DOCS/Effects

Displace

Distort

Turbulent ripple, liquify and heat-haze warping.

Displace moves pixels around according to a noise field, so the layer ripples, bulges or shimmers. Nothing is added or removed — the same pixels end up somewhere else.

What it looks like

Before

Broad warp

Turbulent

Same artwork either side, so the difference you see is the effect. Built with the same SVG-filter primitives the product uses, but tuned for legibility at this size — treat it as a faithful illustration of the behaviour rather than a pixel-exact capture of the editor.

When to reach for it#

Heat haze, underwater, and refraction through a surface.
Liquid and gooey distortions.
Organic wobble on otherwise rigid artwork.

Parameters#

Modemode#

Turbulence is a chaotic multi-scale warp. Ripple is a regular wave. Liquify pushes in a coherent direction. Each has a different character even at identical strength.

Amountamount#

Displacement in pixels. Past roughly half the layer's smallest feature, detail starts folding over itself and becomes unreadable.

Scalescale#

Noise feature size. Large scale moves broad regions together; small scale shreds.

Evolutionevolution#

Animates the field. Keyframe it for shimmer; leave it static for a frozen distortion.

Things that catch people out#

It samples beyond the layer edge

Displacement pulls in whatever is outside the layer bounds, which is usually transparency — so edges can develop bites. Give the layer padding or lower the amount.

Displace

When to reach for it#

Parameters#

Things that catch people out#

See also#