Metal, Chrome and Glass Effects

[Albacore]

When I did a lot of gradients in my work, I never liked the artificial look that the bitmap plugins gave, even when you overlay a transparency to try a get a dirtier look. Go the vector gradient way it's far quicker.

Gary gave you a list of his tuts on glass and one on metals but I found that Egg's was great. It really got me thinking about the way you have to view transparent and shiny objects. Honestly I thought this tut. was a cracker and well worth the effort in doing it. Have a look at it here: http://www.xaraxone.com/guest/guest17/index.htm

[hseiken]

@OP, I think relying on plugins, while it's great to use them in a pinch, it's going to be styled after someone else's interpretation of chrome and metals. If you learn what makes metal and glass look like those things, it's a bit like the 'teach a man to fish'...Before you know it, getting completely original chrome look that's all your own becomes faster and faster and more importantly UNIQUELY YOU.

Sorry I can't help with the plugin search, though. I just hoped to encourage your mind to expand at some point. I think those links to tutorials posted by gwpriester is more valuable and more useful than any plug in ever made.

[iamtheblues]

...I think those links to tutorials posted by gwpriester is more valuable and more useful than any plug in ever made.

Seconded. Lazy or not, there's only one way to get the results you want, and that is to learn to do it, you'll be glad you did in the long term.
It's actually not difficult, anyway,
Bob.

[robinw]

Well, thank you for the latest contributions, all. I can see that vectors are the way to go but also that there are other desired outcomes where one might want to employ plugins working on bitmaps. I've played around with some of the plugins provided with Xara and can produce some freaky effects although not, perhaps, ones I was deliberately aiming for.

I'll be doing practice as advised, including that glass tutorial. I'm sure it isn't actually that difficult, as Bob said, but the term 'learning curve' comes to mind. Right now, it feels like five steps forward, four steps back. In the end, progress is by experimentation but I'm still at the stage where I get surprised quite a lot.