The Displacement effect shifts pixels based on the brightness values of another image or layer, creating dynamic distortion patterns.
How it works
Displacement uses a secondary image (called a displacement map) to determine how to shift pixels in the main image. Brighter areas in the displacement map push pixels in one direction, while darker areas push them in the opposite direction.
The effect can use either an uploaded image or another layer in your project as the displacement map. It also includes a normals mode that uses red and green channels for horizontal and vertical displacement separately.
Use cases
- Creating water or heat distortion effects
- Simulating glass or transparent material refraction
- Breaking the image apart with a glitch displacement map
Controllers
| Name | Type | Description | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Use image texture | Boolean | Toggle between using an image or layer | - |
| Image texture | Image | The image to use as displacement map | - |
| Target layer | Select | Layer to use as displacement map | - |
| Use normals | Boolean | Use red/green channels for displacement | - |
| x | Number | Horizontal displacement amount | 0-1 |
| y | Number | Vertical displacement amount | 0-1 |
| Texture scale | Number | Scale of the displacement map | 0-10 |
Tip
For water-like effects, try using a Noise item as your displacement map and animate it with subtle movement.