Coloring!

Friday, January 30, 2004 by badblueboy | Discussion: WinCustomize Talk

Is there a way to create or import from the web real gold or silver color(foils) for expl. to import them into skins or icons?
I don't mean ordinary yellow or grey. It should be real shiny gold or silver!

badblueboy
DigitalCHET
Reply #1 Friday, January 30, 2004 10:00 AM
There *are* ways of mimicking realistic-looking precious metals in digital graphics (gold, silver, copper, platinum, etc) and it's not really hard once you figure out how it looks in real life.
Just spend some time having a look at jewelry or images of gold (or other metals) items.
Shine is easily duplicated by using highly contrasting colours; for a nice gold image, for instance, you really only need white, a decent goldish yellow and black or darck brown. The rest is done by placing the colours in their propers places to emulate the reflective nature of the metal.

When in doubt, Google it...

Don't know if that helps much.
badblueboy
Reply #2 Saturday, January 31, 2004 11:39 AM
Digital Chet!

Which program (Adobe or others?)would you recommend for that?

badblueboy
dune2996
Reply #3 Saturday, January 31, 2004 12:27 PM
Adobe is good for most but also any of the Macromedia stuff too I like fireworks for it`s speed another cool item of shareware thats a must is:

http:www.irfanview.com

this little baby enables all sorts of file image reading...

Happy skinning:
Stumpy
Reply #4 Saturday, January 31, 2004 2:53 PM
Scan a piece of cooking foil.





Powered by SkinBrowser!
Shameless Designs
Reply #5 Saturday, January 31, 2004 8:41 PM
For a gold effect in Photoshop without using any plugins or filters, try
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Photoshop+gold+tutorial+no+filter

If you use Paint Shop Pro, for a gold effect try http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=PSP+gold+tutorial+no+filter

For a silver effect in Photoshop without using any plugins or filters, try http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Photoshop+silver+tutorial+no+filter&btnG=Google+Search

For silver in PSP, try http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=PSP+silver+tutorial+no+filter&btnG=Google+Search

You can also use plug-ins and filters to make metal effects in Photoshop or PSP. I like Super Blade Pro by Flaming Pear, although it takes a bit of practice and experience before it's really useful, and even then, the results are not always what you might want for certain types of objects. You can read about SBP and download a free trial here http://www.flamingpear.com/blade.html

Hope you find what you're looking for.
dune2996
Reply #6 Saturday, January 31, 2004 8:46 PM
#4 by Sir Stumpy - 1/31/2004 2:53:32 PM
Scan a piece of cooking foil.

Stumpy
Reply #7 Sunday, February 1, 2004 6:41 AM




Powered by SkinBrowser!
grayhaze
Reply #8 Sunday, February 1, 2004 6:59 AM
When I put together my metalX2 WindowBlinds skin, I spent some time looking at images of the metals I needed (found using the image search feature on Google) and then decided which image looked most like the metal I wanted to achieve. I then set about creating gradients by hand, basing the various points in the gradient on the various shades in the image.

The problem with using photographs of a precious metal is that the final result depends on a variety of factors, from lighting to colour reproduction. Many of the images you'll find simply don't look like the metal they represent, or rather how you would perceive that metal to look.

The hardest metals to reproduce are those which don't have a great deal of contrast in shading. Titanium for example just ends up looking like low-contrast grey, with very little to suggest three dimensions.

The most important thing to do is to use references wherever possible though. When you try to create gold from memory, you'll more than likely use a lot of bright yellow and a hint of green. A realistic gold contains neither of these, with the shades ranging from a light peach through a slight purple tinge (yes, purple!) to a dusky orange and finally a deep reddish brown. Likewise, silver isn't just greys, but rather contains hints of blue and bright diffuse highlights. If you just use grey, it'll look grey.

If you need some inspiration, just take a look at metalX2. Just don't steal my hard-earned gradients.
badblueboy
Reply #9 Monday, February 9, 2004 5:50 AM
dune2996!
There is always someone who knows more that the others!

badblueboy
badblueboy
Reply #10 Monday, February 9, 2004 5:52 AM
sir Stumpy!

Keep fighting!


badblueboy

Please login to comment and/or vote for this skin.

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

  • Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums and downloading skins.
  • Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
  • Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
  • It's simple, and FREE!



web-wc01