Preserved Topic: Liquid Gold

I have been trying to re-create liquidgold type, following instructions set out in a set of actions I found, I thought this would help me understand Photoshop more and what I can do with it, I am stumped on 2 particular items.
1. Under lighting effects - spotlights it says - position, vector 0 and vector 1 - what does that mean and where do I go to change those items.
2. Set Selection - transparency channel - where is that or what do I do to get it.

Basic stuff possibly for you brainy people out there, but tough when your're just setting out.
All help gratefully received!

so you want someitng like this 'cept gold?

Yes, anything that looks like it is dripping in gold

well, ya need to start with channels.

Get your text selectins, load as cahnnel.
Duplicat that channel. select it and then gauss blure it. with this kind of a blure start with one around 8 or higher depending on the size of your text. then blure again at a lower setting and again at a lower setting. finally unselect the text part and do a gauss blure of the entire thing. around 1 or lower.
should like kinda like this:


ok, now um....
ok, load your first selection, the unblured channel and go to a layer. fill the selectin with dark grey. go to the lighting FX... um, play around with the setting untill you get someitng like this...

I really dont know the exact settings... you just have to mess wit alll the levels untill you get something nice.

now the fun part. I like to duplicate that lighting FX later just in case.
now run over to the curves and play with them.
like this...


err... yeah, play wit that stuff... let us know if it helps/hinders you....

I gotta run now, but the final color can be changed from silver to gold with the curves or with the hue thingy...





[This message has been edited by eyezaer (edited 02-07-2001).]

yeah....that basic concept is a pretty good place to start. the method is pretty flexible, and the more you get uesd to using curves the better it'll be.

for more info on curves, check out Steve's tute at the gurusnetwork:
http://www.gurusnetwork.com/tutorials/photoshop/

you'll also find DarkGraden's 'splatter/drip' tute there.....should help if you want a nice splash or drip pattern to go with your text.I also have a tute there (Adding Depth) that goes into the lighting effects dialogue box a bit...may be helpful.

[This message has been edited by DL-44 (edited 02-07-2001).]

I would imagine in your action that "position, vector 0, vector 1" would be the sources of light? A vector by definition requirea both magnitude and direction. So I would assume that it is refering to both the postion of the two sources, their brightness, and the direction the spotlight is pointed.

Notice the little arrow that comes up when you choose spotlight. One end has a circle and one end has an arrow barb. Well, that is a vector indicator. The circle is the "anchor point" and the arrow shows the direction of the light. The length of the line determines the magnitude of the vector so the longer the line, the greater the brightness.

Make sense? (I love Physics)

Here's some goldish stuff I've made. Just lighting fx and curves...sometimes brightness/contrast, hue/sat, and curves adjustments.

Edit: I realized I used some highly blurred displace filter for the first one.




(The second one is silver, but could be easily colored to gold with a hue/sat adjustment.)



[This message has been edited by mbridge (edited 02-07-2001).]

Rachel:

2) Set Selection -> to: transparency channel is created in an action when you record (from the menu bar) Select --> Load ... and on the dialog select Layer Transparency in the Channel: box.

1) Vector 0 is the origin of the light and vector 1 is the place the light is pointing to. When you bring up the lighting effect filter, there will be a line that represents the light on the preview part of the dialog box. Moving this line will change the values of vector 0 and vector 1.

You can edit the values in the action by double clicking on the Action step you want to edit. For example, if you double click on the Lighting Effect step, PhotoShop will display the Lighting Effect dialog box and allow you to change the values for the action.