Chrome

[GreyFC]

Hi Guys,

I'm fixing up a logo for a friend to put on a mug. The original logo I have is a photo of a sticker. I would like to replace the chrome in the sticker with new chrome so you can;t see the reflection of the photorapher.

I can;t work out how to make a flat chunk of "chrome" or "mirror"

I have attached the image for you to see what I mean.

 

[ALB68]

What you need to do is to make separate layers for it first of all. Then you can apply layer styles to the layers on which you need the chrome effect.

What I did here was to make a 6" round chrome filled ellipse then put the logo on top with a layer mask to reveal the chrome underneath. To truly do this correctly, you need to rebuild the whole thing. I have the chrome background if you want it.

 

[MikeMc]

Agreed....looks tough at first, but break it down into layers / masks...easy. The polished metal background is also easy to find in a number of different tints...

 

[MrToM]

Be careful with 'chrome'.
The one thing that makes 'chrome' look like 'chrome' is the very thing you want to replace.....reflections!

Without reflections this will lose all of its 'chrome' qualities and just look very flat and 'non-chrome' like.

Personally I'd leave it as it is.....you can't really tell what the reflection is and without it it just won't be 'chrome'.

Just my 2¢.

Regards.
MrTom.

 

[ALB68]

Be careful with 'chrome'.
The one thing that makes 'chrome' look like 'chrome' is the very thing you want to replace.....reflections!

Without reflections this will lose all of its 'chrome' qualities and just look very flat and 'non-chrome' like.

Personally I'd leave it as it is.....you can't really tell what the reflection is and without it it just won't be 'chrome'.

Just my 2¢.

Regards.
MrTom.

I think it would look more like chrome than now. Advice heeded I'm sure.

 

[Tom Mann]

To follow up on what Mr. Tom said, a perfect mirror of a perfect piece of flat chrome is almost undetectable. To tell it's there you need some hints like L-R reversed text, some distortions, some scattering of bright lights by an imperfect surface, reflectivity that is below 100%, etc. What it comes down to is that you have to decide which of these imperfections you want to have in your chrome (ie, to make it believable), and which imperfections you want to remove. In the case of the image you posted, I do think it could be made to look nicer, more shiny, cleaner, and, as Larry and MikeMc suggested, one very reasonable way to do this it to simply take a nice image of a chrome part and use it to replace what's currently there rather than trying to do it from scratch using only PS native tools.

Just my $0.02,

Tom

 

[hawkeye]

Using 3D with an image based light is good way to get a chrome effect.

 

[ALB68]

Using 3D with an image based light is good way to get a chrome effect.

This logo is going to be printed for a coffee mug. Will the nice shiny chrome hold up to the printing process.? Will the colors in the shiny chrome be able to reproduced in a cmyk color space by a desktop printer? I know I have tried printing some of the different layer styles I have and they just don't print out well and look quite different on paper from what they do in the RGB space on a monitor.

 

[hawkeye]

Short answer, I don't know. I suppose how it would print would depend on the image used for the image based light. I just picked something at random to show the reflection. The only way to know for certain of course is to try printing it. For 3D you need to start in RGB and then convert to CMYK later.

 

[ALB68]

Short answer, I don't know. I suppose how it would print would depend on the image used for the image based light. I just picked something at random to show the reflection. The only way to know for certain of course is to try printing it. For 3D you need to start in RGB and then convert to CMYK later.

Yes I understand. What I am saying is that the printer will convert RGB to CMYK anyway. I looked at the image you posted and most of the colors are in gamut in the cmyk space but like you say, no way to really know until printed. Thanks

 

[Tom Mann]

ALB68 - Good question, Larry! If the brightest highlights of the simulated chrome are too close to pure white, there's going to be problems.

@GrayFC - I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but this image is so simple, and the quality of the image that you want to start with is so poor, that I *really* think you would be better starting from scratch either in AI (preferred), or in PS. Specifically, there is too much noise in that image, it's too low resolution, it's out of focus, the lighting is not uniform and has color casts, the object you are photographing is not in the best of condition, etc. etc.

For example, using the image you supplied, the best I could do in a reasonable length of time for a freebie demo like this, is below, and, IMHO, it's still awful.

Tom M

 

[Tom Mann]

@OP - If you do nothing else, since the sticker appears to be flat, just scan it instead of trying to photograph it. Set the scan quality setting to at least 600 ppi, and any half-way decent scanner will produce a better starting image than what you currently are trying to use. If you don't have a scanner, practically every office supply store that does printing, xeroxing, etc. will have a scanner.

