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 Post subject: Metal Wurx - Part VII
PostPosted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 6:02 pm  (#1) 
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Swirled Brushed Metal


Lighting effects can greatly enhance any metal image if applied properly. Too much and it just looks cheesy, but just the right amount can make an ordinary image look photo-realistic. What we will attempt in this segment is that swirled, brushed metal finish similar to what you sometimes see metal tables made with. Here’s a photo of our metal.

Image

The only thing required for this tutorial is Rod’s “Steel_Pencil_RD” gradient which is included in the zip file attached in the Metal Wurx – Part I tutorial. Download and open the zip file to install the gradient into your Gimp “user” folder. If you already have Gimp open when you install it, just go to your Blend tool options and refresh your gradients. If you install it first and then open Gimp, it will already be available to use. Hang in there as this one is also a bit long but it really is a lot simpler to do than it is to explain so here goes.

Step 1.
Open a new image, 200x200 at about 1200 ppi so we have some decent resolution. Right click on your background layer in the layers dialog and select Add Alpha Channel.

Step2.
Set your Foreground color to a medium gray (808080) and drag the color over to your image (or use the Bucket Fill tool) to fill it with the gray color. Now adjust your view setting to 300%.

*TIP: For those beginners who don’t already know, you can change your view setting by going to View>Zoom>2:1 (200%) and then go back again to View>Zoom>Zoom In to get to 300%. Once you set any oddball view setting like this one, not normally appearing in the View>Zoom list, you can more easily change it back and forth again by using the little box at the bottom of your image window instead, which includes the standard ones up to 800%, plus it records all view settings you have been using during this session.

Image

Step 3.
Go to Filters>Noise>RGB Noise and enter the values in the screenshot below. Be sure to uncheck the box where it says Independent Noise and check the box for Correlated Noise.

Image

Your image should be saturated with a lot of dots in various shades of gray like this.

Image

Step 4.
Go to Filters>Blur>Motion Blur and set the blur type to Radial and since our image is 200x200, set the x & y coordinates to 100. We want to reduce the center distortion as much as possible but still maintain as much definition in the striations as we can so we will use 30 as the angle. If you change the values to 20 or 40 and watch the window in the Motion Blur dialog box you will see what I mean.

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When you have entered the Motion Blur settings to your liking, click OK and wait a little bit for the filter to complete the operation.

Image

Step 5.
Go to Filters>Enhance>Unsharp Mask and enter the settings shown below and Hit OK.

Image

This will bring out the contrasting light and dark areas and help the lines to show up a little more.

Image

Step 6.
So far we haven’t done anything much different than what I have already shown you in Metal Wurx – Part 1 covering different ways to make brushed metal textures. Here’s where we look at more ways to enhance the appearance of your metal finishes.

Go to Filters>Light and Shadow>Lighting Effects. This filter is extremely powerful and can be very confusing for the novice. Once you have used this filter a dozen times or so you will be able to do some really amazing things with it. There are several settings requires and you will find these located on the five tabs at the top of the filter dialog box but we will only use four of them for this step.

First, let’s use the Options tab to set the distance to .85. When you hover your mouse over the setting area a little pop-up will appear explaining that this is the distance of the observer from the surface you are working on. (I have already made all my settings so the little image in your dialog window will look a little different than the one shown here.)

Image

Second, select the Light tab at the top to put some light on the subject. (sorry for the pun, I couldn’t help myself). Click on the Light Settings drop down arrow and you will see that you can set up and apply up to 6 different lights. We only need two so let’s start with light #1. Set the Type to Directional, and under the Direction, set X to -1.5 and Y to zero.
Make sure the intensity is set to 1. Don’t click OK until we finish working on all the tabs in this filter.

Image

Now go back to the Light settings and select Light #2 and set the parameters as shown below.

Image

Now we move to the Material tab. You could just use the shortcut method and check the box toward the bottom that says Metallic, but for more control we have individual settings we can use to customize the look we want. You may want to try the Metallic setting just to see what it looks like, then use the Edit>Undo function to go back.

When you are done experimenting, enter the values shown in the screenshot below.

Image

Click on the Bump Map tab and check the box to Enable Bump Map. Since we have only one layer to work with, our background layer is already selected to be used for the bump map. Normally you would select the layer you want to use for the Bump Map. Set the Curve to Logarithmic and the Maximum height to .10 as shown.

Image

Review all the screenshots above and verify the settings you have made on all the tabs, then, when you are satisfied, click OK to apply the filter.

