Just messing around with lighting effects with channels copied to layers. Trying to stay away from scripts and do it free hand. I really wish GIMP had a fragment filter.
Not too happy with some of the jaggies on certain edges but i guess we can keep trying.

Critique welcome.



Oh and i attached the XCF file. I believe if you want to critique so i can learn you should have the workspace file to show an example.

Thanks!

Added a cloudiness to the plastic. Seemed to look a little more realistic.

Looks great Rod.
Something I picked up from Esper is to incorporate the use of the G'Mic 'anisotropic smoothing' filter to help remove some of the jaggies.
I've used it before and it works pretty good. Although I'm not as skilled as Esper with all the variables involved with this filter, I have had some nice results with it.

my guess is you applied a contour to the bumpmap ?

if so blur it again by ~5 and you wont have any jaggies

i talked about it here, on my blog too
http://gimp-science-labs.blogspot.de/20 ... el-ii.html

besides that, excellent result, me thinks !
the lighting effects filter is very underrated

Overall, it's a really good effect. Aside from the aliasing, which has already been mentioned, the one issue I see is that some of the highlights, specifically on the "d" and at the bottom of the "b" could be smoothed or scattered a bit more. Too often we see too much blur being used, over the entire image, instead of using focused blur/scatter, which can really affect the sharpness and detail of the finished image.

I've noticed this issue on many of the images that use this (or a similar) technique to generate highlights. Not sure exactly what to suggest to improve the effect it but I'm sure that you can improve the effect, if anyone can. The highlights on the 'r' looks perfect though.

depends on the lights you use

Wallace - Excellent idea using smoothing. I didn't think of that.
Esper i applied a curve (freehand) to the blurred channel to get an almost outer stroke.

If the wind filter had a stagger setting i would have added some stress points on the sides of the lettering.
Does anyone know if it is possible to stagger the wind effect in GIMP?

Thanks Tux. I am still learning the ins and outs of the Lighting Effects filter. So much can be done with it. Still trying to figure out how to add an environment map.

of course you are

and the only thing i change is the sharpness, mostly values between 0,5 and 0,7 work best

all my other values never change !
(Amplitude 100, Anisotropy: max, Iterations: 2 - all lifted from monsoonami`s chrome tut)

that never works for me


yeah its the ring-contour

http://gimpchat.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=6518

I think it looks very nice and shiny, there seems to be a few oddly placed white lines, though.
No biggy, Nice work!

As you well know, one of the deficiencies in GIMP are the various issues with the lighting techniques, especially the lighting plug-in. I think some post processing is probably going to be solution.

Heck, you can't even call the lighting plug-in interactively in Script-Fu without it crashing, not to mention arguments that don't really do much, if anything at all. I'd really like to see the lighting plug-in rewritten. Either that or there be a separate lighting plug-in developed. But hey, we do the best with what we have.

isnt the lighting effects something that could be plugged into G'MIC ?
that would be awesome !

Tux we do need a re write of this old archaic filter. It does bring some really good results though especially with bump maps if you get the maps correct that is.

Esper you are spot on. It is a Ring Contour. I agree a G'MIC lighting plugin would be exceptional.

Thanks Mokonafan. I believe what you are seeing are light reflections. The light src is coming from top left just above the b. Light is reflecting off the inner plastic onto the outer area. I believe now that all the light faults are from my bump map itself. Slightly more blur and perhaps a cloudiness added to the channel instead of a layer with a layer mode. I am still playing.

Thanks for all your input guys. Much appreciated.

You know, I'm really not sure what can be done with G'MIC and how much interaction there is between what G'MIC provides and GIMP's built-in functions. Maybe Rono will see this thread and chime in. I remember searching for alternatives a few year ago and found one early plug-in that was being developed, but for some reason development stopped.

The issues with the lighting plug-in has been around since I started using GIMP and I keep hoping it will be improved (or at least fixed), but it doesn't seem to be a priority for the developers.

Well, you're right but it can be a pain in the rear to use and the UI could be a lot better.

I know and it has everything to do with beveling effects. Seems like they would understand designers need this plug-in updated. I would love to see a lighting effects filter similar to Filter Forges light settings. Just move a sphere around to the lighting you prefer and voila! Instant perfect light src.

Not GIMP related.
I put the image through Filter Forge 3 Grid Warp filter. Pretty cool.

Checkerboard with psychobilly added. All GIMP.

Without a bg.

Nice effect ROD



That is simple just open the e.map as image, and will become available in the L.E. filter

i still use a golden map from RobA, almost only i did variants in different colours, if you like i may search them and post

I tried other maps but that is the one that works best for me

Adding the clouds make it look sort of like bakelite. I really like that Rod.

PC - Thanks i would like to try it out if you still have it. Exactly which format does an environment map have anyways?
Lyle i see what you mean. Thanks for the comments.

EDIT: How to use Environment Maps with the Lighting Effects filter.
http://www.home.unix-ag.org/simon/gimp/golden.html
1) Create or open an RGB image. (environment map)
2) Create a new grayscale image of your object or text. (black bg and white text) blur with Gaussian blur. Use curves and levels or whatever you wish. (bump map)
3) Create a new RGB image the same size as your object or text layer.
4) open the lighting effects plugin and select bump map and environment maps. I also had to select directional lighting

Results







After opening the original image as a layer and doing a select alpha then a select invert i got this.



Pretty convincing piece of gold bullion no?