Preserved Topic: Jeni's Great Brain Fart

Hi all. I need help with something. I am rendering packaging for my company that doesn't exist yet. I have done this many times. The artwork for the packaging exists on computer. No problem. But this time...

This packaging is being printed on mirrorboard-kinda like foil. I'm trying to create this texture in PS to drop the artwork on top of. I have to do this for like 20 different packages and I have really hit a mental block on how to do this-create a rectangle that is filled with a reflective material, has no shape.

Any ideas?

Edit> BTW, first person to mention the you-know-what filter looses a finger!

[This message has been edited by Jeni (edited 06-04-2001).]

You want to fill a rectangle with a reflecting texture that has no shape? Umm...I'm not sure if I get what you really want, sorry Jeni

If you were looking at a perfectly flat piece of tin foil...you'd be seeing it...

Jeni,
If I understand you right (and I may not...) you want to create a reflective 'texture' in PS.
The thing about reflective things is that they...uhmmm...reflect. That is, what they look like is very highly influenced by their environment. So, the question is, What is the environment you wish to portray??
(If you don't believe me, take that perfectly flat piece of foil and look at it in your office, outside, infront of trees, in different lights...you will soon see what I mean...)


mobrul

digital camera and take a picture of tin foil, following that, turn it into a repeating pattern, the hands-on tutorials have a section which covers that.

I think with this you would hit the same sort of problem you hit when you attempt to design something that has a reflection. That is what the shiny surface is, and there are problems when attempting this in PS.

Mobrul therein lies my problem. I have to create these as if they were shot in a studio; each one alone and all in a group. I've got a piece of this mirrorboard in front of me and that's my problem.

Here's what I came up with.

eh look at the metal looking part.

This is a simple job for Bryce not PS........PS just cant do everything and when it cant i head into Bryce land or infin-D..............create a textured mirror background add some artificial light and whallllla...reflective background you can layer images on.......just a thought...

If I were shooting this in the studio, I'd have white panels placed around it so that what reflected was uniform and unbroken. We try to get the light on the panels to graduate a bit so it doesn't appear to be a solid ink. You might be able to simulate it with a tricky gradient.

That's for the stand-alone box. A "group shot" would not permit the surround fill, so you know what will be reflected - the neighboring boxes. Good luck suggesting that.

If the foil is silver, and the intent is to look like a studio shot, there won't be much color in the reflection. If it's a flat surface with no embossing, there won't be much in the way of highlights either.

When we shoot mirrors, we try to position a solid background in the reflection and light that independent of the mirror itself, so we can control the shading in the reflection. Rounded shiny objects like bottles give more options for suggesting highlights. Flat reflective things, isolated from an environment - really about all you can do is work at graduating the light on what they "see".

Good luck!

Jeni: "I am rendering packaging for my company that doesn't exist yet. I have done this many times. "

You really need to get a job with a company that does exist.

ROFLMAO linear. You know dats da troof!

Well, it seems like what you want is a rather simple image (simple as in little detail..not easy...).

Steve of course, has some very important observations on the issue.
I would recommend trying something like a b&w coulds run, then blur the hell out of it, do some curves adjustments and the like......gradients obviously could give you what you want, but it'd take a lot of playing...

Jen-

no xpert here, but i'm with doCcyber on the bryce thing. Good luck. If u could post what u come up with thatd be great.

fuck bryce.

photoshop can damn well do it.....and do it damn well.

Yeah I agree with DL. Fuck Bryce! dam! that's so fun to say... hehe...

Heh, this might help a bit... make sure you read through all of the pages in the article