Preserved Topic: Handmade Gems in PS 5

In the course of my design travels over this past week, one of the problems I needed to solve was one which required that I create a sapphire completely by hand, with editable layers so that I could control transparency and such over a couple of different patters and layers. Now I could have used a third party 3d program, but It dawned on me how fun it might be to attempt a realistic looking gem using only photoshop. After a few hours of tinkering with a couple of different ideas, I've come up with this:



Since I've stared at it for WAY too long, I'm pretty much dead to it. I was wondering if a few of you could take a look at it and maybe point out anything glaring I missed about the general reflective properties of a gem. I started to put a bit more opacity on the front of the gem as reflective face, but then I realized how few of the outer reflective faces one actually sees in a clear stone. The only thing I have for reference is an old necklace with an emerald in it, so maybe if you all have any nice stones you could check them out and tell me how to change the one I've got to look more real, or if it really does look like something you have in front of you.

I'll be using this one rock a few different times, so I want it to really look realistic. Thanks all!

p.s.: I realized halfway through making it that I had never seen anything on the web describing the technique I used, so I'll try to remember the steps Ive taken and write a tutorial for everyone if they want one, since I think the technique could come in handy for things other than gems also. Once I get this baby looking right, I'll try to remember how it got there <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/wink.gif">



Never insult someone until you have walked a mile in their shoes... that way, if they don't like it, you're at least a mile away, and you have their shoes.


[This message has been edited by Tycho (edited 31-08-2000).]

Hey I think it looks great, but it doesn't really have any facets. Is that the way you wanted it to look like it was cut?

If so, it is perfect, if not, it still looks great and if anyone were to say anything different they would be way too particular for their own good!

Ahh.. thats one of the things I've been struggling with. I want it to look faceted, but for some reason it keeps coming out very rounded, with only the front cut really showing. I'll work on that...

edit: Oh, I forgot to ask. Does anyone have any other links to gem tutorials that they know of? I might be able to glean some handy info from them if anyone knows of any...


Never insult someone until you have walked a mile in their shoes... that way, if they don't like it, you're at least a mile away, and you have their shoes.

[This message has been edited by Tycho (edited 31-08-2000).]

pretty cool tycho. overall it looks great, but a couple things don't seem right to me -- the real dark+thick curved lines top and bottom I think are too much contrast to the light light center; it mkaes it look almost like the center is sunken in. maybe if there were just a little more color in between the dark and the light...or a highlight that overlaps both the dark band and the light center should do the trick.

like I said, it looks great, just seems slightly off in the center. hope that makes sense <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/biggrin.gif">



[This message has been edited by DL-44 (edited 31-08-2000).]

if youre trying to make it look like a real gem, i think your halo looks way too luminous. gems sparkle, they dont glow. once my eyes adjusted to the intensity, it looks pretty good.

of course, most gems are more faceted than that. have you looked for any pictures of gem cuts?

Oops, The glow was just an embellishment, not part of the actual composite. I should have made that clear.

DL: Now that I've slept a bit and look at it again, I completely agree that those two strips are a little too strong. I bet I can split the top one down the middle and facet it a bit using a 'lighten' brush, and then lighten the bottom one a bit with an adjustment layer and some clever masking. I wonder if I should physically sharpen the outside edges, or leave them round but just put more facet hints leading into them, and let the sparkles do the rest towards making you think it has more cuts. Like I said, I dont have any photos to go by, at least none that were of any help with this particular stone. I'll make a revision tonight and see if I can change a few things.




Never insult someone until you have walked a mile in their shoes... that way, if they don't like it, you're at least a mile away, and you have their shoes.

Looks good but off hand Im not really sure what a gem would even look like. Im not at my house so I really cant ask my sisters and theres not exactly pictures lying around my boat. IT does look good and I agree with you and DL that those "blue strips" are a little too thing.

Jestah
ieJestah@hotmail.com
ICQ - 77252449

Well, it looks very pretty ... but if I were looking at it without knowing what you had intended, I wouldn't have guessed it to be a gem.
To me, it looks like a clear, smooth glass ellipsoid, with some sort of dark blue metallic bands imbedded in it, and lighter distressed metal bands embedded at the top and bottom.
It definitely doesn't look faceted to me; more like one of those glass pebbles that come with a pente set.

Here's another test:



I've lightened up the blue strips a bit, and added some hints of faceting inside them. I also lightened up the top and bottom a bit, and added a few more facets to the botom left and top right. I also removed the glow so it wouldnt confuse the eye. Getting closer?




Never insult someone until you have walked a mile in their shoes... that way, if they don't like it, you're at least a mile away, and you have their shoes.

It does look very realistic... but I can't determine the shape of it... is it a crystal doughnut? It really looks like a torus, but I can't tell if I'm looking at it from the top or at an angle.

Here's a gem I did about a year ago just for the hell of it. It's certainly no where near as good as yours, or realistic looking. I did it from a plastic gem that one of my nephews had as part of some pirate costume.



Like I said, it's nowhere near the quality of yours, but since we're on the topic of gems, I thought I'd flash it.

