frame the mosaic.
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Particles — lets you add sparkle to an image by using white or colored bubbles and star particles. You can specify the size, number, and transparency of the particles, as well as the amount of color they contain.
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Scatter — distorts an image by scattering pixels. You can specify the direction of the scattering. The Scatter effect is also a preset lens type.
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Smoked glass — applies a transparent colored tint to images. You can specify the color of the smoked glass, the opacity of the tint, and the amount of blurring.
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Stained glass — transforms images into stained-glass artwork. You can adjust the size of the glass pieces and create solder between them.
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Vignette — lets you add an elliptical, circular, rectangular, or square frame around an image. You can specify the color and fade rate of the effect.
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Vortex — produces a swirl around a center point that you specify in an image. You can specify the direction of the swirl’s inner and outer pixels.
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Weather — lets you apply snow, rain, and fog effects to an image. You can specify the effect’s intensity and the size of the elements.

Custom special effects

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The custom special effects offer you a wide range of effects to transform an image. You can create an artistic media painting, overlay an image with a customized image, or use a variety of blur, sharpen, and edge detect effects.

The custom special effects are

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Alchemy — transforms images into artistic media paintings by applying brushstrokes to images. You can create a brush and specify color, size, angle, and transparency settings. You can also choose from a variety of preset brushes, and save customized brushes.
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Band pass — adjusts the sharp and smooth areas on images. Sharp areas are areas where abrupt changes take place (for example, colors, edges, noise). Smooth areas are areas where gradual changes take place.
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Bump map — adds texture and patterns to an image by embedding its surface with a relief based on the pixel values of a bump map image. The pixel values of the bump map image represent surface elevation. You can use a preset bump map or load a custom bump map image. You can specify the surface and lighting properties of the effect.
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User defined — lets you create blur, sharpen, or edge detect special effects by defining a new color value for each pixel based on the color values of adjacent pixels. You define the value of the selected pixel numerically, by typing values in a grid. The central box in the grid represents the selected pixel, and the boxes around it represent the adjacent pixels. The number you type in the central box of the grid is multiplied by the original color value of the selected pixel. The resulting number (the new color value of the selected pixel) can be further modified by choosing how much it is influenced by the values of the adjacent pixels, which can be added to or subtracted from the value of the selected pixel. For example, if you type 0 in all the boxes surrounding the central pixel, the pixel’s value is not influenced by the adjacent pixels, but only by the number you type in the central box. All numbers you type in the grid are multiplied by the corresponding pixel values and added together to create a new value for the pixel. The new pixel value is then divided by a divisor value you choose. If the divisor is the same as the number you type in the central box, then they will cancel each other out, and the new pixel value will depend only on the values of the adjacent pixels. The result of all numerical operations in the grid represents the final color value (1 to 255) of the pixel.

Distort special effects

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The distort special effects transform the appearance of images without adding depth.

The distort special effects are

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Blocks — breaks down the image into scrambled block pieces. You can specify the size of the blocks, the distance between the blocks, and the color of the background (exposed when the effect is applied).
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Displace — shifts an active image according to the values of a secondary image known as a displacement map. Values from the displacement map display as forms, colors, and warp patterns in the image.
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Mesh warp — lets you distort an image by repositioning the nodes on a superimposed grid. You can increase the number of nodes on the grid by increasing the number of gridlines to a maximum of 10. Increasing the number of nodes on the grid provides finer control over small details in the image. You can use any of the preset mesh warp styles, and you can create and save custom mesh warp styles.
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Offset — changes an image’s position by shifting it according to the parameters you specify. When an image is offset, empty areas display where the image was previously positioned. You can fill the empty areas by tiling or stretching the image, or by applying color.
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Pixelate — breaks an image into square, rectangular, or circular cells. The Pixelate effect is also a preset lens type.
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Ripple — distorts an image with one or more waves. You can specify the strength of the primary wave to set the warping of the image or add an additional perpendicular wave to increase the distortion.
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Shear — maps the shape of an image to the shape of a line segment
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Swirl — creates a swirl across an image according to the direction, number of whole rotations, and angle that you specify
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Tile — reduces the image’s dimensions and reproduces it as a series of tiles on a grid. You can use this effect in combination with a flood fill to create a background or to create a wallpaper effect for a Web page.
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Wet paint — creates the illusion of wet paint on images. You can specify the size of the drips and the range of colors that are affected in the image.
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Whirlpool — applies a fluid, swirling pattern across an image. You can use a preset whirlpool style, or you can create a custom style by setting the smear length, spacing, twist, and streak detail of the effect. You can also save custom whirlpool styles.
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Wind — blurs an image in a specific direction, creating the effect of wind blowing across the image. You can specify the strength and direction of the blur, as well as the transparency of the effect.

