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Nickperks
Nickperks
Known Participant
July 14, 2021
Answered

How can I make an object appear to be made of stainless steel?

  • July 14, 2021
  • 1 reply
  • 2938 views

Good morning.  I have an image where the object is made of steel (I think) see image:

But I want it to appear to be made from stainless steel like in the following item:

Anybody got any bright ideas on how I can achieve this?

Regards

 Nick

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Trevor.Dennis

OK lets try some texture.

Make a new layer and fill with 50% grey

Add a lot of noise making sure Monochrome is checked because we don't want any colour creeping in

 

Now add motion blur.  You'll need to use your judgement here but 100 at 0° worked for me

Make the texture layer a Smart Object.  This is crucial.

Apply some sharpening and use curves to brighten it.  That means curves directly to the SO layer and not an adustment layer

 

Because it is a SO you can adjust those settings as many times as you like to fine tune

 

Make a new workpath that outlines the top plate.  Be sure to drag the first path to the New path icon to save it first.

 

Make a new layer at the top of the stack and call it Template (Top)

Ctrl click the path you just made to load it as a selection and fill the template layer with any colour you like (other than white because you would not be able to saee that.

 

I told you a lie because the texture layer needs to be above the template layer

 

Select the texture SO Layer and use Free Transform (Ctrl T) and hold down the Ctrl key while dragging the corner so it more or less covers the template layer

 

Now you need to clip the texture layer to the template layer which will make the texture exactly match the template's shape (there is an easy way to do this, but this is easier to describe)

 

 

From this point you can use Free Transform again to make the motion blur match the shape better, and fine tune the sharpening and curves by double clicking them.

 

 

 

1 reply

Trevor.Dennis
Community Expert
Trevor.DennisCommunity Expert
Community Expert
July 14, 2021

Highlights.  Shiney things reflect light. Very shiney things (Chrome) act like mirrors and you see reflects of what surrounds them.

 

The chain is half way there, so exaggerate that with a reasonably aggresive curves layer

 

It's better to be accurate with the highlights, so rather than paint them in by hand, use stroked paths.

I've made paths that follow the edges, which are likely to be brighter as they are more square on from our point of view.

 

Now I'll select a fully hard brush and guess at its size — about 3 pixels, but well stroke it again if it is too narrow.

 

I ended up using 6 pixels, and I did it in two stages.  First in full white, but in some areas that was lost against the white background, so I stroked it again with a light grey, and masked out where I wanted the full white to show with a layer mask.

See if this helps, and we'll look at some texture if you want to go that way.

 

    Trevor.Dennis
    Community Expert
    Trevor.DennisCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    July 14, 2021

    OK lets try some texture.

    Make a new layer and fill with 50% grey

    Add a lot of noise making sure Monochrome is checked because we don't want any colour creeping in

     

    Now add motion blur.  You'll need to use your judgement here but 100 at 0° worked for me

    Make the texture layer a Smart Object.  This is crucial.

    Apply some sharpening and use curves to brighten it.  That means curves directly to the SO layer and not an adustment layer

     

    Because it is a SO you can adjust those settings as many times as you like to fine tune

     

    Make a new workpath that outlines the top plate.  Be sure to drag the first path to the New path icon to save it first.

     

    Make a new layer at the top of the stack and call it Template (Top)

    Ctrl click the path you just made to load it as a selection and fill the template layer with any colour you like (other than white because you would not be able to saee that.

     

    I told you a lie because the texture layer needs to be above the template layer

     

    Select the texture SO Layer and use Free Transform (Ctrl T) and hold down the Ctrl key while dragging the corner so it more or less covers the template layer

     

    Now you need to clip the texture layer to the template layer which will make the texture exactly match the template's shape (there is an easy way to do this, but this is easier to describe)

     

     

    From this point you can use Free Transform again to make the motion blur match the shape better, and fine tune the sharpening and curves by double clicking them.

     

     

     

      jane-e
      Community Expert
      jane-eCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      July 14, 2021

      Very nice, @Trevor.Dennis !

       

      ~ Jane

       

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