Tom M

PPS - Just for fun, I tried to subliminally suggest some areas of circular machining marks in the chrome, much like one would see on recently machined rotors for disk brakes. I thought this might go along with the area of expertise of the company. Obviously, if I was doing this for real, and customer liked it, the effect would be more prominent.

 

[GreyFC]

Hi Guys,

Sorry family drama hed me up. Thank you for all the replies, as I am new to PS I will ask some silly questions. Every tutorial I found with "Chrome" used the chrome on a bend. I guess in my mind I was thinking it would be on a mirror but that wont really make scence as chrome or mirror is a reflection. I think you are correct the origial phot is the best I can get.

I actually can't scan the image as this is a super rare sticker on a race car from a friend. We don't know of another one and we are not taking it off his race car to scan.

I belive the original "mirror/chrome" section is the lazer reflection type appearance. ( sorry I am not sure how to describe it ).

I will try and print the original image on a mug and see how it turns out. When it arrives I will share a photo. If it's really poor I might ask for some further help / suggestions.

I appreaciate all the input and help..Thank you.

 

[GreyFC]

Infact I quite like this version. It's changes the whole look.

 

[ALB68]

Infact I quite like this version. It's changes the whole look.

I am wondering if the outer ring on this is supposed to be chrome? The logo is imho is representative of a tire with a chrome hubcap. You could also just select the inside ring and apply a curves adjustment to it and bring the color out as it was intended to be chrome anyway. Here is a version of that idea.

 

[Tom Mann]

Your comment about how the sticker can't be removed from the car helps me understand the situation you are facing. However, that being said, if I were in your shoes, I would still either (a) get an experienced, knowledgeable photographer to take a better picture of the sticker, in place, on the car, and work from that; or, (b) re-draw it from scratch using either Illustrator or the vector capabilities in PS. The final result will be much better, e.g., lettering that doesn't look lumpy and bumpy, LOL. It really wouldn't be very hard to do, at all, but we are trying to stick with your original request to work from that photo.

Infact I quite like this version. It's changes the whole look.

I can't tell if your comment refers to the version I most posted immediately before your last two posts, or one of the other versions in the thread, but in case you meant mine, here's a higher resolution, non-animated version of mine. Don't forget to click the in-line preview to get to the larger resolution version.

Cheers,

Tom M

 

[Camilla]

I'm no pro, but if the entire print on mug is most certainly printed with metallic colours only, I'd colour the whole image in Photoshop in their respective "flat" colours and let the natural dynamic of the logo on a shapely mug do the reflective work for itself! (Alternatively keeping the original colours that are not representing the chromed areas).

It also means cut n pasting the font, circles, flag etc (assuming that they want to keep that specific font type) and re-doing the layers as ALB68 stated.

The printer converts colours into their respective metallic finish(es) and does a sample mug for your approval before printing a mass of them for you.

 

[Tom Mann]

Good advice, Camilla! That could really work to the OP's advantage.

Tom M

 

[GreyFC]

Your comment about how the sticker can't be removed from the car helps me understand the situation you are facing. However, that being said, if I were in your shoes, I would still either (a) get an experienced, knowledgeable photographer to take a better picture of the sticker, in place, on the car, and work from that; or, (b) re-draw it from scratch using either Illustrator or the vector capabilities in PS. The final result will be much better, e.g., lettering that doesn't look lumpy and bumpy, LOL. It really wouldn't be very hard to do, at all, but we are trying to stick with your original request to work from that photo.

I can't tell if your comment refers to the version I most posted immediately before your last two posts, or one of the other versions in the thread, but in case you meant mine, here's a higher resolution, non-animated version of mine. Don't forget to click the in-line preview to get to the larger resolution version.

Cheers,

Tom M

It's a photo a mate provided me from a car show, my mates mate is the guy "Geoff Smedely" and my mnate asked if I coudl make a make for his mate. So as it stands this is the best picture I can possibly get. The octs is not huge ( $15 ) for a mug I may try one mug with each design and see how they turn out. At any cost they will love it and personalyl I quite like the modified version and will order one for myself as it's really cool.

 

[GreyFC]

I'm no pro, but if the entire print on mug is most certainly printed with metallic colours only, I'd colour the whole image in Photoshop in their respective "flat" colours and let the natural dynamic of the logo on a shapely mug do the reflective work for itself! (Alternatively keeping the original colours that are not representing the chromed areas).

It also means cut n pasting the font, circles, flag etc (assuming that they want to keep that specific font type) and re-doing the layers as ALB68 stated.

The printer converts colours into their respective metallic finish(es) and does a sample mug for your approval before printing a mass of them for you.

This is great advice, even in the 2 weeks I have been messing with Photoshop I come coem along way and may be able to attempt that now. I did try something like this but it was complete garbage due to my ( lack ) of skill.