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Creating Super Chrome
I’ve seen lots of techniques that create the look of chrome, but many fall short when it comes to the shininess and reflective qualities of highly polished chrome. The secret to this super chrome method is applying two curves adjustment layers at the end. Here’s how:Choose File>New to create a new document.Make it rather large, say 3 inches high by 5 inches wide, and set it in RGB color mode with a white background.
Set the Foreground color to light gray and the Background color to white.For this example, I used the Color Picker to set the HSB text boxes to H: 0%, S: 0%, and B: 70% for the light gray Foreground color.
Use the Horizontal Type tool to create some type.The type needs to be large for this effect to work best. For my example, I’m using the Wingdings font set at 250 points, as shown in Figure 46-1. You should now have two layers: a white Background layer and a type layer.
Figure 46-1: I’m turning this bomb into chrome.
With the type layer selected in the Layers palette, click the Add Layer Style button at the bottom of the palette and choose Bevel and Emboss from the menu.
In the Structure area of the Layer Style dialog box, use the drop-down lists and sliders to select settings, as shown in Figure 46-2.
Figure 46-2: Use the settings in the Structure area to create the bevel.
Use the Style drop-down list to select Inner Bevel.
Use the Technique drop-down list to select Chisel Hard.
Set the Depth slider to 100%.
Select the Up Direction radio button.
Set the Size to 10 pixels.
Set Soften to 0 pixels.
Click the words Gradient Overlay to view those layer style settings and put a check mark in the Gradient Overlay check box.The default settings shown in Figure 46-3 work fine, but you need to create a custom gradient for this effect (not hard!).
Figure 46-3: Use the default Gradient Overlay settings, but create a custom gradient.
Click the gradient swatch to open the Gradient Editor shown in Figure 46-4.
Figure 46-4: You use the Gradient Editor to create a custom gradient for this effect.
In the Presets swatch area at the top of the dialog box, click the Foreground to Background gradient swatch. (It’s the first swatch in the upper left.)You use this swatch to create the custom gradient. Figure 46-5 shows the Custom Gradient Bar (below the Smoothness text box) that you use to create the custom gradient. At the bottom of the bar are color stops. Notice that the color stop on the left contains the Foreground color (gray), and the color stop on the right contains the Background color (white). You’re going to add more gray and white color stops.
Figure 46-5: The color stops are on the bottom of the Custom Gradient Bar.
Click the color square on the right end containing the Background color to select it.
At the left side of the Custom Gradient Bar, click about a quarter of the way down the bar to add a white color stop.
Click the color square on the left end containing the Foreground color to select it.
To the right of the white color stop that you added in Step 10, click to add a gray color stop.Don’t space the color stops evenly. (See Figure 46-6.) For this effect, you want to add seven to nine color squares, alternating white and gray to create different width stripes.
Figure 46-6: Add color stops at uneven intervals to create different width stripes.
Continue adding gray and white color stops until the Custom Gradient Bar looks something like the one in Figure 46-6.
Type a name for the custom gradient in the Name text box, and then click New.Your custom gradient appears at the bottom of the Presets swatch area.
| Tip | If you like this effect and want to use it again, you can now select the custom gradient that you created instead of creating a new one every time. |
Click OK to close the Gradient Editor and return to the Layer Style dialog box.
Click OK to close the Layer Style dialog box.Your type should now have horizontal gray and white stripes and a bevel, as shown in Figure 46-7.
Figure 46-7: The type is beveled and striped with a gray and white gradient.
With the type layer selected in the Layers palette, click the Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer button at the bottom of the palette and choose Curves from the menu.The Curves dialog box opens, as shown in Figure 46-8. Notice that a straight line runs from the bottom-left corner of the grid to the upper-right corner of the grid.
Figure 46-8: You use curves to create the chrome effect.
Click on the line in four places from left to right to create four evenly spaced points.
Drag the first point up, the second point down, the third point up, and the fourth point down.The plotted line should look something like the one in Figure 46-9. Don’t worry if it isn’t exactly the same.
Figure 46-9: Create a curve with steep mountains and deep valleys.
Click OK to close the Curves dialog box and apply the curves to the adjustment layer.The gray and white stripes now look like chrome, as shown in Figure 46-10.
Figure 46-10: Using curves, the gray and white stripes turn into chrome.
With the adjustment layer selected in the Layers palette, choose Layer>New>Layer via Copy or press Ctrl+J/z +J.This copies the adjustment layer and makes the chrome turn into super chrome, as shown in Figure 46-11.
Figure 46-11: Adding a second curves adjustment layer turns the chrome into super chrome.
| Tip | If you want to rasterize the type layer and permanently apply the layer styles and adjustment layers, click the eye icon next to the Background layer to hide it. Then, choose Layer>Merge Visible. |
