Thread: Brass Nameplate in Photoshop

1. Start big - we'll resize it later; for this I will start at 1000 x 200.

2. Change the colors from black and white to something like sand and something like taupe. For this I went chose F0E098 (rgb 240, 224, 152) for my sand color and 7E6C28 (rgb 126, 108, 40) for my taupe.

3. Create a new layer and fill it with the lighter color.

4. Now we add some layer styles.

A. First, Bevel and Emboss: inner bevel, smooth, depth is 341%, direction is up, size is 10, use our sand color instead of white and set it to linear dodge at 75%, use our taupe color instead of black and set it to linear burn at 75%, lastly we need to get some gloss on that bevel so click on the little window that says "Gloss Contour" -- this brings up the contour editor...add a bunch of spikes and valleys similar to what I have shown in Pic 1.

B. Next, Gradient Overlay: set the blend mode to linear light and the opacity to 60%, set the angle to whatever you want but I went with 100, set the scale all the way up to 150%. Now click on the little window that shows what the gradient looks like -- this brings up the gradient editor. Use the settings in Pic 2. If you click on the "randomize" button it will change your gradient so keep clicking until you get something that you like.

C. Lastly, Inner Glow: use the sand color set to normal and 75% opacity, choke is 10, and size is 100. Make sure that you click the box for center instead of edge.

Your name plate should look similar to Pic 3.

5. Add in your text.

6. Let's add some layer styles now:

A. Bevel and Emboss: inner bevel, chisel soft, down, size is 5, use white for the highlight at 100% normal mode and black for the shadow at 100% normal mode.

B. Inner Shadow: use the taupe color at 50% opacity normal mode, distance of 5 and size of 1.

C. Color Overlay: use the sand color at 100% opacity in screen mode.

D. Stroke: use the taupe with a size of 1 and opacity of 50%, outside and normal mode.

You should have something like Pic 4.

7. Let's get some screws in there now so create a new layer. Grab a circular pencil with whatever size you want...I went with 45 hard round. Once you have your circle we get more layer styles:

A. Gradient Overlay: click on the little window that shows what the gradient looks like and bring up the gradient editor, use a gradient that goes from sand to taupe, slide the sand color to the middle point at 50%, close the gradient editor and set the angle to match the other gradient angles (120), lastly you might need to click on the reverse button to make sure that the dark color is in the top left of the circle.

B. Bevel and Emboss: inner bevel, smooth, depth is 341% (or whatever you want), size is 10, soften is maxed at 16, use the sand color for the highlight set to 75% linear dodge, and use the taupe color for the shadow set to 75% linear burn.

C. Stroke: size is 5 and outside, change the fill type from color to gradient, open the gradient editor again and change the colors from b & w to sand and taupe, make sure that the taupe is in the top left of the circle so you might have to click the reverse button, and set the angle to 120.

8. Duplicate this layer, click on the pointer tool, hold down the shift key and drag the new screw to the other side of the name plate.

You should have something like Pic 5.

9. Screws need slots so let's get them in. Create a new layer and draw a line right over the top of each screw...try to get it centered. I use guides to help me get my stuff centered as in Pic 6.

10. Ctrl-click on the first screw layer, at the top of the screen click on Select - Inverse, hit the delete key. Repeat this process for the second screw and when done, hit ctrl-d to deselect. Now our slots are contained.

11. Time for more styles:

A. Gradient overlay: sand to taupe, taupe at the top (set the angle to 90) and maybe click the reverse button if you need to.

B. Inner Shadow: use the taupe color set to multiply at 75% opacity, the rest is default.

12. For the last step create a new layer, ctrl-click on the first screw layer and use the paint bucket tool to fill the selection. Ctrl-click on the second screw and fill this selction as well then deselect. On the layers palette, set the fill to zero. Add one last layer style of drop shadow: use the taupe color set to multiply at 75% opacity, keep the size small like 2 or 3 and the distance as well...the spread can be anything you want.

Your final name plate should look like Pic 7.

There are many ways to do this, the most common is to make a bunch of your own color stripes, blur them, and rotate them. If you wanted something in silver rather than brass you could try one of the numerous brushed metal tuts on the web (there are hundreds). You could also mess around with the bevel on the text to suit what you want or even go all the way and do a lighting effects render (layer of 50% gray, add text, inner gradient stroke of 50% gray to black, merge layers, render lighting, set layer to overlay). All kinds of variations on this, play around and have fun with it.

Cheers, all.

Since the plate is all one layer with several layer effects and a gradient, might I suggest saving those settings to a Style so you can apply it to a new object with a single click?

Window > Styles, click the flyout button in the upper right corner, and choose "New Style." Give it a name, and now whenever you want that same kind of plate, no matter the shape, make the object, open the styles, and click on your custom style.

Great tute. I'll have to have a shot at this in Gimp.

Originally Posted by torstan

Great tute. I'll have to have a shot at this in Gimp.

OHHH! Please and thank you!!

I went ahead and put the layer styles and the psd file into a zip and added that to the first post.