chrome!!??

im having trouble with chrome... how do you make it realistic??? i wish i had more to say but thats about it

im having trouble with chrome... how do you make it realistic??? i wish i had more to say but thats about it anyone??????

I tend to go for the generic desert effet, it's quicker. Basically I start with all element from far (black/dark brown) to near (white/lighter tone) for the ground. I work the tone of the sky in reverse (really light to medium light) leaving white areas for the highlight of the part. I applied the reflection of the shadow of the base. Then I give volume to the drawing. You can add realism by putting fine black shape straight in the middle as this will represent the reflection of the viewer.

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=500/82729ball.jpg

I know in Dick Powell's book "Rendering Techniques" there is a chapter on rendering chrome which is quite good to explain how the reflexion works.

thx i get it kinda now...but thx for replying

sorry for the late reply, but with metal, you have to remember that the surface is extremely shiny so that you are going to have a lot of crisp lines on the edges of your highlights and shadows. remember also that there is only one pure highlight (the lightest light) and also one core shadow (the lowest shadow tone in relativity). this means that you dont have 30 highlights all being the same value because it will flatten out the object. so just remember the pure highlight, core shadow, crisp hard lines, then pull in the reflections and ull be set.