2D Vector logos and shapes rendered to glass/metal/blobs?

[LittleOtter]

Hi all,

I'm a fairly experienced graphics/web designer but I'm sure that some of thr things that I do could be done in a far more efficient way!

In particular, I design shapes (including my company logo) in CorelDraw and I use many layers of vectors, graduated fills, lenses, transparancies and shadows to create "molten glass" or "molten metal" effects for my chosen shapes. Although the results are fairly good, it's very laborious.

I'm now wanting to do a whole lot of glass or metal style shapes for logos, buttons and navigation shapes on a new website so I need to find a better way.

Are there any software packages or plugins that enable the rapid rendering of such effects?

Incredibly I used to have an ancient piece of software called Instant 3D that could take WMF vectors and render metal or glass, but it's very very buggy and it doesn't like XP.

Your thoughts are much appreciated.

Cheers,
L.O.

[Toon]

Web 2.0 free buttons maker! - (Custom icon font and background, anti-alias rendering)

[LittleOtter]

Hi Toon,

Thanks for the link, looks very good. Although it looks ideal for many button applications, it can't deal with other 2D vector shapes (imagine the CocaCola logo for example) rendered into molten glass styleeee.

Forgive me if I've missed something. But I am going to have a juicier look at that site and have a play.

Cheers

[Toon]

Oh well, you could always try...

How To Make Pancakes Like a Crack Head

[LittleOtter]

Just thought I'd update this thread with my findings.

I found a fab suite of software called DreamSuite1 by AutoFX. In particular, the "Liquid Metal" effect is the one that I really wanted (on it's own it costs $50). However, I bought the whole load of 18 effects for $139 (down from the usual $199).

Here's my early attempt at using this effect:


The software just needs a monochrome PNG file to act as a mask and then you can fiddle with all the effects settings until you get what you want. You can even use your own photographs for reflecting into the metallic surface. Great fun.

Regards,
L.O.

[quintana]

That is bevel overload, not a good style to adopt

[dannynosleeves]

Originally Posted by quintana

That is bevel overload, not a good style to adopt

Holy crap is it ever!


HAve you tried recycling any of your layers/filters, gradients/etc and use them on new work?

[Kelly Creative]

It hurts my eyes

[poke]

Blender will do all that you need, and its free. But it will take you time to learn.