All graphics on this site are copyright � 1998 by Dr. Jo Ann/Visual Sonnets.

Please, see the Terms of Usage on the Sets page for use of graphics.

opals-linkback.jpg (3766 bytes)

Reflective Metal Tutorial

 

op-tl-2.jpg (12447 bytes)

 
To complete this tutorial, you will need Paint Shop Pro.  A trial copy can be obtained from the Jasc site.
Step 1

op-bt-2.jpg (978 bytes)

 Open a graphic of the desired size.  (I used 300 x 100 pixels.)  Flood fill it with the desired texture.  I used an "opal" texture.  See Note 1.
Step 2 Apply some text with "Floating" unchecked and anti-alias checked.
Step 3

op-bt-2.jpg (978 bytes)

 Apply the cutout filter with the following settings:
  • Fill interior with white
  • Shadow black
  • Opacity - about 60
  • Blur - about 18
  • Displacement - 3 & 3

See Note 2

 rm-a.jpg (4822 bytes)
Step 4 Expand the selection by 3 pixels and then Gaussian blur with a radius of 2.00.
Step 5

op-bt-2.jpg (978 bytes)

 With the foreground color white, apply a hot wax coating.  (An interesting effect is achieved with the foreground color black, but that is another tutorial.) rm-b.jpg (4703 bytes)
Step 6 Now contract the selection by 3 pixels and colorize with a hue of 30 and saturation 100.  This looks pretty nice in and of itself, so you can stop here, if you choose. rm-c.jpg (4980 bytes)
Step 7

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 Add a layer and chose the blend mode to be overlay.  Flood fill this layer using blend mode "normal" with the original texture.  Now it appears that the background is reflecting up on the metal. The results are the graphic at the top of the page.  (OK, so that has a little frame around it.)
Note 1 The texture I used was fairly dark.  I'm not sure things will work the same way with a lighter texture.  Also, the method I used to produce the texture is a bit different from the Opals 101 tutorial.  This time I added uniform noise to a black background twice, but then I Gaussian blurred and dilated the noise before adjusting the HSL.
Note 2

op-bt-2.jpg (978 bytes)

 You can adjust the parameters of the cutout filter to get different effects.  That is what I like about this technique.   Play around with it to see what I mean.
This effect was inspired by the "3D Embossing Effect" at the State-of-Entropy website.   I was playing around with that using my opals texture and then kinda turned it "inside out" for the above technique.  I used the original technique to make the above buttons.  Thanks for the inspiration.  Your Blade Pro "jewels" also inspired my "filigree" work with the opals.
op-bt-2.jpg (978 bytes)Any comments are appreciated.  Contact me via e-mail.
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This page was last modified on 08/28/98 05:05 PM CDT