

Switch back to the Layers panel and apply a Layer Mask to the Smart Layer while the selection is still active. Go back to the Channels and CMD+Click the thumbnail of the duplicated channel to load its selection. To really distress the logo so it blends in we need to apply all the fine details of the texture. Click OK then navigate to the ‘displacement-map.psd’ file we saved earlier. I found the number 5 for the horizontal and vertical scale settings gave good results, but these figures can be adjusted to apply more or less distortion to the logo. This step will use the displacement map to warp the logo around the contours of the texture. Paste in your logo artwork, scale it to an appropriate size to fill the canvas then save and close the file.īack in the main document with the Smart Layer selected, go to Filter > Distort > Displace. This will allow the logo file to be edited and customised later, so you can paste in any artwork and it will be instantly applied to the same texture.ĭouble click the thumbnail of the Smart Object to edit its contents. Right click and select Convert to Smart Object.

Switch back to the working document and restore the original colours and tones of the image by turning on the RGB channels.Ĭreate a new layer in the Layers panel and give it the name ‘Logo’. It will already contain the ‘displacement map’ name from when the file was created using the channel duplication. Save the file in a convenient place as a Photoshop (.psd) document. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and add a 3px blur to soften the details, this will displace our logo more smoothly to increase the realism when it’s applied to the texture. A new Photoshop document will be created with just the image from this channel. Under the Destination options change the Document setting to ‘New’ and enter the filename ‘displacement-map’. Right click on the new channel and select ‘Duplicate Channel’. Press the shortcut CMD+M to bring up the Curves adjustments and increase the contrast by darkening the shadows and brightening the highlights. Toggle the visibility of the Red, Green and Blue channels to find the one with the highest contrast, then drag it onto the ‘New Channel’ icon to make a duplicate. In order to capture all those fine details we can use the Channels to create a selection from the actual image. I’m using my collection of rusty metal textures as an example, but this technique also works great with grainy wood and other detailed surfaces. The whole process begins with a texture photo. We’ll be making use of the Channels and Displacement Map features in Photoshop to manipulate the flat digital artwork and seamlessly apply it onto the rough surface for maximum realism. In this tutorial I’ll show you some handy techniques to realistically mock up a logo onto a textured surface.
