Metal and Chrome Effects: Continued - Page 3

THE MAKE ANYTHING CHROME TRICK If there is anything that you want to turn into chrome, there's just one trick you have to know (besides the curve shown at the left): You ve got to bevel the object first. The chrome won't work on a non-beveled object. That s why we use the Lighting Effects filter on a blurred channel it creates a beveled effect. The rest is simple enough just draw a hill in the curves window. So the next time you want to turn something into chrome, think first about how to bevel or emboss it, then think chrome. Tip: The Bevel and Emboss Inner Bevel Layer Effects will usually do the trick, but right after you apply it, you have to create a new blank layer, drag it below your beveled and embossed layer, click on your beveled layer, and choose Merge Down from the Layers palette s pop-down menu. If not, the chrome curve interacts with the live bevel effect and it looks . . . well, bad. Tip # 2: Alien Skin s Inner Bevel plug-in from their EyeCandy collection also works like a charm.

STEP FIVE: Press Shift-Command-J (PC: Shift-Control-J) to put this entire image on its own layer. Go under the Image menu, under Adjust, and choose Curves. Create a curve that looks like the one above by clicking on the lower left-hand side of the curve and dragging upward. Release the mouse button, then click on the right-hand side and drag downward. As you drag the second point downward, you ll see the chrome effect start to appear. When your curves look somewhat similar to the one shown above, click OK.

TRY DIFFERENT CURVE SETTINGS FOR DIFFERENT METALLIC EFFECTS The curve setting shown in Step Five will do a good job of producing metal, but this is one area where you can really experiment and have some fun. The curve shown in this example has just one hill, then it heads back up. For a more dynamic effect, try a curve with two or three hills. The more hills, the wilder it gets. If your curve starts introducing all sorts of weird colors, don t sweat it. When you re done with your curve, press Shift-Command-U (PC: Shift-Control-U) to take all the color out of your image, leaving just the shiny metal. The point is: There are no right curves; just move the points until something looks good to you.

STEP SIX: Go under the Select menu and choose Load Selection. When the dialog box appears, make sure Alpha 1 is chosen under the Channel pop-up menu, then click OK. This reloads a selection around your type, but you ll notice it s too small to encompass the entire beveled type.

STEP SEVEN: Go under the Select menu, under Modify, and choose Expand. This is the only slightly tricky part: you ve got to guess how many pixels we need to expand so that it selects all of the text. In this case we chose 3 pixels (if 3 isn t correct, choose Undo and try a higher or lower number). When the text is selected, press Shift-Command-I (PC: Shift-Control-I) to inverse and press Delete (PC: Backspace) to remove the background.

STEP EIGHT: Press Command-D (PC: Control-D) to deselect. Add a soft drop shadow by choosing Drop Shadow from the Layer Style pop-up menu at the bottom of the Layers palette (it s the one with the little icon). That completes the metallic effect, but you can continue on to Steps Nine and Ten on the next page if you want to add a brushed metal background behind your type.

Heavy Metal: Metal and Chrome Effects - Page 2
Photoshop 6 Down and Dirty Tricks
Metal and Chrome Effects: Continued ... Still - Page 4