Looking for a perspective transform effect.

[Sum Gai]

See title.  I'm looking for something that will let me grab the corners to skew the image, preferably while still showing the background/full image so I can more readily transform the selection to match up with the layer beneath.  I've already tried quadrilateral correction, TR's distort this, Perspective, and I think a couple others, but they all rely on either using sliders, are too imprecise, do not show the background, or simply do not do what I am looking for.

If I had to describe what I want to do with this, I'd like to take a square image and be able to perspective transform one corner at a time to match it up with a rhombus shaped window pane or TV screen so that the transformed image is now fitting perfectly inside, with the image contents skewed to match the new angle.

So far, everything I's tried hasn't worked, so I figured I'd try asking directly instead of trying to find someone looking for something similar in the archives.

 

Would anyone know of an addon that can let me do this with a high degree of precision, and let me see the full image outside the selection so I can actually line things up?  Otherwise, I'll just have to deal with constantly importing/exporting between paint and gimp whenever I want a perspective transform.

[toe_head2001]

Why didn't 'Distort This' work for you? It's seems to meet your requirements.

[MJW]

You might try Perspective Transformation. It's not exactly what you're asking for, but is similar.

 

If you want to perspective-map an image onto another image, put the image you want to map in the top layer, and the other image in the lower layer. Sometimes it helps to temporarily make the top layer partially transparent.

[Sum Gai]

distort this was a bit too imprecise, and the window it brings up first does not display the rest of the visible image, with no way to display it to more easily line things up, and the image in the opened window does not update along with the adjustments displayed on the main image.  And I've tried Perspective transform, but again, it's not precise enough for what I need.

 

Honestly, a control scheme with actual feedback like from Grip Warp would be perfect if it also could show the full image, and if it had a way to keep the edges straight instead of curving things at the edges.

[toe_head2001]

19 minutes ago, Sum Gai said:

distort this was a bit too imprecise

 

You can enter the exact coordinates. That's extremely precise.

 

20 minutes ago, Sum Gai said:

the window it brings up first does not display the rest of the visible image

 

Plugins can only access the active layer. So, what you're looking for is not available.

[Vagabondi]

3 hours ago, Sum Gai said:

Grip Warp would be perfect if it also could show the full image

 

In fact, you can see the full image working with Grid Warp (and some other warp plugins like Liquify).

 

Copy the background. Then open the layer you want to distort in Grid Warp. Right click on the canvas. Choose 'from clipboard'.

 

 

If there are several layers with parts of the image - just merge them down. Select all and copy. (The full image goes to clipboard.) Undo the merging (History window). Now the layers are separate again.

 

Open the layer you want to adjust in Grid Warp. Right click and choose "from clipboard". You'll see the full background.

[Djisves]

No need to merge all layers before copying. "Copy Merged" (Ctrl+Shift+C) will do the same without the extra steps of merging and un-merging.

Edited May 8, 2020 by Djisves
*"steps" not "stops"

[Vagabondi]

2 hours ago, Djisves said:

"Copy Merged" (Ctrl+Shift+C) will do the same without the extra steps

 

Yes but it copies all layers - including the layer with the object you want to change. Visually it's not very convenient. (You'd want only the background in the plugin window - to see the changes you're making with the object).

 

And merging/unmerging just takes a few seconds. It becomes your second nature as soon as you got the trick. Works fine with Grid Warp, Smudge, Liquify etc.