metallic shine

[spaceagent-9]

the naboo fighter has chrome looking paint/ink on it.
i can supply a pic.
what i am looking for is the way to create this.
i have tried to do it in paint and only gotten a grey poor imitation.
is there a way to do this?
i would like to make a few chrome models. i could take the ink out and leave the lines and borders to print over the metallic look.
how is this done?
or will someone do a model i have made for me? it would look a lot better in a chrome metal than lifeless grey.
sincerely,
jim

[spaceagent-9]

this is a sample off a naboo fighter pm
that has the quality i am looking for

[Sushibones]

Gradial fills are your friend there buddy. I'm pretty sure GIMP has that tool.

[Neptune]

Originally Posted by Sushibones

Gradial fills are your friend there buddy. I'm pretty sure GIMP has that tool.

Right. I've played with the gradient toll in several programs, it's a great tool and can make for some really nice effects.

[spaceagent-9]

i guess i gotta try gimp again!
thanks!

[Sushibones]

Personally, I find that you get a very nice, more 'organic'(probably not the right word lol), look just by using the airbrush tool set to low opacity and flow. Then going over with the dodge and burn tools. Not sure if GIMP has them but worth a look.

[spaceagent-9]

i will study that soon, right now i have a lot of moving stuff to do this weekend.
thank you for telling me though, i just am about to tear down and rebuild all my stuff for a long weekend of rearranging for new furnature. i will let you know how i do on gimp. please keep telling me tips!

[Neptune]

Originally Posted by spaceagent-9

i will study that soon, right now i have a lot of moving stuff to do this weekend.
thank you for telling me though, i just am about to tear down and rebuild all my stuff for a long weekend of rearranging for new furnature. i will let you know how i do on gimp. please keep telling me tips!

Good luck with all that you have going on. Trust me, the only way to learn this stuff is to play with it. I've learned how to improve my owrk in the last year, but I had fiddled with this stuff, off and on for some time. It's like anything else, repetition is the key to learning, at least that's what they told me in engineering classes at UMR.

[KCinKC46]

You used to be able to find Alps printers on Ebay. Alps had gold and silver inks in their printers as standard colors.

[sgoti]

Originally Posted by KCinKC46

You used to be able to find Alps printers on Ebay. Alps had gold and silver inks in their printers as standard colors.

Yeah, good luck on finding the inks at a reasonable price (I have two Alps printers).

As others have said: Gradients, gradients, gradients.

You might take a look at these:

Gradients in GIMP
and
Gimp Gradient Editor

One important thing that often gets overlooked is that gradients can be applied to opacity, not just color changes.

I used a gradient pattern to produce some decals that simulated stainless steel fluting (a process called "shadowlining") on HO passenger cars. Took me quite a bit of trial/error to get the effect I wanted. The ultimate compliment was when I was showing a model off, and every single person had to run a fingernail over the pattern area to see that it was a coloring effect and not actually fluted.

This of course caused some of the shadowlined areas to wear, but then the same thing happened on the prototype.