Finishing Touches, a sneak peek

[Stroker]

Been working when I can into the wee hours of the night to get the tutorials I promised done.

One page in particular is done that I thought some of you folks may be interested in:

Finishing Touches

Still in a rough draft, so pardon mistakes.

[namvet]

Stroker I had a quick look at finishing touches ... have bookmarked it for a long, slow read later ... I find your work (and style) amasing ... however when I saw the images I exclaimed "Aha .... so that's how Wendy (wbiss) has been getting those round objects soooo shiney"

[ljiljana]

Hi,Stroker

Thank you so much! I was waiting for this one from the first time a read your post about desplacment maps.
BTW I still can not make correct d-map for the grid effect.!
;)

Thanks for sharing this with us Stroker.

I don't have a lot of time to read it (yet), but I've bookmarked it.

It's guys like you who make the internet such a great source of information for us Photoshoppers.

Way to go bud!

[Stroker]

Turning into follow Stroker's progress.

Advanced: Theory II
Next page mostly done.
Written really quick like.
Major time crunch right now.
Gotta go.

[ljiljana]

Stroker

Following your tutorial how to make a d-map for a heart image,somehow I can not get to that glassy and shiny effect. There is something I am not doing right so I need help.
Here is how my d-map looks:

and layers and chanels are :



And when I apply d-map image is like this:
:{

Stylize>emboss I use those settings: Angle 9, Height 7, Amount 100

Should I spherize the image and than apply d-map filter ?
So,help pls, I want this heart to be shiny and glassy.!!

[wbiss]

Oooh! Stroker! :}

I've bm'd your tutorial and can't wait to get at it!!!!

ljiljana, I can't help you as I haven't "been there yet", but as Stroker, himself, would say "hold onto your panties"... he'll be back to 'sort you out'! ;)

[Stroker]

Sorry I took so long getting back to this.

All of the rough drafts are done. Still have a few loose ends to tie up. There is even a surprise at the end.

Reflection Maps.

Jana? Is calling you Jana okay?
I'll take a closer look and try to help you out when I get some more time. So, yeah, hold on to yer panties.
Right now, the kids are tearing up the living room. Time to beat some posteriors!

[Stroker]

Looks like you've got some funky motion going on.
Try this:
In your D-Map, go to "Layer 0" and Invert (ctrl + i).
Also, try adding another Curves Ad-Layer that I call "Mask Fix". Find out more about this on Tweakables.

I'm not saying that the funky motion is bad. You might like it. Personally, I'm rather anal about these things.

Your lighting problem. What are you running Emboss on? Looks to me like you are using Emboss on the D-Map and not the height map. In your Alpha palette, I believe you want "height2". If you are running Emboss on "height2" with those settings, then I'm not sure what the problem is. I don't know. Maybe try some different blending modes?

[ljiljana]

Hi Stroker

Jana, heh nice shortcut. My nick name is Lily.
Thank you so much for clearing that up for me. When I invert the base and run the emboss on hight2 , everthing comes in to place.
I absolutely love the effects with D-maps,and I would like to advance as much as possible.