Coastal Waves in Photoshop

[Chick]

I had occasion to explain the process of making coastal wave lines to someone, and since I had to do some pictures and explanations, I decided to put it into a tutorial.

Since I'm a Photoshop user, the explanations and illustrations are in Photoshop, but I hope all you GIMP users can figure out how to do the same thing in GIMP.

Please let me know if you find any problems with this, or have any suggestions to improve it.



And if you like it and find it useful, please rate the thread

Cheers,
Cornelia

[SteffenBrand]

I did this for a long time this way or a similar way, but in 2014 I changed something. I'd recommend changing 'stroke path' to actually fill the layer with the selection made, set the layer to 'Fill: 0' and use an outline. Repeat this with on new layers with the desired distance of the lines as you described. This way, you can change the width of the lines with a single click instead of doing this all over again with small changes. The smoothening of the selection and everything else can be done as Cornelia previously well described.

Well done and thanks for helping others, Cornelia! I'll be sure to rep and rate if I can! =)
Cheers, Steffen

[Chick]

It's true there are at least three other ways to do this that I have tried, all of them work well and produce about the same kind of result. I wrote this one up for people getting started to have a simple understandable method.

Using layer styles, strokes, inner or outer glow, and contours are among the more complicated ways. I may decide to write up more of them if there is enough interest. I know when I started, I hunted for quite a while before I actually figured out this method, and then later some other friendly members showed me some of the other ways. So at least with this, newcomers have a quick and easy way to get started

[waldronate]

In my experience, the biggest problem with using an expanding selection is that the technique used for expansion quickly leads to the selection turning into hard edges at 45 degree angles. It just screams "look how computery I am!"

The outer glow technique, in contrast, uses a distance field that doesn't suffer from this sort of problem (see attached). It has limitations in the detail quality and size, but it can get nicely smoothed and antialiased coastal lines.



I keep meaning to write a Photoshop plugin for the express purpose of doing this sort of thing, but it's always been way down on my list of priorities. In CC3+ from ProFantasy, I did write an edge filter that uses a 1D PNG texture to do the transparency and edge color (I also did a color key filter to fill everything on a layer with a color). The attached image shows a really ugly polychrome edge spectrum and the basic fill texture with the color keying things.

[Chick]

In my experience, the biggest problem with using an expanding selection is that the technique used for expansion quickly leads to the selection turning into hard edges at 45 degree angles. It just screams "look how computery I am!"

Yes, that's why the second half of the tutorial is about how to smooth out the lines so there aren't hard edges at sharp angles. In fact, the impetus for writing this was someone who had the hard edges and wanted to know how to soften them

The outer glow technique is what I mostly use, but I also know that I wasn't ready for it when I started making maps, so this tutorial is a simple way to get started. If you are experienced with Photoshop and know how to use blending modes in sophisticated ways, by all means use the outer glow technique.

[Tom]

Yes, that's why the second half of the tutorial is about how to smooth out the lines so there aren't hard edges at sharp angles. In fact, the impetus for writing this was someone who had the hard edges and wanted to know how to soften them

The outer glow technique is what I mostly use, but I also know that I wasn't ready for it when I started making maps, so this tutorial is a simple way to get started. If you are experienced with Photoshop and know how to use blending modes in sophisticated ways, by all means use the outer glow technique.

Thanks Chick, a small but helpful tutorial! i've never thought about "smooth" option lol..

[Meshon]

I feel like I know a lot about Photoshop but there's always something that I've never tried, or even noticed, and Smoothing a selection line is one of those things. Thanks for this!

cheers,
Meshon

[Carnifex]

There is a other quite well known technique using layer style that is, in almost every aspect, easier to use, faster and give better result. And fully editable

I can't find the link to a tutorial right now though.... anyone?

[Chick]

There is a other quite well known technique using layer style that is, in almost every aspect, easier to use, faster and give better result. And fully editable

I can't find the link to a tutorial right now though.... anyone?

I don't where the other thread is, but I suspect you are talking about this layer style:



I tried several variations on this style but none of them were anywhere near as good as the manual one I described in the tutorial. The layer style is quicker and if you change the coastline, the waves change with it, but for an extra 5 minutes work, the method in my tutorial gives much more satisfactory results and can be adjusted easily to your map scale and the number of wave lines.

[Carnifex]

I don't where the other thread is, but I suspect you are talking about this layer style:



I tried several variations on this style but none of them were anywhere near as good as the manual one I described in the tutorial. The layer style is quicker and if you change the coastline, the waves change with it, but for an extra 5 minutes work, the method in my tutorial gives much more satisfactory results and can be adjusted easily to your map scale and the number of wave lines.

Exactly. I find it better in all aspects but hat is perhaps a matter of taste.

I actually thought everyone is using the layer style (except if you are doing it by hand of course).