If you want more light, use the undo function to go back and change the settings, but remember to increase the Intensity in the Light tab for both lights equally. All your settings will be retained in the filter until you close Gimp, so you won’t have to set everything up again. Just change what you need and the rest of your tab settings will still be there. By now you should have a basic understanding of how to use this filter so feel free to make any adjustments you want.

This is what your image should look like if you used my settings shown above.

Image

Step 7.
Now that we have our lighting effects, we will use one more technique (this step is optional) for adding lighting effects. This was also covered in Metal Wurx – Part I. Create a new transparent layer above your swirled metal background layer and name it Gradient. Select the Blend tool and set the gradient to the Steel_Pencil_RD gradient you downloaded and installed for this tutorial. In the Blend tool options dialog, set the Shape to Conical. We need to use the exact center of our image so place a guide at 100 pixels exactly both vertically and horizontally.

Image

Once the guides are in place, place your mouse cursor over the exact intersecton of the two guides and use the Blend tool to “drag” from the center to any corner of your image to apply the gradient. Set the layer mode of the Gradient layer to Overlay so that we get just a subtle change in our image from the gradient. Go to Layer>Merge Down or just right click on the Gradient layer and select Merge Down.

Step 8.
Select the Ellipse tool and in the tool options dialog, check the boxes for Expand from center and Fixed (Aspect ratio). Place your mouse cursor in the center of your image again where the two guides intersect, and drag out to make a selection the size of your image at 200 pixels. Look at the two boxes at the bottom of the tool dialog to make sure it is says 200 in both boxes.

Image

Once you have your selection correctly sized and positioned, go to Select>Invert, then hit the delete key to cut away or remove the areas outside of our selection. Next, go to Select>None to turn off the selection. Now you can go to Image>Guides>Remove all Guides.

We now have a completed pattern that we will use to make our swirled brushed metal texture. Save this image to your desktop using a .png format so it keeps the transparent background.

Step 9.
Open a new image, let’s use 1000x1000 and set the resolution to 300 ppi. Create a new transparent layer above your background layer and name it Grid.

Step 10.
Go to Filters>Render>Pattern>Grid and enter the settings below then click OK to render a grid we will use for the placement of your swirled brushed metal pattern we created above.

Image

Once the grid is rendered, select the background layer and create a new transparent layer above it named Pattern.

Step 11.
Go to File>Open as Layers and navigate to your swirled brushed metal image you saved just a few minutes ago and select it and click Open to open it. You should see it appear at the top of your layer stack in your Layers dialog. Move it down just below the Grid layer so the grid always appears on top of our images. Your layers should now look like this.

Image


Step 12.
Duplicate the Metal swirl image layer, then Select the Move tool and tick the circle in front of Move the Active Layer in the tool dialog. Select the metal swirl image layer copy to make sure it is the active layer, and move it to a position in the upper left hand corner until the little crosshairs in the middle of the image layer aligns with the exact corner of the grid layer, and the edges of the image layer align with the first grid section like the screenshot below. After you get it in position, increase your view setting to 200% to verify the position is exactly correct.

If you look closely at the second image below, the placement is actually 1 pixel above and to the left of the grid. It is very important to make sure any duplicates we make from this point forward are aligned exactly the same way so they will be arranged properly.

Corner Placement
Image

Grid Alignment
Image

Once you have the image layer in exactly the right place, Go to Layer>Duplicate Layer or just right click on it in the layer stack and select Duplicate Layer, whichever you choose. Use the Move tool again to move the duplicate image layer to the right until it aligns with the next grid section and the edges of the image layers are just touching and only the bottom half of the duplicated image layer is visible as shown below.

Image

Continue to duplicate each image in turn and move into place to the right until you have filled the entire row at the top.

Image

We have quite a few layers so let’s make this easier to manage.

Step 13.
Tick the eye in front of the Grid, Pattern, Background, and the original Metal Swirl image layers to turn off the visibility of those layers. You should only see the top row of metal swirls we made. Right click anywhere in the layers dialog and select Merge Visible Layers. When the dialog pops up the default is “Expanded as necessary”, which is what we want, so click Merge and the top row of images will now become one merged layer. Since the Pattern layer was the one on the bottom in the layer stack when merged, it will still be named Pattern layer. Rename it now to Top Row and duplicate the layer. Rename the duplicated layer to “2nd Row”. Your layers should now look like this.

Image

Step 14.
Tick the eye in front of the Grid layer to make it visible again. Select the Move tool and move the 2nd Row layer down until the lop left corner of this layer is exactly positioned and aligned with your image like so.

