Emboss, edges and wind with the stylise filters in Paint by Zaweba
What the stylise filters in Paint by Zaweba do, from Emboss and edge detection to Wind, Extrude, Tiles and Long Shadow, with ideas for each.
Stylise is the filter family for strong graphic looks. These filters pick out edges, raise surfaces, blow pixels sideways or break a picture into tiles. Few of them are subtle, and that is the point: they turn an ordinary photo or a block of text into something that reads instantly as designed. Paint by Zaweba has a wide Stylise set, all with the standard live preview and Strength control.
Edges
Find Edges outlines the shapes in a picture and fades everything else, giving something close to a pencil drawing. Edge Detect goes further, with several methods. Glowing edges draws bright outlines on black, a neon look. Trace contour follows a single brightness level like a contour map. Colour edges keep the colour of each edge. Sobel, Prewitt and Laplace are the classic edge detectors used in image processing; they differ in how they measure edges and how much fine detail they pick up, so it is worth trying each on your picture.
Edge filters are useful beyond effects. An edge layer set to a darkening blend mode over the original adds a drawn outline to a photo, a quick route to a comic style. Edge detection on a duplicate can also help you build a mask around a busy object.
Raised and textured surfaces
Emboss makes the picture look pressed into metal or paper, with light falling from one side. On text it gives a stamped, letterpress feel. Bump Map uses a picture's brightness to fake a raised surface. Chisel and Buttonise bevel shapes so they look carved or pressed out like a button. Extrude breaks the picture into blocks or pyramids that come out of the screen, a striking background effect.
Movement and light
Wind blows streaks sideways from the edges of shapes. On text it gives a fast, windswept heading; on a photo it can suggest a gust or a speed effect. Long Shadow adds the flat, angled shadow you see in modern icon design. Solarise reverses tones above a certain brightness, recreating a darkroom effect where highlights turn dark.
Breaking things up
Tiles splits the picture into offset squares, like a mosaic of photo prints. Diffuse scatters pixels for a grainy, dissolved edge. Balls and Bubbles add round, glossy shapes, more of a fun generator than a serious filter.
Ideas for using them
For a quick neon sign, set a word in a bold font, rasterise a copy, run Edge Detect with glowing edges, then add a soft outer glow with Layer Art and a dark background. For a letterpress invitation, emboss a copy of the text over a paper texture and blend it so the paper colour comes through. For a punchy poster heading, duplicate the text, run Wind on the copy, and put it behind the original.
Most stylise filters change pixels, and text layers need rasterising before they can be filtered. Always keep the editable original hidden underneath so you can change the words later.
Mistakes to avoid with stylise effects
Stylise filters are easy to overuse. One strong effect per design is usually plenty, and two competing ones look busy. Watch the size, too; Emboss and edge filters that look crisp on a large image can turn to mush on a small web graphic, so apply them at the final size. And edge filters pick up noise, so run Reduce Noise or a light blur first on grainy photos.
Paired with Layer Art, blend modes and masks, the Stylise set in Paint by Zaweba gives you a quick path to bold graphic looks without leaving the photo you started with.
