This effect was generated in Filter Forge, a Photoshop plugin that allows you to create your own filters.
This is a filter which allows you to "carve" an outside image into smooth, marble-like stone. If instead you want plain, flat stone, check "Abstract," set "Abstract Detail" to 0 and "Abstract Amount" and "Abstract Smoothing" to 100.
This is an upgrade of one of my early filters. I've streamlined the composition some and created more variations in the carving – most noticeably, you can now create a very abstract carving with hard edges. I've deleted "Colour Remap" and "Complex Veining," because I thought they were just taking up space. I also got rid of "Pattern Tweak," because you can do the same thing using the "Variations" slider at the bottom of the controls palette.
Controls of Note:
Abstract: If you DON'T check Abstract," you will get a photo-realistic carving. The "realistic" controls affect the texture only if "Abstract" is NOT checked, and the "abstract" ones only work if it IS checked.
Have fun!
marble stone carving carve emboss noise scarykitty