steps to create a reflection/mirror plane?

Talk about Pixelmator Pro, share tips & tricks, tutorials, and other resources.
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2020-10-27 21:36:58

I'm trying to establish a mirror plane based on a 3 point perspective of a piece of furniture I recently built. Traditional x & y axis mirroring is not working here. Ideas? Thank Image
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2020-10-28 09:12:41

Hey Jared, I'll have to be honest here and say I don't quite understand the result you're going for. :grimacing: Could you share some examples of the effect in other images? I'd love to try and help, just need to get my brain around this...
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2021-01-02 06:28:55

by Andrius 2020-10-28 15:12:41 Hey Jared, I'll have to be honest here and say I don't quite understand the result you're going for. :grimacing: Could you share some examples of the effect in other images? I'd love to try and help, just need to get my brain around this...
If you study the shadows on these photos below, you'll notice they reflect within perspective, i.e., the mirror plane is not straight-on in 2D w/a single horizon line.

I'm trying to establish a method or process to create mirror planes where my objects are reflected in their true perspective and then largely the reflected components are then transparent gradient filled (that said, gradient filling is a procedure I do know how to perform).

Image Image
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2021-01-04 18:09:46

OK, now I fully understand the issue. To me, this seems like a completely 3-dimensional action, so the only way to simulate it with a 2D object (i.e. a flat image) is probably to cut out each piece that needs to be reflected and use that. The steps in this PS tutorial could be adapted for your image depending on the size of the reflection you need:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oknI2lQX0mI

Here's a quick attempt using a wooden table I found online:

Image

I basically cut out each table leg and masked it individually. I didn't really spend a lot of time on it, so the perspective effect can probably be improved but the overall effect does seem, for the most part, possible.
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2021-01-10 05:58:37

awesome, thanks. I'll look at that tutorial asap.
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2021-01-17 22:05:03

The photoshop tutorial makes sense but it still doesn't help my project within pixelmator. The tools in my pro version don't seem to allow me to establish simple & fast transform points to pull & contort into the 3D reflection I'm trying to establish. Is there a way to get this piece to reflect well in the software or am I asking too much of this application? Image Image Image
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2021-01-20 14:19:10

Having thought about this a little more, with a quite complex perspective like yours, it's probably not possible – to get a realistic result, you'd essentially need to get reflect the underside of the table leg, which isn't even visible in the image in the case of the right side of the table. So that would be super tricky. And looking at the images you shared, they do seem to be rendered using 3D apps so maybe that would be the way to go.
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2021-02-16 05:21:14

No worries. Understood. Thanks for lending assistance on this.

One last question: anyone know of there will be functionality to transform polygonal objects, images & shapes with nodes on each point? I can't recall if this was ever possible in software like Photoshop? I haven't discovered flexibility like this here yet.

Below is my compromise of shadow work to get me a decent shadow. Not entirely pleased with it. I've found object shadows the more difficult thing to get right & believable in Pixelmator...Image
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2021-02-16 12:02:35

One last question: anyone know of there will be functionality to transform polygonal objects, images & shapes with nodes on each point? I can't recall if this was ever possible in software like Photoshop? I haven't discovered flexibility like this here yet.
I believe the tool is either called the Perspective Warp or the Mesh Transformation tool in Photoshop. At the moment, there are no concrete plans for a feature like this but we do have it in mind!
Below is my compromise of shadow work to get me a decent shadow. Not entirely pleased with it. I've found object shadows the more difficult thing to get right & believable in Pixelmator...
Yeah, looking at your chat with Andrius above, it looks like the ability to add reflections is really what's missing in this particular workflow. They would really add some depth to the shadows, making them more life-like.

Also, you'd have to consider the light source(s) here. It looks to me that there are two. In such a case, the shadow wouldn't be uniform. You'd have to construct it based on the different angles the light is coming in from. The below example isn't my best work :sweat_smile: but I hope it helps get the idea across:

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