Image

You may want to toggle back and forth between 400% view and 100% to be able to position layers correctly. Here’s what we have so far.

Image

Step 15.
Duplicate the Second Row layer and name the duplicate 3rd Row. Move the 3rd Row layer down until the top is 1 pixel above the 2nd grid line and the lined up like this.

Image

Now right click on the Third Row layer in the layers dialog, and select Merge down. Now the “Second Row” is actually the second and third rows combined. Duplicate this layer and Use the arrow buttons on your keyboard to move the duplicate layer straight down until it is positioned just like we did before only in a lower area of our grid.

Step 16.
Repeat the process of duplicating the layer and moving it down to make the next two rows until the entire grid is filled. Reduce your view to about 50% and you will be able to see the entire image again. If you have all the spaces filled then delete the Grid layer and the Background layer. You don’t need the original metal swirl layer either. I just wanted you to keep it just in case you needed to fix anything. Right click in the layers dialog one more time and select Merge Visible Layers and save your image. If you want to use this as a pattern (.pat), first go to Image Scale image and enter 256 pixels in both boxes and click OK.

Our Swirled Metal is finished! I’m biased of course, but I think our image is even better looking than the photo of the real deal at the beginning of this tutorial.

Go to Colors>Curves to make it brighter or darker. In the second pic below, I used Colors>Brightness and Contrast to adjust the Brightness to about -75, and the Contrast to about 50 and then added a Full spectrum gradient layer set to Overlay.

Image

In the one on the right, I used Colors>Colorize with a Hue setting of 240.

Don’t forget that you can also use Filters>Map>Map Object or Filters>G’MIC>Rendering>3D Image Object, to make spheres, cylinders or cubes and other shapes out of your metal. There are as many options as you can think of.

We will continue this series with Metal Wurx – Part 8 which will show you how to make a 3D hex bolt head. We’ll follow that up with Metal Wurx - Part 9 and show you how to make 3D rivets and screws.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.

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 Post subject: Re: Metal Wurx - Part VII
PostPosted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 6:30 pm  (#2) 
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I have found this image that I liked, and I immediately came to mind the excellent Draconian tutorials:
Image

I have to get to practice hard to achieve something like that. Maybe I try something with "Tux", not an apple ... :pengy

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Last edited by YAFU on Fri Apr 13, 2012 6:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: Metal Wurx - Part VII
PostPosted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 6:38 pm  (#3) 
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Your tutorials are fantastic. Hope you don't mind me collecting them.


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 Post subject: Re: Metal Wurx - Part VII
PostPosted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 11:43 pm  (#4) 
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Ok, I put ​​Tux there. I think not bad for being my first attempt :mrgreen: But not distinguished at all that this is Tux :pengy .
I have used similar Draconian technique but using G'MIC. 3d extrusion also with G'MIC. G'MIC is really fantastic
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 Post subject: Re: Metal Wurx - Part VII
PostPosted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 7:50 am  (#5) 
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Thanks for all the kind words everyone.

Yafu - looks pretty darn good to me, especially for a first attempt!

Critique -
1. If the 3D extrusion portion were on a separate layer with a lower opacity, the perferated metal surface would appear to be a reflection on the edge like in the original.

2. There are some very bright highlights on some portions of the edges in the original image that casts a reflected shadow effect to the left. This same effect is seen with glass orbs.

3. The original image appears to be "shinier" which might be duplicated by simply adjusting the contrast on your image.

Hope this helps...all meant to be positive. Like I said, looks great to me.

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 Post subject: Re: Metal Wurx - Part VII
PostPosted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 7:53 am  (#6) 
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Very nice Yafu.

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 Post subject: Re: Metal Wurx - Part VII
PostPosted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 7:58 am  (#7) 
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Erisian wrote:
Your tutorials are fantastic. Hope you don't mind me collecting them.


When all 16 tutorials are finished they will be compiled into an e-book in PDF format for all to enjoy. Most of the meat of these tutorials was gleaned from the folks on this forum and some on the internet.

My main intent was to organize it all into one place to save someone else a years worth of searching and end up with a sort of Best of the Best so to speak. Glad you like them. Can't compare to some of your fractal stuff though.

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 Post subject: Re: Metal Wurx - Part VII
PostPosted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 9:02 am  (#8) 
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Thank you. I know next to nothing about fractals, the only skill involved in my work is in the colouring lighting and composition. The fractal generation itself is very hit and miss although I have picked up a little knowledge here and there.


