Distorting textures with flow maps

Development Rendering
1

I’m having trouble using flow maps, maybe because I don’t use them as “flow” maps, but just for distorting textures. I have a material in which I use the normal map to distort other textures with the red and green channels, like you would with a flow map, and it works perfectly. However, I also want the normal map itself to be distorted almost like a fisheye lens. I want the normal map to look like it’s bulging outward and flowing (like a fisheye lens) and flow around the edge towards the left and right.

I’ve found an example of a fisheye lens, and it does work, though I want to know how I could make something like this, either in Photoshop or 3D to make the normal map flow like I want it to:
bubble.pngFilters_DisplacementMap_Bubble.png

2

Have you tried using Flowmaps material function? I’m not sure if that’s what you want, but check in your Engine/Functions/Engine_MaterialFunctions02/ExampleContent/ for a FlowMaps material to see how it’s used. I think you need to have pretty much the same but with 0 speed, so nothing would move. So provide your Diffuse and Normal maps, and your flow map, and then hook 0 to the Time input.

3

Sorry, but that’s not the problem. I’ve got the flow maps working perfectly. I even used the one I posted as an example and it works. The real problem is that I don’t know how to actually make one exactly like that, with the changes I mentioned.

4

Oh, so you need to know how to make the actual texture? If so, i would go with Photoshop, draw a radial gradient and play with filters (like liquefy or something). If not, i still don’t get what do you need. Sorry…

5

http://teckartist.com/?page_id=107

should do what you need.

6

I generate mine in either Maya or Houdini, but both methods are pretty complicated for what you wanna do.

Divi’s link should be ideal, I believe it’s a photoshop plugin.

7

I tried FlowMap Painter, but whatever I do, it either reduces the strength, or completely messes up the shape.
@TheJamsh: If it’s not too much trouble, I’d like to know how you make them in Maya/Houdini.

Using the one I posted provides about 3/4 of the effect I want, so if there’s no alternative, I’ll go with that one instead.

8

Here’s a good tutorial series on them for Maya:

Don’t really have a guide for Houdini I’m afraid!

9

I’ve managed to get the results fairly well using liquify and warp in Photoshop. It was a bit tedious, and the result is not entirely as I intended, but it did the job pretty well.
@TheJamsh: Regardless, thanks for the link to ImbueFX. I knew about that, but completely forgot about it.