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6. The Tools in the Toolbox / 6.2 Tools for All Kind of Layers

### 6.2.5 Liquify

Liquify can be used to distort a picture by painting. You can use this tool to convert a photo to a caricature or to correct facial expressions.

Liquify has several subtools:

- Push Left
All pixels are pushed to the left relative to the moving direction of the brush. If you are painting from the top to the bottom, the pixels will be pushed to the left, the other way round they will be pushed to the right. You can use this to shift edges in a picture.
- Forward Warp
The pixels are pushed along the moving direction. Example: You can use this to adjust the corners of a person's mouth to create a smile.
- Soften
The distortions are softened thus correcting too strong distortions locally.
- Reset
Reset clears the distortions and recreates the starting condition.
- Twirl
Twirl rotates the pixels around the center of the brush clockwise. By holding Alt the pixels are rotated counter-clockwise.
- Pucker
Pucker moves the pixels towards the center of the brush. This can be used to shrink items.
- Bloat
Bloat moves the pixels toward the edge of the brush. This can be used to enlarge items.

Liquify allows you to display a grid. Using the grid makes it easier to recognize too strong distortions. Of course this grid will not be visible in the final result.

When using Liquify you should pay attention to a few points:

- Liquify is a lossless tool. If you are using it for the first time with an image, a new layer will be created gathering all the distortions. The original image will not be modified. This way you can enhance your modifications later if needed.
- If you want to apply your corrections permanently, the easiest way is to mark the original image and the liquify layer in the layer dialog and to use the command Layer/Merge Layers. This command is accessible from the context menu of the layer dialog, too.
- You should always use a soft brush. The steps distance should be a value between 5% and 10%.
- Always use a brush, that is large enough. A brush too small can create ugly distortions at the brush edge. This is especially true for Push Left and Forward Warp.
- If you are using a high tool intensity, a small wrong movement can create a wrong distortion. Therefore it is often better to use a small intensity and to apply the correction several times.
- Of course Liquify observes the mask. This way you can protect areas from modification.