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brassy look


limey

Well-Known Member
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3
I'm trying to give a metalic object a brassy look but not having much luck. I've tried every filter and colour there is but can't seem to get that shiny look.
Any suggestions as to what I can try
Thanks
 

theKeeper

Guru
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It depends somewhat on what it is you're trying to create limey.

What is it you're trying to make brassy looking?
 
S

Stroker1

Guest
Personally, I break brass into 3 categories:

1) Super shiny. Head boards, foot boards, and some door knobs. Basically like chrome, but with brown, perhaps done with HSB.

2) Anistropic. I used to do a lot of plumbing. A lot of the brass that I worked with was Anistropic. Comes from a bunch of tiny grooves when the brass is manufactured (I believe). I've seen this brass in a few other places as well.

3) Muddy specular/reflection. Smooth brass, but not as highly polished as #1.

Which ever look you are going for, the first thing you'll need is a reflection map of some sort (photo or hand painted, I opt for the former). Then you'll need to distort it some how to conform to the object. Perhaps Displace or Glass. Then it's a matter of touch-ups like HSB, Grad-Map, highlights, and what-not.

The touch-ups will depend on the flavor of brass you are looking for. For example, I find Gauss and Dry Brush pretty good for #3. I've been trying several methods to get anistropic, but nothing great so far. I can get pretty close with a custom brush and Smudge, but this definitely needs refining.

Here are two links that might help you come up with a plan of attack:
Metal and Reflections
Anistropic Reflections
 
G

Guest

Guest
Those are some pretty cool sites Stroker. :perfect:
If you have more like those, that deal with reflections, light, materials, shadows etc, feel free to post them, because I have a hard time finding those.
 
S

Stroker1

Guest
I wish I did, Gauss. If I come across any more, I'll be sure to post. Maybe one of these days I'll snap some of my own pics, but don't hold your breath.

Kids are behaving, so I decided to play for a few minutes.

1) First I borrowed from Mitchell in the other thread. Hope you don't mind.

2) Then I did Ad-Layer Curves to pump up the constrast in the flesh tones, in the seperate RGB channels of course.

3) Grabbed a picture of some brass from http://images.google.com

4) Used the brass reference pic for a Grad-Map over the target picture. I sample only 3 colours. Messed with things to get a decent spread.

5) Smudge tool to give it a clay-ish texture.

6) Clean up. Layer Mask and some Clipping Group action.

That was fun. Time to feed the little ones.
Later, ya'll.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Woow, that's really cool Stroker, I really like it!
I think I'm going to experiment myself :D

Good that you mention http://images.google.com again for those who never noticed it; definitely a great way to find images to experiment with.
 

limey

Well-Known Member
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199
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3
Wow great picture stoker, well I sure got enough to keep me busy for the rest of the year. Got the feeling I'll be coming back again soon.
Keeper the picture is of a Sanctuary door knocker that hangs on the door of Durham Cathedral in England . If you were on the run in the old days and you got hold of that knocker you had the protection of the church and they had to take you in. Got a small replica of it on my front door and my neighbour tries to use it when his wife is on the warpath but I don't let him in.:D
 

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