That metallic effect

[AaronzDad]

Ok... another query... I want to give my text a texture but I want it looking like brushed blue steel. Almost a chrome sheen but with a little bluing to it, know what I mean? Like a well-used motorcycle exhaust pipe? I'm playing with tints and hues and such but I can't seem to find exactly what I'm looking for. I have the texture I want but I can't get the shine there.

Any suggestions?

[AaronzDad]

Ok... another query... I want to give my text a texture but I want it looking like brushed blue steel. Almost a chrome sheen but with a little bluing to it, know what I mean? Like a well-used motorcycle exhaust pipe? I'm playing with tints and hues and such but I can't seem to find exactly what I'm looking for. I have the texture I want but I can't get the shine there.

Any suggestions?

[gwpriester]

Have you tried a simple two color linear fill from dark blue gray to black?

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

Be It Every So Humble...

[AaronzDad]

Sorry Gary but you lost me there. Do you mean apply a texture of a two color linear pattern? Hmm... could work.

I've been playing and playing with this and I can't quite get exatly what I'm after. What I'd really like is to be able to apply a real texture to the letter face and then have the light shining on the irregularities of that texture giving it a sheen. Know what I mean?

I think the texture I'm using may be too smooth, not have enough contrast in the lines, to really give the effect I want.

I'd also like to expand the face all the way to the edge then have the sides drop in at a sharper angle giving the edges the appearance of a raxor's edge. Kinda like looking at the groove on the blade of an ice skate.

I'll attach the file here so you can see what I'm working with.

Thanks a million.

[gwpriester]

There is quite a difference from what you initially described, gun metal, and the blue black pitted texture in your last post.

Be that as it may, I did a little futzing around and here is what I came up with. It requires Sean Sedwards' Emboss Filter which can be downloaded in the XaraXone Shareware Page. I used the beta for Xara X for this demo.

1. Create a two color (blue and black) Fractal Clouds fill.

2. Make a duplicate and change the blue to white. Make a bitmap copy (Arrange > Create Bitmap Copy. Make a copy of the new bitmap so you have two bitmaps.

3. Apply Sean's Emboss Highlights Filter to one bitmap.

4. Apply Sean's Emboss Shadows Filter to the other bitmap.

5. Place the Highlight bitmap over the original blue and black fractal clouds filled square. Apply a Brightness 30% Transparency.

6. Place the Shadow bitmap on top and apply a Contrast 20% Transparency.

This what you're looking for?

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

Be It Every So Humble...

[AaronzDad]

That's kind of what I'm looking for only more linear. What I'm after is something more like the gun blue you brought up earlier. I'd like to make the letters look like they were cut from a thick chunk of steel, with the fine saw lines on the face of the letters. KnowwhatImean?

That mess I posted on here was as far as I'd gotten playing around with the settings available with Xara3D.

Any suggestions on sharpening up the edges of the letters?

Thanks a million for the time and attention here Gary.

Now let's only hope we get enough votes to keep this kind of forum up and running. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]

[Soquili]

I hope I'm not butting in, I just started using Xara3D.

I think I have the cut steel effect you are looking for. I'm attaching a zip file that contains a .X3D file, the bitmap texture I used and a .jpg file showing the Xara3D default image using the texture.

By adjusting the angle and the scale of the texture you can change the degree of roughness the image shows.

[Big Frank]

Is this the steel look you were looking for?