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Xara and PS
- Thread starter ronmatt
- Start date
Well, I didn't that far with the eye ball, but I've been experamenting and I came up with a kinda semi-translucent sphere. I made the reflections by hand with the pen tool, trying to make it look realistic. I tried doing the same to the eye, but it just looked fake...
As I read this thread, I think I'm learning a bunch but this mug looks like a drawing because the shadow on the handle shows the handle not to be perpendicular to the cylinder of the mug but bent toward the viewer.
I am not an illustrator. I am trying to figure out why I can not grasp the WHY of the coffee mug and sorry, it looks like a drawing of a mug.
I am not an illustrator. I am trying to figure out why I can not grasp the WHY of the coffee mug and sorry, it looks like a drawing of a mug.
theKeeper
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The eyeball Patrick is tough to follow up with because it already has reflections that look just fine. Covering the pupil is harder because the image is so large. You really need to hit the nail on the head using an image that large if you're going to fool the viewer's eye.
I think it looks just fine without the pupil being covered though.
Nice job on the new sphere too. It's subtle and doesn't have any real visible 'stunts' added to it to try and make it more "stand-out-ish" against that bg. And that's a big mistake a lot of people make. They try to hard to make their effects stand out instead of just letting them do their thing. Here's a tip: nature doesn't create "special effects", nature just 'is'. People need to let their graphics do the same thing. Don't try so hard to bring attention to the effects used to make the image look realistic. Because that's what makes them look synthetic.
Adding a slightly small dark shadow, barely larger than the base of the sphere, will help set the sphere off against the bg. (i'll post an example of this shortly)
I like the cup too, nice work.
Turn the handle abit more outward though, it 'appears' to be more on a flat prophile at the moment. All you need to do is change the lighting/shadows on it. That'll fix it.
Oh and may i suggest a wee-bit'o texture/surface imperfections be added. That'll spice thing up nicely. i.e. like sipping stains around the lip.
I think it looks just fine without the pupil being covered though.
Nice job on the new sphere too. It's subtle and doesn't have any real visible 'stunts' added to it to try and make it more "stand-out-ish" against that bg. And that's a big mistake a lot of people make. They try to hard to make their effects stand out instead of just letting them do their thing. Here's a tip: nature doesn't create "special effects", nature just 'is'. People need to let their graphics do the same thing. Don't try so hard to bring attention to the effects used to make the image look realistic. Because that's what makes them look synthetic.
Adding a slightly small dark shadow, barely larger than the base of the sphere, will help set the sphere off against the bg. (i'll post an example of this shortly)
I like the cup too, nice work.
Turn the handle abit more outward though, it 'appears' to be more on a flat prophile at the moment. All you need to do is change the lighting/shadows on it. That'll fix it.
Oh and may i suggest a wee-bit'o texture/surface imperfections be added. That'll spice thing up nicely. i.e. like sipping stains around the lip.
theKeeper
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Here's that example i mentioned Patrick.
Left top image shows without the "base shadow" i spoke of.
Right top image shows with the base shadow; circle in red in the bottom image.
See the difference? Notice how it makes the image look more 'anchored' to the surface? That's what its function is, and why it needs to be there. Without it, your eyes will tell you there's something wrong but you may not necessarily see what it is.
Left top image shows without the "base shadow" i spoke of.
Right top image shows with the base shadow; circle in red in the bottom image.
See the difference? Notice how it makes the image look more 'anchored' to the surface? That's what its function is, and why it needs to be there. Without it, your eyes will tell you there's something wrong but you may not necessarily see what it is.
theKeeper
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Ok np here's the link: Glassy Orb Thingy Source File
Ok, well I went to do some more experimenting. I started looking around the house to find objects and study them. Then I found a little white marble... I took it outside (lighting inside stinks) and found a well lit spot (not too bright, not too dark) put it on a piece of paper and studied it. It was very helpful and here's what I came up with. The reflection was done by hand with the pen tool, but I think it looks pretty believable.
Also, thanks again for the sphere, Mark; it was a great help to me.
Here's the .psd too, so if you'd like to have a look at it and give me any more pointers, that would much appriciated.
http://us.f1.yahoofs.com/bc/437fe093_177a5/bc/uploads/orb_white.zip?BCDV.fDBMNiVxG2Q
Also, thanks again for the sphere, Mark; it was a great help to me.
Here's the .psd too, so if you'd like to have a look at it and give me any more pointers, that would much appriciated.
http://us.f1.yahoofs.com/bc/437fe093_177a5/bc/uploads/orb_white.zip?BCDV.fDBMNiVxG2Q
theKeeper
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Aaaah, from the lighting to the shading to the shadows to the subtle reflection on the surface, that looks very good indeed Patrick. You've really progressed well in this arena. :}
The main ball reflection looks ok too. You obviously took its shape from something specific, no? Something you noticed while studying the marble outside?
I'll give you another good tip for reflections applied to non mirror-like surfaces such as this... use sillouettes. Because that's usually what the reflections end up looking like. And it's not quite enough just to greyscale a photo and use a specific blend mode to bring out either light or dark area of the photo. You need to actually manually paint over certain parts of the photo to make the a sillouette.
The main characteristic of these sillouette reflections is that, you're seeing a reflection of an environment "from the dark side" of the reflection; i.e. the light source in the reflection is behind (backlighting) the scene/objects in the reflection. Which is why you see a sillouette.
Anywho... i think that about covers it from this type of effect. The cool thing now is... you can take all of this info/technique and apply it to just about any other type of 'object' you create in PS; when/if you're after a realistic looking effect.
Well done Patrick, A+ i'd say.
PS: that link doesn't work Patrick, could you repost it please? I'd like to browse through your layers.
The main ball reflection looks ok too. You obviously took its shape from something specific, no? Something you noticed while studying the marble outside?
I'll give you another good tip for reflections applied to non mirror-like surfaces such as this... use sillouettes. Because that's usually what the reflections end up looking like. And it's not quite enough just to greyscale a photo and use a specific blend mode to bring out either light or dark area of the photo. You need to actually manually paint over certain parts of the photo to make the a sillouette.
The main characteristic of these sillouette reflections is that, you're seeing a reflection of an environment "from the dark side" of the reflection; i.e. the light source in the reflection is behind (backlighting) the scene/objects in the reflection. Which is why you see a sillouette.
Anywho... i think that about covers it from this type of effect. The cool thing now is... you can take all of this info/technique and apply it to just about any other type of 'object' you create in PS; when/if you're after a realistic looking effect.
Well done Patrick, A+ i'd say.
PS: that link doesn't work Patrick, could you repost it please? I'd like to browse through your layers.
Thanks for the comments The reflection out side was a bit different, so I kinda free formed it till it looked good. It was based mainly on sky reflecting around the fence and surrounding buildings round my house.
Link don't work? \:/ Hmmm, dya know of a good free file hosting site? The .zip is 270kb... Or, maybe I could just email it to you.
The reflection out side was a bit different, so I kinda free formed it till it looked good. It was based mainly on sky reflecting around the fence and surrounding buildings round my house. Link don't work? \:/ Hmmm, dya know of a good free file hosting site? The .zip is 270kb... Or, maybe I could just email it to you.