Technical Slop

Non-1:1 Dimensions

Oh... more math. Don't worry, though. This isn't too bad. This is just to clear up some silly thing that may happen when using a stock D-Map, Stretch to Fit, and a non-1:1 target.

Those are the things we will be playing with for a bit. First we have Biker Chic at 200x200. Then Biker Chic at 100x200. Last one is the basic Zoom Cube (see: The Cubes).

Let's start with Horizontal: 25% and Vertical: 25%. That is 128px / 100% = Mpx / 25%. So, Mpx = 32px. And so, with 25%, we have a Grabitude of 32px.

As you can see, the first Biker Chic has expanded rather nicely. However, Biker Chic 100x200 has expanded more horizontally than vertically. Doh! What's the deal? Stretch to Fit, that's what. Not only that, but Displace only cares about absolute Grabitude. To Displace, 128px is 128px (or 32px is 32px) regardless of target pic's dimensions.

Here, let's take a closer look and fix it.

On Biker Chic 100x200, that's what happens to our D-Map with Stretch to Fit. All of a sudden, our D-Map is also 100x200. Not really surpising.

With Biker Chic in the middle, there are some lines tossed in. The red rectangle is 32px from the edge all around. That's where Displace is grabbing from and expanding. The yellow lines are corner-to-corner diagonals. If you were to use Free Transform (ctrl + t) and held Shift + Alt while dragging a corner, then the corners of Biker Chic will be on those yellow diagonal lines. As you can see, the corners of the red rectangle are not on those yellow diagonals.

With the last Biker Chic, the one on the right, I did a Free Transfrom with Shift and Alt held down while dragging a corner. Rather than expand her, I shrunk her down. However, the dynamic remains the same. The orange rectangle shows the border of the shunk down Biker Chic. As you can see, the corners of the orange rectangle are on the yellow diagonals and she shrunk down just fine.

So, how to expand Biker Chic 100x200 with a 200x200 D-Map with no extra expanding along the horizontal?

Well, the dimensions on Biker Chic is a 1:2 ratio. That means we have to use a 1:2 ratio in Displace. That means using Horizontal: 12% and Vertical: 25%. It looks something like this:

100 : 200 = 1 : 2 = 12 : 25 (rounded 12.5 down because Displace doesn't like decimals)

What is Biker Chic was 200x100?

With Horizontal and Vertical at 25%, that's what happens. She gets extra expansion vertically. To fix, just use Horizontal: 25% and Vertical: 12%..

Man, sometimes it hurts being this smart. Good thing I'm modest. Hehehe. Too bad there is more to this story, but it's going to have to wait.