so 2-ton asked for an enviromap for gold and i was wondering if one could just use a picture of real gold and use it

obviously that doesnt work very well

then i was thinking if one could somehow sample the colours from a gold image
and finally i remembered there was a tool for sampling a gradient along a path

thats what i did - same gradient (attached), just used in three different ways (simple gradient as map, and then the two variants with the enviromap-script)

what do you think ?

First one, nice and shiny but too pixelated, second one very pretty, third one, the best for clean edges.
All very nice though

its not pixelated because of the map, molly (i think/hope)

First one to me, looks like a rough gold bar. The second one is my fav. I agree with Molly on the third one. Lines on that one are sweet.

I also like the second for shiny-ness but too much black, what 2-ton wanted to get away from

They all look as though they could have been made using a metallic gradient of some kind with a color curve applied to it. Then colored however one wanted to color it.
Nonetheless I prefer the 1st one.

I think I like the 2nd one best but the first one is more realistic. Perhaps the pixelation on the 1st one was caused by the bump map depth being too high in the lighting filter. That, or the bump map itself, along with the curve, caused the issue. All those factors seem to contribute to pixelation in my tests.

I tried a couple of approaches, with one being a tweaked Golden Gradient, Enviro-Mapped to a black bar using a map created with the EnviroMap script, tweaking the environment map parameters to get the results I was after. I shifted the hue/saturation/lightness on the final result.






Another approach I tried was to Environment Map a gold pattern onto a black bar using a custom Bump Map, which yielded pretty good results. I filled a 1600x1200 image with the gold pattern to use as the Environment Map.








This one was Environment Mapped at a depth of .03 using a sinusoidal curve.

I love them both but the bottom one is really unique. Very nice texture.

esper: i think the first one looks best, but it's a matter of taste. actually, looking at real gold it often looks most like the last one, it's just that that's not the look people are after in a gold text effect.
gnu tux: wow! that looks really good!

Wow, awesome golds! Just got back from a flash trip to NYC and won't have time to play for a day or two, but can't wait to try the two tons of gold effects!

i made some more gold gradients with the RobA script
would love to see people trying them out and post the results

btw, the gradients are sampled from this image:
https://885fa5ce61295ebf3c84-35b073afd3 ... d_bars.jpg

Thanks for the new gradients, Esper.

Here's your first result.

Freaking Sweet!

so, are the ggr's enviromaps or just gradients that I need to make into a enviroment map?

I don't know what I like more all the wonderful images or the name of this thread.

Lol, Hearty, it is a clever title.
I need to know...how to make a large flat area using the enviro map to make it look like when doing text. This is a quick mock up I did using one of these new gold gradients, but would rather it was "enviromapped" as that would look more like a real gold slab and then make the words look engraved.

You could use the approach I mentioned in the first example I posted. I probably wasn't too clear in my explanation.

You can environment map a gradient based topographical style environment map onto a black rectangle using a Bump Map that you create for the bevel. Once you get the beveled flat area looking like like you want, you can use a standard bump map to add on text or graphics/dings.

1) Create a black rectangle the size you want for your bar.


2) Duplicate the layer and Gauss blur (20px) the outside edge for your bevel and place on a white BG.


3) Use the EnviroMap script to generate an Environment Map image in a new tab. I used 2tons Gold 07 gradient with the following settings.


4) Run the lighting filter on the black rectangle, using the Environment Map and Bump Map you created. For the Bump Map settings, I used a linear curve with a depth of 20. One of the most critical settings is the distance slider under the Options tab. You will need to adjust the distance slider to get the results you're after. In this case, I used a distance settings of 0.364, which was the best tweak for that particular Environment Map.




Result of Environment Map


5) Create another Bump Map for your Text/Graphics or Dings and apply to your gold bar. I added a background and drop shadow on the final result.

Hue Shifted

Additional Lighting


This is just one example of an Environment Map combined with a Bump Map. Once you get the Bump Map created and the Environment Map up in a new tab, you can keep generating unique maps using the EnviroMap script and apply them to your bar using the Lighting Effects filter. Keep doing/undoing/tweaking until you get the result you're after. You can then save off the final Environment Map for later use.