EMBOSSING

In this post, I focus on embossing, and how to add an embossing effect (like for instance an image

editor software can do, by applying a filter see) to a digital image.

In a popular online encyclopedia, embossing refers to “raised impressions produced by means of engraved dies or plates.”

Information about (digital) image embossing turns technical very quickly, because, beyond the

interface that we have with the machine, programs and algorithms are made, intentionally mere, to

communicate with this machine.

However, the underlying idea is to have a digital image, what is represented on this image, to show

effects of raised impressions of some selected features (like some user selections, or some color

levels).

Two links are added for reference to the reader interested, anticipating on another post about how to

create commands or sets of commands (scripts), to communicate merely with your machine.

The outline of this document is the following:

Original: a brief note how the original was made, and how this image can show an embossing effect
Mapped embossing: about suggestions how to create less simple embossing including:

The paragraphs talk about diverse programs or techniques, no matter if the object to emboss is vector

graphics or raster image (because we suppose the follower of this post, briefed enough about how to

dash from one or another approach see this post for more information).

Original

The attentive follower can recognize an image already used in a previous post. Some lens effect has

been corrected to approach a more realistic photograph. The idea is the same, though. A photograph

from a smartphone camera has been cleaned up thanks to an online AI magic eraser (an attempt of

clarification about AI has been posted later).

Also, a corrective patch helps to improve the image (on the right eye), even if not all the retouching

techniques -explained in the retouching post- have been used.

Applied on the original image above, emboss effect from KRITA software generates the image below:

Emboss (KRITA)

Very often, an embossing effect shows up as it is shown, using a grayscale. In this case, it might be

necessary to map an additional rendering.

However, sometimes a ready-to-use emboss effect includes this additional mapping to stick on the

render of the original (like paragraph) according to any black box compromise.

Mapped Embossing

I got the following suggestion (author-blogger of this blog has no idea how it came through, as he was

using chrome, and as he knows that the Google AI engine is called Gemini, not search lab), and

followed to come up with the sketch shown after:

”Image embossing is a computer graphics technique that replaces pixels in an image with shadows or

highlights based on the original image's light and dark boundaries. Low contrast areas are replaced

with a gray background. Here are some ways to emboss an image while retaining the original image in

different programs:

Motion
The Color Emboss filter in Motion traces high-contrast edges with darker versions of the image's
colors, making the layer look like it's stamped into the canvas. The amount of relief and direction
can be customized.
Photoshop
Here are some steps for embossing in Photoshop:

Create a black dot on a blank layer (it is a sketch on blank layer)
Select Emboss
Turn off all layers except the sketch
Deselect
Zoom in on the sketch lines and select the darkest pixel
While holding down Shift, select lighter pixels until most of the sketch lines are selected
Feather the selection by about the same amount it was expanded
Use Quick Mask (Q) to check the selection
Invert the selection and fill it with 100% black