Sitting down the other day and just playing with the final copy of Photo-Paint 8, I stumbled across a really quick way to create cool metallic effects. It seems my
best ideas always sneak up on me from behind, and there's been a lot of times I sit down in front of the computer only to discover five hours have just disappeared. I
think I caught this disease from Dave Huss when he coughed on me in Baltimore a couple of years ago.
All of the metallic effects in the lead graphic were created from one little easy Corel
Script. Yes, easy! The only modification to this Script comes when it's time to color the metal, but it's extremely easy to stop the Script midway through to create a
new color. Sit back, follow along, and you too will soon create effects that look like they came straight out of the metal shop. I used Photo-Paint 8 for my
experimentation, but it is possible to recreate the effects in all versions back to 5.
Open Photo-Paint and go to FileNew. For this exercise, we'll be creating an 24-bit
RGB image measuring 600 x 200 pixels at 100 dpi. Save the file as metal.cpt. Open the Object Docker (Ctrl+F7) and be sure that Preserve Transparency remains unchecked throughout this entire exercise.
Select the Text tool and open the Tool Settings roll-up (Ctrl+F8). On the Tool Settings roll-up,
select your preferred typeface and size. Click on the image with the Text tool and type a capital M (I used AmerType Md BT Bold at 96 points.) Be sure Anti-Aliasing is turned on and Render to Mask is
turned off (Hint: check the Property Bar), and then select the Pick tool. Open the Recorder Docker (Ctrl+F3) and start recording.
Note: This effect works best with black objects,
but you can also create some unique effects if the objects are other colors. Your own experimentation will help you decide.
Bring On Those Filters
 The first effect to be recorded is adding Noise. Go to Effects | Noise | Add Noise and enter 93 for
Level and 89 for Density. Select Gaussian and uncheck Color Noise, and OK to apply the effect. See Figure 2. Next, apply a Gaussian Blur (Effects | Blur | Gaussian Blur) with a radius of 3.17. Then,
go to Effects | Sharpen | Unsharp Mask and enter Percentage 100, Radius 10, and Threshold 0. OK to apply the effect.
 Next, we will apply two Emboss filter effects one right after the other. For the first, go to Effects | 3D |
Emboss. Choose Gray for Emboss color, Depth 7, Level 100, and Direction 45. Choose OK to apply the effect. Repeat the Emboss effect, but this time choose Original color for Emboss color, Depth 8,
Level 100, and Direction 45. Again, choose OK to apply this effect. See Figure 3. Go to Effects | Blur | Gaussian Blur and apply another Gaussian Blur, this time with a radius setting of 0.2.
Now it's time to apply a custom Tone Curve. Select Image | Adjust | Tone Curve. Select the Curve or Freehand method in the Edit Style dropdown list to create a
custom curve exactly as shown in Figures 4. You will probably find it easier to use the Freehand method.
Note: If the curve you create is different than the one shown, the end result may not be pretty!
To recall this custom curve you just created, click Save and assign the CRV file a name you will remember. Once you do this, you will see that Photo-Paint ships with a number of preset curve files. Try these
sometime to create other effects.
We're getting near the end of our recording session, and even though we won't end up with a gold record, we will have a gold M! Go to Image | Adjust | Color Hue. This is the place silver
turns into gold, gold into copper, and copper into make believe. For our recording,
 however, we'll be sticking to gold. Set the Step slider to 10 and click on the More Yellow button
about ten times, More Red about four times, and More Magenta once, or until the color of your M matches the one shown in Figure 5. Finally, back to the Unsharp Mask Filter (Effects | Sharpen | Unsharp Mask). Enter Percentage 100, Radius 10,
and Threshold 0. Stop the recording and save your Script to a named CSC file.
All That Glitters Is Not Gold
To complete the word "Metallic," I created new
objects from different typefaces and weights and ran the Script we created above in Step Through mode until reaching the point of the Color Hue command (shown as
ImageColorBalance in Script-ese), which I skipped over by double-clicking on the next step of the Script to be executed. (An arrow next to a step indicates it is the
next to be played back.) For each letter in the image, I opened the Color Hue dialog box (Image | Adjust | Color Hue) and experimented with different amounts of "More"
until I created a shade I liked. I finished running the Script (still in Step Through mode) to apply the last Unsharp Mask effect.
Note: Each new object must be a true object. I.e., it must be on its own new layer,
or the Script effects will be applied to all objects on the layer — although this, too, sometimes produces nice effects!
The "a" and second "l" in "Metallic" are actually brushstrokes created on new layers.
For the "a," I chose a round nib with a size of 10, Transparency 0, and Soft Edge 0. I turned off pressure sensitivity for my Wacom pen (View>Rollups>Pen Settings). I
used one of the fancy preset nibs included with Photo-Paint to make the "l," and when running the Script, I skipped Color Hue completely to achieve the rough gray
metal effect. I finished the "l" by applying the Unsharp Mask filter from the last step of the Script.
Holy Sheet Metal, Batman!
To finish the image, I wanted to create a torn-up piece of sheet metal effect for the
background. Using the Freehand Mask tool, I hand drew a rough outline mask on the background layer. I looked through the full-color bitmap tiles included w
 ith Photo-Paint 8 and found one that I thought would be perfect. (In version 8, the tile is goldleaf.cpt and
is located on CD#3 in the Tiles | Design folder; in earlier versions you can create a similar fill using a Texture fill.) With the Fill tool selected, I used the Tool Settings rollup to choose the
bitmap fill (it's one of the default samples in Photo-Paint 8), and clicked on Edit. I checked Use Original Size and left all other settings at 0. I then filled the masked area of the background layer with this fill.
 I didn't like the gold color of this bitmap fill, since I wanted the background to have more of a metal
factory look to it. Easy enough to fix that — I've got Photo-Paint! With all other objects/layers deselected or hidden in the Object rollup/Docker, I selected the background layer. I
clicked on Image | Adjust | Hue/Saturation/Lightness and entered 0 for Hue, -95 for Saturation, and 40 for Lightness. Nice, but still not there yet.
 To finish my background, I removed the mask (Mask/Remove) and then created a new layer (Object>Create>New
Object). Again I kept all other layers beside the background and the new layer deselected or hidden. On the new layer, I used the Paintbrush tool with a round nib set at 10 for Size, 0 Transparency and 0 Soft Edge to paint a black
outline around my sheet metal background. Don't worry if your hand isn't steady — a rough look is what we're after here. I then ran the Script in Step Through mo
 de and again stopped before applying the Color Hue adjustment. I selected the last step in the recording to
apply the Unsharp Mask filter and completed the chrome edge of the background.
Note: If you're not working with a pen and tablet, you may find it easier to create a
new layer, mask the background, invert the mask (Mask>Invert), and apply the border command to the mask (Mask>Shape>Border). A setting of 5 with a Hard
edge will work well. Then use the rectangle tool to drag a marquee from corner to corner on the image for a quick fill shortcut. If you use this method, don't forget to remove the mask before running the Script!
The last step was to make all layers visible, select the layers which spelled out "Metallic" and apply a flat drop shadow (Object | Drop Shadow). See, now wasn't that easy?
Note: The thicker the object, the more "hammered" the metallic effect will look, as in the "t" in the first illustration. For a more polished metal effect, use narrow paint strokes and/or typefaces.
Debbie Cook is a self-employed graphic artist in Brandon, Florida. She is a Corel Certified Instructor, and also provides technical support for Corel Corporation as a C-TECH Support Partner on Corel's Compuserve forum and newsgroups.
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