Noise special effects

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In bitmap editing, noise is defined as the random pixels that display across an image, which resemble static on television screens. The noise special effects let you create, control, or eliminate noise.

The noise special effects are

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Tune noise — lets you apply any of nine noise effects. Each effect is represented by a thumbnail which lets you preview the image as you apply an effect.
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Add noise — creates a granular effect that adds texture to a flat or overly blended image. You can specify the type and amount of noise that is added to the image. The Add noise effect is also a preset lens type.
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3-D stereo noise — creates a dithered noise pattern giving an image the appearance of three-dimensional depth when viewed a certain way. This effect is particularly suited to high-contrast line art and grayscale images. This effect may be very difficult to perceive.
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Maximum — removes noise by adjusting the color value of a pixel based on the maximum color values of its neighboring pixels. This effect also produces a mild blurring effect when applied more than once.
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Median — removes noise and detail by adjusting the color value of a pixel according to the median color value of the surrounding pixels
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Minimum — removes noise by adjusting the color value of a pixel, based on the minimum color values of its neighboring pixels

Texture special effects

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The texture special effects let you add texture to an image using a variety of shapes and surfaces. You can use bricks, bubbles, canvas, elephant skin, plastic, and stone; or you can create etchings and underpaintings. You can also use these effects to make an image look as though it is painted on a plaster wall or as though you are viewing it through a screen door.

The texture special effects are

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Brick wall — groups pixels into a series of interlocking cells to make an image look like a painting on a brick wall. You can specify the brick size and the density of the brick pattern.
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Bubbles — creates a bubbling foam on an image. You can specify the size of the bubbles and the amount of the image that is covered.
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Canvas — applies a textured surface to an image by letting you use another image as a canvas. You can choose a preset canvas map, or you can load any image as a canvas map. For best results, choose images that have high to medium contrast.
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Cobblestone — makes an image look as though it was created with cobblestones. You can specify the size, spacing, and granularity of the cobblestones.
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Elephant skin — gives an image a wrinkled look by creating an overlay of wavy lines. You can specify the age of the elephant skin (up to 100 years) as well as the skin color.
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Etching — transforms an image into an etching. You can control the depth of the etching, the amount of detail, the direction of the light, and the color of the metal surface.
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Plastic — makes an image look as though it is made of plastic. You can specify the image depth, as well as the color and angle of light shining on the plastic.
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Plaster wall — redistributes pixels so that an image looks as though it was painted on a plaster wall
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Relief sculpture — transforms an image into a relief sculpture. You can set the smoothness of the relief, the amount of detail it contains, the direction of the light, and the surface color.
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Screen door — makes an image look as though it is being viewed through a screen door. You can specify the mesh detail and brightness, the softness within the image, as well as whether the image is color or black-and-white.
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Stone — gives an image a stone texture. You can specify the amount of detail, the density of the pattern, and the angle of the light hitting an image. You can apply a preset stone style or create and save a custom stone style as a preset.
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Underpainting — makes an image look like a painting created on a canvas that is subsequently covered with layers of paint. You can specify the degree to which the original image is painted over and adjust the brightness of the image.

Special effects categories