Chrome/silver/gradients ?

[beatz]

Hi,

posted this in the XaraX section already but thought it might make sense to post it here as well, so can anyone let me know the answers to these questions:

Q1: How can i apply a gradient effect to either text or a bitmap in Photoshop ?

Q2: How can i apply a silver/chrome effect to text or bitmaps ? What i mean is let it look like it was made of chrome or silver.

Q3: Would also helpful if you could tell me how to achieve mentioned effects in programs like Illustrator, CorelDraw, FreeHand , Photoshop etc or if there are special filters for those effects.
I own all of the latest versions of these programns but rarely use them as my main tool really is XaraX.

Q4: Can i convert a bitmap or text to vector in Photoshop and if yes, how ?

So, anyone that could tell me how to ?

Any help really is appreciated, thanks in advance.

Frank

[beatz]

Hi,

posted this in the XaraX section already but thought it might make sense to post it here as well, so can anyone let me know the answers to these questions:

Q1: How can i apply a gradient effect to either text or a bitmap in Photoshop ?

Q2: How can i apply a silver/chrome effect to text or bitmaps ? What i mean is let it look like it was made of chrome or silver.

Q3: Would also helpful if you could tell me how to achieve mentioned effects in programs like Illustrator, CorelDraw, FreeHand , Photoshop etc or if there are special filters for those effects.
I own all of the latest versions of these programns but rarely use them as my main tool really is XaraX.

Q4: Can i convert a bitmap or text to vector in Photoshop and if yes, how ?

So, anyone that could tell me how to ?

Any help really is appreciated, thanks in advance.

Frank

[sallybode]

When you create text to do what you are asking, rasterize the text then select the text, easiest, select the background then invert the selection. Then you can fill it with whatever pattern or gradient you prefer. Photoshop has preset for chrome, if you have made two lines of text you may wish to only select one line at a time as the fill effect will apply otherwise to the whole selection. You can also apply a stroke to the edges under the Edit Menu or under the Layers/Layers Style Menu. You can add emboss there and drop shadow etc., with this menu. All programs now adays have some cool presets or you can make your own in Illustrator, you can easily customize any gradient. There are tutorials out there about this, do a search with Google. You can convert rasterized text back to vector in Photoshop 7 but it is not clean and requires a lot of editing if your text is anything like a serif style. To do this you convert your text selection to a working path. Once it is a working path, it is vector and can have nodes added or subtracted and adjusted with edit handles. However, Photoshop still is a raster based program and the vector tool is designed to basically fix your raster based selection. It does not function like Xara X. Now Illustrator can do awesome type effects especially since the advent of transparency. Photoshop and Illustrator are both Adobe products and really to do all that you are asking you need to use both. I do not use Corel or Painter so I cannot advise you there. However because Photoshop and Illustrato work hand in hand, there is a lot you can edit back and forth in both. But if you do trace your path from you rasterized type, and wish to fill it, you can use the path fill buttons at the bottom of the Path's Palette (next to the Tabs on the Layers Palette). But if you want to fill it with the chrome gradient, no can do from the Path's Palette. Then you must select the text and fill the selection again witht the gradient. Every program has elements that it does best, use each to give you the most efficient effects and then save them in a format you can import into another program to add additional effects.