It looks like a Mancala bead, Tycho...except that center is really too light...it looks like it's sunken in...I was screwing around trying for something to the effect of a gem and I came up with this:

Wow Sloloem, that gem is really realistic! Are you sure you didn't take a picture of one with a digital camera.



[This message has been edited by mbridge (edited 01-09-2000).]

Not funny.

Yes it was ... <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/smile.gif">

Jestah
ieJestah@hotmail.com
ICQ - 77252449

No it wasn't.*glares* Here's something I just made while I was once again mucking around...it's definatly...interesting.

tycho, found a couple pics that may be helpful
http://www3.galaxy.com/images/gems/bismrk.gif
http://www3.galaxy.com/images/gems/hope.gif

are pretty nice. backtrack the url one step to get a whole big list of gem pix.

(at the time of posting this your second test image hadn't loaded yet...so I haven't seen that one yet.

okay, I saw it now. It is definately better, the faceting is much more apparent. The center is still a bit off though -- it looks like the outer portion is overlapping a sunken center part. It looks great -- shiny as hell, facets are good, but the center.....

hope the links help <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/smile.gif">

Let me tell you that both your versions of the gem (2nd is better) were probably the best I've seen on the net yet. Even on the first one the faceting was immediately apparent to me. Sorry I can't offer any good criticisms, just thought you should know that it looked right to me, and I'm picky about what i like in CG.

I would suggest you experiment with the group of pixellate filters, they might help make the facets more defined.

DL:
Thanks for the links... They help a bit, although the cuts are very different from the stone I'm fooling with. Still, it gives me a good idea of how to play with the center a bit. Most everyone sees the center as too bright, so lemme get in there and jigger with the levels on that layer and see if I can't tone it down. I'll also add some faceting in there, so that you see the bottom ones come through a little.

Jiblet: Thanks for the vote of confidence! Hopefully I can turn our experimenting into a repeatable method for creating gems and pieces of glass.

A-Tinkering I will go...




Never insult someone until you have walked a mile in their shoes... that way, if they don't like it, you're at least a mile away, and you have their shoes.

Progress? I lightened up the center considerably, added much more faceting inside with a darker color to show the underside cuts, and darkened the cuts on the outer edges. You know, its amazing how complex these things are, and how hard it is to work with lighting each little edge. I've learned a ton about refraction and such, thats for sure... I recommend everyone plays with gems one day, its been a good learning experience thus far.




Never insult someone until you have walked a mile in their shoes... that way, if they don't like it, you're at least a mile away, and you have their shoes.

the third is by far best.. they were all cool , I think you've almost got it...a layer of facets under it? when are you gonna put up the tutorial

Tycho: Its comming along great. You inspired me last night so around 2AM I was up working on creating my gem. It actually wasnt comming up bad either. Unfortunetly my friend Melanie IMed me on AIM and my Photoshop froze ... happens to me all the time actually =0( So I only had so much of it saved. I dont know why im mentioning this but im going to finish it tonight and post it up here later ... Great work Tycho.

oh yeah, that's nice tycho! much much more definable form. It is extremely bright and shiny, excellent work all in all <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/biggrin.gif">

I'm gonna have to take a stab at it one of these days...kinda afraid to though <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/wink.gif">

BTW, for anyone interested, I was wrong about backing up the URL -- the URL for the whole collection is here: http://www3.galaxy.com/images/gems/gems-icons.html

there are a ton of great pictures there of all kinds of things <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/biggrin.gif">




[This message has been edited by DL-44 (edited 05-09-2000).]

Damn Tyco - Photographers all around the world will be cussing you! You've made an image I couldn't with a camera, and yet dopey clients who don't know the difference between artwork and photography (or who don't care) are still going to ask me to duplicate that look anyway! Usually with a stone that's about the size of a small pea.

<img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/frown.gif">

(But I bet I could do it *faster* with a camera <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/wink.gif"> )

Haha, Steve! You're probably right, this thing definately took me a good while to complete. Each step was an interesting one, though, I must admit. It also became a lot more complex than I had originally envisioned... partially from 'happy accidents' and partially from taking advice from y'all. It wasn't (and still isnt) easy to wrap my mind around that many light sources, not to mention that you have to represent the thing three dimensionally via its hidden facets and such. It really was a fun project... I may try one more revision before I call it "done", and add a little more definition to the edges and such.

Oh, and thanks for the kind words and advice everyone! The feedback always makes these projects more fun, along with improving the end result. Cheers!

hey teycho, your gems looks great.

btw: i've seen one that also looks great
at: http://www.metatron-index.de/
you may have a look at there for inspiration. ;-)

cu, tea

{{editing -> just making the link "clickable", sorry for the intrusion - DL}}

[This message has been edited by DL-44 (edited 06-09-2000).]

Hey, thats a pretty sweet gem. I think It's made in a 3d program, though, not solely in Photoshop. I could be wrong though. Its too bad I dont speak German... we could ask the guy <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/wink.gif">

Oh, and thanks! I'll have a new (final) revision posted soon hopefully.



It's always darkest before dawn. So if you're going to steal your neighbor's newspaper, that's the time to do it.