How do I create a pond ripple effect?

Question

Hey guys, I'm designing a wrap for a hummer. My client wants it to look like the hummer has a force field and show a few bullets hitting the truck and causing a ripple. I googled this and found out that the "zig zag" filter under "distort" does this. Only problem is, this option is greyed out on my comp. It could be that my project file is half a gigabite (required for the size of printing on the truck). Could someone please help me figure out how to use this option or even suggest another program I can use to do this? I can't think of any other way.
This is the design I want the effect on
This is the effect I want.

Answer 1

Hi again.
Let's start at the beginning. Perspective. Shock waves propogate in concentric circles from the point of impact. Viewed at a 90 degree angle to the plane being struck, the shock waves will appear exactly as that, concentric circles, not ellipses. The side of the Hummer is vertical, so the viewing angle of a typical observer will be about 90 degrees. Creating concentic ellipses will make it appear as though the shockwaves are out of plane with the side of the Hummer.
My first post was a demonstration of principle. How to create the basic skeleton. What happens next depends on what you think the shock wave should look like. I wouldn't think it would look exactly like a high energy impact on a force field. A drop falling into a pond is not exactly high energy. They will both have concentric rings, but the distribution and profile of the waves would be different, I would expect. A physicist could properly inform us.
Anyway, I repeated a slight variation on the process on a 732mb file. As you note, the Zig Zag filter was not available. I didn't spend time perfecting the wave frequency and such.
1. Make a circular selection where you want the shockwave. (Make it elliptical if you're still not convinced about that.)
2. Copy the selection to a new layer. Ctrl+J is the easiest way.
3. Ctrl+Click on the layer thumb to create a transparency selection.
4. Convert the selection into a Layer Mask. Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal Selection.
5. Select the Mask thumb. Ctrl+Click on the Mask thumb. You should get a circular selection.
6. Apply the gradient (radial) to the selection from the center. (You're painting the gradient onto the layer mask.) It will look like nothing happened.
7. Apply Bevel/Emboss to taste. Now you will be able to see the rings. I used the Ring-Double gloss contour to tart it up.
8. The Ripple effect is available at this file size. I applied it to to taste.
The number and spacing of the rings is determined by the number and spacing of the alternating 0 and 100 percent transparency pairs on the gradient applied to the mask. It's endlessly adjustable. If you want, you could double down with another layer, as in the tutuorial. The actual appearance of the rings can be modified for days just in the effects pallet. When you add Ripple or other effects to the rings, I would think you could get just about anything you want. Without too much trouble. It all depends on what you think a projectile striking a force field should look like. You can paint on the layer mask to lighten or darken portions.
But I just had another thought. With the Marqee Tool set to rectangular, select a work area surrounding where you want the shock wave. Copy it to a new layer. Create a new document and paste the new layer into it. Then you should be able to use the Zig Zag effect as in the tutorial. Then paste or drag the layers back into the original document and align to the original work layer. Delete both work layers. I just tried it and it worked for me in my 732mb file. But using the Zig Zag pond ripple seems to offer less flexiblity than the layer mask method. If assigned this task I would use a mask.
FWIW.
Lee