| PaintShop Photo Pro X3 for Photographers Technique: Creating Realistic Depth Effects Using Displacement Maps The displacement map effect was introduced in PaintShop Pro 9. Dis- placement maps have been a feature of that other professional image- editing application (OK, Photoshop!) for some time, but even professionals are often at a loss to know what to do with this effect. This is a shame, because you can use displacement maps to create amazingly realistic 3D overlay effects. Let's say, for example, you want to overlay some type on a heavily textured background ­ a brick wall or a rocky cliff face ­ but you want it to look like it's been painted on, following the contours of the surface below, rather than floating on top the way a normal Text layer would. Displacement maps allow you to do just that. STEP 1 Open the base image (the rock face, or your own textured backdrop) in PaintShop Photo Pro and resave it as a copy (File > Save Copy As) into the folder containing PaintShop Pro's displacement maps. If you did a standard installation on your C drive for PaintShop Photo Pro X3 you'll find this at C: