Distort: Glass/Frost

[thecatpetter]

Hello!

Would it be possible to add a Glass distortion effect? This would be extremely beneficial. I'm trying to make a photo with a heat warp effect and all the tutorials I can find are using PS' Glass distortion effect...

Thanks.

[carl123]

17 hours ago, thecatpetter said:

I'm trying to make a photo with a heat warp effect

If you post an example of that sort of effect someone may have some ideas

[thecatpetter]

This is what I'm talking about

[John Rostron]

My usual response for effects like this is to reach for the Equations filter. I had a quick experiment adding a sine wave to both the x and y axes.  The problem is that you need several parameters and the Equations filter only offers three. Anyway, here is a first try.

Go to the Equations filter, Filters > Distort > Equations. In the x= and y= sections enter:

x=x+5*c*sin(360*y/h)+5*b*cos(270*y/h)
y=y+5*a*sin(360*x/w)+5*b*cos(270*x/w)

The a, b and c are parameters that affect the amplitude of the fuzziness. You can use the a, b and c sliders to modify these. The 5 is a hard-wired additional scaling factor for the amplitude.

The 360 and 270 are hard-wired factors which affect the wavelength of the fuzziness. Here are a pair of images. The first is the original, the second has the fuzziness applied.

  

Is this on the right lines for creating the desired heat haze or hammered glass effect? I can continue with this and create a macro if you think it useful.

John