--- title: "Prism Displacement" url: "https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/html/Distortions_prism-displacement.html" section_path: "Distortions > Prism Displacement" description: "Prism Displacement distorts and displaces the pixels in your image with a prism-like, chromatic effect based on the luminance values of another layer." --- ## PRISM DISPLACEMENT ![Universe Prism Displacement](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/U_Prism_Displacement_universe.jpg) Prism Displacement distorts and displaces the pixels in your image with a prism-like, chromatic effect based on the luminance values of another layer. --- ### Getting Started in a timeline ![Premiere_icon](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/premiere-pro_universe.png) ![FinalCutPro_icon](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/final-cut-pro-x_universe.png) ![Vegas_icon](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/sony-vegas-pro_universe.png) ![Resolve_icon](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/resolve_universe.png) 1. Add video layers in the timeline for the displacement source and the image to be distorted. 2. Apply **uni.Prism Displacement** on the layer you want to be distorted. 3. Use **Displacement Source** to choose the video layer that you want to guide the luminance displacement. ### Getting Started in a compositor ![AfterEffects_icon](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/after-effects_universe.png) ![Motion_icon](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/motion_universe.png) 1. Apply **uni.Prism Displacement** on the layer you want to be distorted. 2. Use **Displacement Source** to choose the footage layer that you want to guide the luminance displacement. --- ### Presets A wealth of Prism Displacement presets will help slash the time needed to apply fascinating, oily or opalescent looks to your images and text. Find these via the blue **Open Dashboard...** button or the **Choose a Preset...** button below it. ![Image: Uni_Distort_PrismDist_presets.png](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/Uni_Distort_PrismDist_presets.png) As with all other Universe tools, you can modify or create a Prism Displacement look and then save it under its own name by pressing the **Save Preset...** button. --- ### Modify the Effect - In a bit of a different twist from most Universe tools, the ECP's **Preset** pull-down menu does not mirror the Universe Dashboard presets shown above. Here, you'll find another eight presets, including the **Default** used when you first apply Prism Displacement. As you'd expect, these presets can yield markedly different end results. In the following image, we assigned the effect**Source** (see below) as our lava lamp video clip, then applied the **Minor Refraction** (top), **Major Refraction** (center), and **Reverse Color** (bottom) shift presets.\ ![Image: Uni_Distort_PrismDist_Preset.png](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/Uni_Distort_PrismDist_Preset.png)\ For comparison, we repeated these settings and captures, only changing **Source** to **None**.\ ![Image: Uni_Distort_PrismDist_PresetNone.png](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/Uni_Distort_PrismDist_PresetNone.png) - In the **Source** drop-down, three options guide how you want Prism Displacement to view that source: as a **Luminance map**, an **Alpha (premultiplied with gray)**, or as an **Alpha (premultiplied with black)**. Default settings begin with 50% gray areas as neutral and with white and black areas distorting the footage. - **Glass Refraction** gives you a slider to control the amount of glass refraction happening. The further you extend from 0, the more "dense" effect colors will appear. To illustrate, the following trio shows values of 1 (top), 3 (center), and 6 (bottom).\ ![Image: Uni_Distort_PrismDist_GlassRef.png](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/Uni_Distort_PrismDist_GlassRef.png) - The **Refractive Index** is a multiplier to the Glass Refraction. - **Soften Displacement Map** allows you to blur the edges of your map. As you'll observe when enabling **View Displacement Map** (see below), if you have **None** as your **Displacement Source**, the map will be based on the layer to which Prism Displacement is applied, as you can see in this view of a video clip layer and the displacement map based on it.\ ![Image: Uni_Distort_PrismDist_DispMap.png](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/Uni_Distort_PrismDist_DispMap.png) - The **Legacy Mode** checkbox exists for users who have used Prism Displacement for many years and feel more comfortable with the tool's older model and options. - The displacement amount of the red, green, and blue channels can be split individually by changing the **Refraction Settings** for each color. - If you want to adjust the input levels of the displacement map colors, adjust the black, white, or gamma levels in the **Displacement Map Levels**group. You may find this process more intuitive if you check the **View Displacement Map** box at the bottom of the ECP options. Seeing the map being extracted from your source layer can help you fine-tune your effects for greater contrast and drama.\ ![Image: Uni_Distort_PrismDist_MapLevels.png](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/Uni_Distort_PrismDist_MapLevels.png) - There is a section giving you control on the **Lighting** that hits your displacement, allowing you to position the light in x, y, and z as well as adding a diffuse color you can select with conventional color picker or eyedropper tools. - **Stretch Map to Fit** (on by default) forces the displacement map to match the source image size. - **Bicubic Sampling** provides a slightly slower but more accurate sampling method. - The **Wrap Mode** shows options (**Border**, **Repeat**, **Mirror**, and **Clamp**) for extending edges of the image if distortion changes the image size. - As noted above, check **View Displacement Map** if you want to see the map being used without turning off your source layer.