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 Post subject: Re: Metal Wurx - Part VII
PostPosted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 10:54 am  (#9) 
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Thanks molly and Draconian. I'll consider your recommendations.
I have a doubt: viewing light direction in the original image I think that apple reflection and shadow over the grid are reversed. If the lighting is higher on the left side, the apple shadow should be on the right and reflection on the left. Anyway, in my version I did not put reflections...

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 Post subject: Re: Metal Wurx - Part VII
PostPosted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 2:49 pm  (#10) 
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steveczajka wrote:
Great Tutorial. Many thanks for sharing!

This used to be a ver popular steel finish back in the 80's


Thanks, Steve. I was doing some electrical work on a prison near Bonham, Texas and noticed all the furniture was metal bolted to the floor and had this type of finish. Tables, chairs, and everything.

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 Post subject: Re: Metal Wurx - Part VII
PostPosted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 4:21 pm  (#11) 
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Drac,
Would Gimp Filter->Map->Tile work at step 11?

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 Post subject: Re: Metal Wurx - Part VII
PostPosted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 5:12 am  (#12) 
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Odinbc wrote:
Drac,
Would Gimp Filter->Map->Tile work at step 11?


Hmmmmmm. Dunno, perhaps. If so, it would seem to save quite a few steps if the resulting layout were correct. I may have to explore that one. Thanks for the heads up. Have you tried it?

Edit: The short answer is no it does not work. You end up with several duplicated images but no overlap so the pattern is quite different.


Attachments:
map-tile.jpg
map-tile.jpg [ 144.11 KiB | Viewed 1709 times ]

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 Post subject: Re: Metal Wurx - Part VII
PostPosted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 3:54 pm  (#13) 
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I didn't try it. it was just a thought.

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 Post subject: Re: Metal Wurx - Part VII
PostPosted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 4:50 pm  (#14) 
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Another option for positioning the pattern squares is to use GIMP's built-in image grid. You can snap to the grid just like you snap to guides.

To configure the grid: Image>Configure Grid...

Image

To see and snap to the grid:
View>Show Grid
View>Snap to Grid


The grid lines are a screen display only item, just like guides. Also, like guides, they are 1 pixel wide regardless of your image zoom factor. (A feature I use a lot at a 400% or 800% zoom. And they don't disappear at 12.5% zoom either. :) )

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 Post subject: Re: Metal Wurx - Part VII
PostPosted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 9:15 am  (#15) 
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bkh1914 wrote:
Another option for positioning the pattern squares is to use GIMP's built-in image grid. You can snap to the grid just like you snap to guides.

To configure the grid: Image>Configure Grid...

Image

To see and snap to the grid:
View>Show Grid
View>Snap to Grid


The grid lines are a screen display only item, just like guides. Also, like guides, they are 1 pixel wide regardless of your image zoom factor. (A feature I use a lot at a 400% or 800% zoom. And they don't disappear at 12.5% zoom either. :) )


I'm familiar with using the grid but the question remains, how to you achieve the overlap of subsequent rows below in creating the pattern? The only way I know how to do this is create a smaller pattern, the way I described, position everything to make it seemless, and then perhaps apply these other techniques.

Please correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the pattern must be created manually first in any case. Show me a screenshot of using your technique if you get it to work.

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 Post subject: Re: Metal Wurx - Part VII
PostPosted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 10:48 am  (#16) 
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You are correct. The pattern element must be created manually. Using snap to grid just makes it easier to position those elements into the final pattern.

Here's an example from a pattern I did last week. This pattern is based on the Ghost Diagram 'b D ', 'd bBB'. (left)
Image Image
(These are cropped views, the actual seamless pattern is 390 x676 at this scaling.)

I used paths created from the Ghost Diagram .svg file to create the repeat element.
Image

Then I assembled multiple copies of that element into the final pattern. (200% zoom view)
Image

The pattern has a 15px spacing granularity in the horizontal direction and a 30px granularity in the vertical direction, so the grid lines are fairly tightly spaced. I used the original ghost diagram at reduced opacity to guide the placement of the elements with an off-white background for visibility. The green line is the repeat box size for the completed pattern. After getting all the elements in place, they were merged together onto a black background layer. Finally it was cropped to the repeat box size.

Actually, I did everything with the paths and colored it as the final step. That lets me scale it without pixelization and then use any combination of colors that I want. Here's the complete pattern showing the paths used to create it.
Image

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