PHOTOREALISTIC CHROME EFFECT !

[Eric]

iv'e not seen this technique in any of the threads so i hope i'm not duplicating anybody's work....i taught myself this one in psp and it works beautifully in XARA X.
if anybody wants i will gladly do a do a mini-tut
i think this effect works well when doing photorealistic artwork, i.e. car badges

cheers
eric [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

[Ross Macintosh]

Nice samples Yens!

Regards, Ross

<a href=http://www.designstop.com/>DesignStop.Com</a>

[Eric]

Quote jay "it's an endless topic or nightmare"

Yes jay...or is it Jens, you could go on and on about this...so I will!
my 'humble quest' was to try and achieve a realistic chrome badge effect rather than the usual 'perceived' effect. even I succumbed to thAT 'zing-flash' effect [the star-sparkle thing] which is something humans could never see as it is a camera lens-flare effect!
also I would assume that the subject matter of the bitmap reflection is largely irrelevant as the chrome is just 'doing its job' reflecting it's surroundings. jays pics 2&3 are a superb example.
if you actually study a piece of chrome (hello are you still awake?)...you will notice a myriad of scratches, warps, dings and other imperfections [THAT'S WHAT CREATES THE REALISM! would you agree?] which I hope I will be able to reproduce in XARA X....one day...I've been experimenting with distorted, smudged bitmaps to great effect. also the bevels should reflect an entirely different perspective as they are angled away from the main facet. as for using bitmaps et al, well that does'nt bother me at all, nor does pre-preparing said bitmaps in "another drawing app!" BOOOH! HISS! hope you understand all this contradictory baloney because I don't.
anyway thanks for all the positive feedback folks, comon' you chromium crusaders let's see what you can do!
I hope this one runs...

cheers
Eric [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]

[This message was edited by scouse eric on May 21, 2001 at 17:29.]

[gwpriester]

Deb

I bet you created your chrome text zoomed in at a higher magnification and then exported it at normal size.

Try enlarging the text so it looks good at a 100% and post it again. I bet it will look much better.

BTW. I asked Eric (and he agreed) to remove the font he had made avaialble for download in one of the posts in this thread. Unless a font, or piece of clip art is in the public domain, or is free and permission to distribute granted, please don't post same in this conference as Xara could ultimately be sued for copyright infringement. (Not to mention your moderator staff :-)

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

Be It Rarely So Humble...

[bcdeb]

That doesn't look nearly as good as it did in my XaraX program...or even viewing it with my browser preview in NoteTab...something gets lost on the web...

[Earl]

Eric: Nice chrome effect. Since chrome is so dependent on the reflections surrounding it, your bitmap idea works great. That's some of the best hand-drawn vector chrome I've seen.

Gary: "chrome corn kernals" - nice alliteration!

[gwpriester]

1. Apply 2 color Linear Fill to text

2. Apply Rounded Bevel > To Outside. Make Duplicate.

3. Select Bevel only (Ctrl click on bevel) Modify bevel color to dark, warm gray.

4. Select non-modified bevel. Change to Inside bevel, Size 2 points.

5. Convert inside bevel to Editable Shapes (Arrange menu). Ungroup (Arrange). Ctrl click on fill and delete leaving just beveled shape.

6. Place beveled outline over beveled text.

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

Be It Rarely So Humble...

[gwpriester]

Eric

You got me thinking of how to accomplish something that I have been wrestling with for some time, how do create realistic chrome with realistic (non-bitmap) reflections. I think I finally figured it out.

I'll show the example first, let you think about how I did it, and post a mini-mini tutorial after I have my lunch.

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

Be It Rarely So Humble...

[dk_art]

nice chromes .... I would think that the best bitmaps to use would contain sky and clouds and not to much color but with some darker regions. Something with earth colors and placed so you might not know what's being reflected in it. Unless you wanted to show what was reflected in it

David K
www.dkingdesign.com

[Eric]

DUH!
cannot close it...says no rights etc.
help [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif[/img]