Newsgroup: it.comp.grafica.photoshop
Titolo: Creating Pipes

Hi, i found this tute:
http://www.deepspaceweb.com/photoshop_tips/interface_pipe.html
The only prob is that it is for a older version on PS. I am running PS6, but
i really need to learn how to make a Steel looking pipe. If any of you can
tell me how or direct me to a good tute it would help a lot.
Thanks
--
Jeff
http://syc0.cjb.net

That's still a pretty good method, but personally I like to make my 3D
objects look as realistic as possible.
First a lesson on lighting. In real life most objects actually have 2
light sources: The main source (usually the sun or some overhead
bright artificial light) and the light being reflected from your main
light source off of a nearby object (floor, table, wall, ect.) and
back onto the object, usually the opposite side of the "hotspot" of
your main light source. Sometimes this secondary light will be a
different hue, depending on the color of the object it was reflected
from. To see this for your self, set a ball or apple on a table and a
lamp over it and look at the ball for the "hotspot" (the center of
your main light source, the lamp), the shadow (I'm talking about a
dark area on the ball itself and not the shadow cast on the table),
and the secondary light, which should be near the bottom edge of the
ball.
So, I bet you're wondering what all this has to do with making pipes.
Glad you asked ;) Look at the pipe tutorial you found. No secondary
light source. This is fine if you're not worried about how realistic
the pipe looks. But if you're like me, you want the best possible
effect.
(The terms left and right assume a verticle pipe) Go ahead and create
the pipe like in the tutorial, but offset the hotspot from the center
of the pipe slightly (usually to the left). Next, open the curves
dialog and holding Ctrl, click the center of your hotspot. This should
create a point on the curves line. Now do the same to create a point
for the center tone of your gradient and one last one close to the
dark right edge of your pipe. Now, pull that last point up (or towards
white), and pull midtone point down (toward black). If you start to
lose your hotspot, pull the first point you made up (towards white) to
recover it. Lastly, save this Curves setting, so you can use it again
everytime you want to create realistic light sources.
Almost done. Check Perserve Transparency for your pipe layer then add
some monochromatic noise on your pipe (not too much). After all,
almost everything in real life does not have perfectly smooth tones.
Apply a lighting effect to both your pipe and background and finally
add a drop shadow to your pipe and you're all done.
2 last notes. 1) Material of pipe: for metal, your gradient should
have a sharper edge between the 2 colors you pick, and for less shiney
materials, leave it like in the tutorial and don't make your curve too
sharp. 2) Remember that the secondary source might cause a color cast
on your object. One way to do this is to simple set your brush to
Overlay and paint down along the secondary light.
Here's the pipe I made very quickly, for this example (sorry about the
gradient banding): 
http://www.geocities.com/livingston_tf/pipesample.jpg
Learn to use Curves, its a very powerful tool that will help you
greatly. Now, that you know some principles of basic lighting, you
should be able to apply this to nearly anything you make in Photoshop.
If you've read this far, good luck.
Brian

 wrote in message
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

Yet another pipe sample:
Did this using paths for the midtone, the highlight and the core shadow.
http://www.dnaco.net/~ivanjs/jspipe_sample.jpg
John
iva...@dnaco.net
http://www.dnaco.net

Here's another pipe using the same path technique:
http://www.dnaco.net/~ivanjs/jspipe_sample2.jpg
I'm working on a quick tutorial to show how to do this.
Don't forget this same technique can be used to create wires, such as this
image I created:
http://www.dnaco.net/~ivanjs/LAB.jpg
in article gou37.14445$
uJ3.3...@e420r-atl2.usenetserver.com
, Johnny at
iva...@dnaco.net
 wrote on 7/13/01 1:12 AM:


Pipe tutorial:
Sorry so un-designerly like. I only had about 10 minutes to do screen
captures, and type up the text.
http://www.dnaco.net/~ivanjs/pipetute.html
John
iva...@dnaco.net
http://www.dnaco.net/~ivanjs/

...

I may get type cast as the pipe expert here ;) but here's link to a
site with yet another tutorial (not mine of course) for making 3D
wires using Channels and Lighting effects. The same principles can be
applied to pipes, and works better since it allows you to make pipes
of any shape. I personally like this method better than the one I
suggest (although I do still suggest that you learn to use
Curves--great tool!--can also be used to enhance your lights and
shadows if you don't get them just right using the Lighting effect
filter.), so I recommend checking the site out.
http://www.phong.com
later,
Brian

Your pipes are excellent. Nice job.
And thanks for the tips.


That's the cool thing about the paths method I use- if you can use the pen
tool, you can achieve any shape wire or pipe, even write your name and do
complex shapes. 
John
in article 
5e0172bb.01071...@posting.google.com
, Brian at
livings...@hotmail.com
 wrote on 7/13/01 11:08 AM:


hey thanks for all that guys....it really helped
"PixelGames" <Pixel...@notYahoo.com> wrote in message
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