Digital Chrome

This tutorial will walk you through the process of creating chromed text, just like the you'll see here at the garage. The first step is to create a new 24-Bit color or better image using pure white (255,255,255) as the background color. Size is not really important, but remember that the smaller the inital image, the smaller the working memory Corel will use during this project.

After you have your blank image open, select the Font Tool and enter in the text that you would like to chrome. In this example I will use the word: Wojanland

First thing to do is to duplicate the text object, in case it is needed later after the ripple distort. You can do this from the Objects pulldown, or by cutting and pasting. After you have done this, we can begin the work in the text to transform it to chrome. From the pulldown choose: Mask, Create from Object(s). The next and possibly most difficult part of the process is to create the fill that will be used to simulate the reflection of sky and earth in the chrome. These can be saved, but are stored internally in Corel, so you will have to create this on your own. Here is what the fill should look like, use your color picker tool to sample the colors from the image to create your own:

After you have your fill created, DON' FORGET TO SAVE IT! you will be very upset if you lose this and have to re-create it, so go ahead and do it now. Simply type in the name CHROME in the Presets dialog and click the + key.

Now to use the fill, make sure that the angle is set to 90 degrees just like the above dialog and then click OK.

Now you are ready to fill the masked text with your new gradient fill. Your image should look like this:

Now all we need to do is add a little surface distortion so the horizon doesn't look so perfect. To do this use the the Ripple Tool from the Effects, 2D Effects pulldown. In the dialog box, set it up like this (you can play with the settings for the desired effect):

Now we need to chisel the text to give it some depth and weight like a metal emblem would have. To do this we use the Boss Tool from the Effects, 3D Effects menu.

Here are the settings I used:

Now all this is left is to do a little drop shadow to finish off the 3D look, and then add some sparkle. Here are the drop shadow settings I used:

After you do the drop, the image should look like:

To do the sparkles, use the following paintbrush:

Set the paint color to one or two shades off of white(178,178,178), so that is shows up on the text as well as the white background. Place the sparkles at random highlighted locations on the text. Make sure to do it both high and low, and remember: Less is more, don't over do it here, otherwise it will look cheesy. Once you complete this, the final image should look like so:

These settings are adjustable depending on how thick you want the chromed metal lettering to look. Play with the settings, and remember, when it won't go fast, chrome it! If you make something cool with this, e-mail me.