Last time we took a look at a quick way to embed stones into a
background. Another fantastic effect seen on game interfaces and
some high-end graphic art websites is what I call aged steel. There
are a number of ways to achieve this illusion, and for this example
we will be using a few tricks to generate our metal. I've been a
fan of fantasy novels since my early teens, and the artwork of
Frazetta astounds me. Let's create an ancient axe that could have
been used by warriors of yore. (Look Ma, I found an excuse to use
'yore' in a sentence!) To begin with let's set up the image. I am
going to work on the blade of an axe, so I need a good battleaxe
shape. With the circular marquee I am making my selection, then I'm
subtracting from the selection along the top and bottom. Once my
selection looks relatively axe shaped, in a new layer I'll fill the
selection with gray. Here's where we stand thus far:
Let's duplicate that layer. I'm going to do something that may
appear like I'm getting ahead of the project, but trust me, it will
work out in the end! Select a dark red/brown for the foreground
color, and a lighter tan/ reddish tint to the background. Now apply
the Spatter filter twice, changing the foreground color for each
application of the filter. Go to Select>Color Range, click in
the gray area, and delete the gray from the spattered layer. Are
you here yet?
On the spattered layer, let's apply a bit of pillow embossing to
the 'corruption' on the blade. Here's my settings and the result:
Go back and duplicate Layer 1. Select the Magic Wand and
Command/Control>Click the layer to bring up your original
selection. Select a light gray foreground and dark gray background.
With the radial gradient tool, fill the selection starting at the
top left and going to the bottom right of the selection. Here comes
my favorite part! We are going to give an edge to the blade. Select
the Layer Styles, and go to the Bevel/Emboss commands. Enter these
settings:
You may also apply a cit more edge by adding a contour. Here's mine
with just the bevel/emboss applied.
Now let's make our axe look as though it was hand worked. Simply
apply the crystallize filter with a cell size of about 14. You can
play with aging the metal, adding more texture, etc. by swapping
filters. Give it a try and see what works or appeals to you! After
a bit of playing, here is my blade:
Now it is all ready for a handle. This effect would look great on
text as well again, I encourage you to play around with different
ways of applying. Practice and interest are, after all, the
foundations of learning. Until next time, take care!
Special thanks to www.planetphotoshop.com for
allowing us to reprint their Photoshop tutorials here at
Renderosity. You can e-mail Al Ward, the author of this article, at
al@actionfx.com.
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