Displacement Map

Distorts the layer by pushing each pixel in a direction determined by the brightness of a second layer (the displacement map). Bright areas push one way, dark areas push the other — useful for water ripples, heat shimmer, and any kind of organic warping.

Displacement Map picks the layer that drives the distortion. The default is Self — the effect uses the same layer it’s applied to. Pair this with Fractal Noise on the same layer for a quick organic distortion setup.

Map Fit, Map Source, and Channel configure how the map is read — fit, which translation of the map to use, and which channel drives displacement (Luminance, Red, Green, Blue, or Alpha).

Edge Behavior controls what happens at the layer’s edges — Clamp repeats edge pixels, Mirror reflects them, Wrap tiles the layer.

Anti-Aliasing smooths displaced edges — None, 2x, or 4x. Higher settings look cleaner at the cost of render time.

Invert Map flips bright and dark so displacement direction reverses.

Position X and Position Y control how far pixels shift horizontally and vertically.

Rotation rotates pixels around their local position.

Scale X and Scale Y expand or contract pixels based on map brightness (linked by default).

Map Softness pre-blurs the map for smoother distortion.

Map Gamma and Map Balance shape the map’s response curve — Gamma changes how dark and light are weighted; Balance shifts which brightness counts as “zero displacement.”

Iterations applies the displacement multiple times for stronger, layered distortion.