texture help needed

[lightnin]

i've spent hours trying to replicate this image to no avail.

does anyone know how the lines in this image were randomly distorted?

also, how do i get the white speckled look on the grid making the
individual tiles rounded?

i want a texture like a reptile's skin. something along the lines of the ad for
jurassic park logo with the big eye ( the skin around the eye ).

[Welles]

Welcome to the forums, lightnin!

Here's a quick sample background and the steps I took.

1. I made a square grid on an empty layer.

2, The Liquify tool to put the wiggle in the lines.

3. Beneath that layer was a linear gradient made by trying to pick the colors out of your sample image.

4. I duplicated that gradient layer for a color base.

5. Command click on the grid layer icon (in the layer's palette) to load the selection.

6. Make the top gradient layer active and hit delete so it is suddenly made of wiggly squares.

7. Apply a Layer style to the wiggly square layer. It included Bevel and Emboss with a texture.

8. Flatten the image and apply the unsharp mask filter to exaggerate the highlights.

(I didn't try for perfect...just pretty good )

[ronmatt]

http://img370.imageshack.us/img370/9576/grid0bj.jpg

another way. PS is so great because there are so many ways of doing everything.

[SCync]

Nice work guys. You both nailed that puppy down.

[lightnin]

hey, thanks for the welcome welles, great job.

i really appreciate the step by step directions.

i don't want to be anal, but i'm trying to stay away from the tiled look you achieved.

how would i get the grid square more flattened and rounded?

also, the is there another way of achieving the white speckle dots?

i'm really after the exact look of this texture if possible.

anyone else with any tips, it would be greatly appreciated>

[Welles]

Originally Posted by lightnin

how would i get the grid square more flattened and rounded?

also, the is there another way of achieving the white speckle dots?

Change the bevel and emboss settings to suit your taste.

The speckles are an exaggeration of the highlight of the texture. Experiment with different textures and sharpening will make the speckles stand out more.

I'm afraid, at this point you'll have to experiment to suit your taste.

[lightnin]

hey welles, thanks again for replying.

i'm having trouble with the liquifying.

i play around with the settings , but nothing seems to happen. the lines stay the same.

what settings did you use for the liguify menu?

how do i apply the bevel and emboss to each square instead of the whole image?

sorry, i'm new to this, you'll have to be more specific.

also, i'm on a mac.

[Welles]

I use the Forward Warp Tool (the one at the top of the toolbar at the left) and a brush setting fairly small. The brush setting size will depend entirely upon the size of your image. I used a brush diameter approximately 2X the size of a square.

Then small movements should move the lines sort of like the smudge tool only with less smearing. It will take a bunch of small movements to get those lines squiggley.

[ronmatt]

http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/9742/tute29iq.jpg

this is a way around the 'liquify' if thats a problem. This is really simple stuff. there shouldn't be a problem.
Just think creatively 'cause with PS, anything is possible. It just takes practice

[p?tr?]

The ripple filter also works, but leans towards a more uniform look rather that hand done. It's alot easier too.