Hi Friends,
I'm working on an image which will contain a few silver rings. Shiny silver like sterling silver, not like raw silver as in native American jewelry (which silver is not shiny). Here's a screenshot of what I have. It actually looks like not shiny silver, but every time I try to add some white to it, it just looks white, not shiny. So I'm hoping you might be able to give me a tip on how to improve it. The pink arrow points to what I'm trying to make a shiny silver ring (so obviously not a ring worn on a finger). The light and dark strips are supposed to be reflections, and they don't look right either. Part of the ring will lie behind the flower (which will eventually be colored).



Any ideas? Is it just too small to achieve shiny-ness?
Comments appreciated

Hello,

A great resource for svg based artwork can be found at open clipart.org, here is a link to a search I just ran on the keyword "Silver";

http://www.openclipart.org/search/?query=silver&page=4

There are a couple of source svg workups of silver locks at this link. You may want to download these two svg files and see how the creator made the arc portion of the lock, at first glance it looks like he/she used:
>GAUSSIAN BLUR http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Filters-Pixel.html#Filters-GaussianBlur
>GRADIENTS http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Attributes-Fill-Stroke.html#Attributes-Gradients-Adjust
>CLIP http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Clip.html

You can use these source svg files to learn how creators have used different edits available within Inkscape.

You might also want to browse through the heathenx.org inkscape video tutorials:

http://screencasters.heathenx.org/

Hope this helps you out...

Happy Holidays,
-vw

Thanks vwanweb!
Yes, I've definitely already used gradients, blurs and clips -- just not very effectively, lol.

There's a problem using the locks you found at Open Clipart Library. And I'm not sure exactly how to explain it. I guess the arc portion of those locks have flat areas, so that they aren't entirely round. And which much credit to the artist, because that's exactly how locks look. I'm sure I never would have figured out how to do that, lol. And on page 1 of your search results, there are a couple of wedding band style rings, but they're not quite right either.

Since posting the original message, I've been looking at the Chrome filters. But filters, are just SO frustrating to work with -- well, creating or editing filters, as opposed to just using them. I need to have a LOT of patience going into it. And every time I've attempted it, I just get so bogged down trying to fill in the gaps from what little instructional material is available. It just seems like I don't quite have the basic knowledge needed for it.

Anyway, by applying the existing filters to my little ring, at least I can see some ideas to work with. From all these bits and pieces, it appears that I need to lean more towards black and white extremes, rather than grays. So that's a start!

Thanks for your help. I really appreciate it

Ok, I think I have something usable for now. Although once I learn more about creating filters, I may still use a filter for this. But for now, I used the Non-Realistic 3D Shaders > Chrome filter to create a silver-looking ring, which is #3 below. Then I used that as a model to draw something similar, #4 (which still needs some blurring to look right). Even though I like how it looks, the dimensions of #4 aren't quite right. The exact size of the needed ring is #1. So I drew another new one, #2, to use in my image. Does it seem a little too blurry? Is it just too small to be successful with vector only? Maybe I'll fool around with stroke widths and blur values and try to improve...



Comments welcome

Actually I came up with a pretty good method for drawing this shiny ring, and I might write a tutorial later....

Hi,
It looks like you got it figured out, but I wanted to add in something I learned
in high school.
Silver is never just silver. It is always a reflection of the colors around it.
So if you have a blue car with chrome wheels, the wheels will have a streak of blue in it.
Like the chrome filter you used, but remember to include a 'touch' of surrounding colors, i.e. the yellow.
so you would have gradation or streaks in the order of dark gray, color + gray, light gray, white, touch of color, light gray, dark gray.
Someday I'll learn how to upload photos lol.

Oh wow, thanks LadySapphire!
Yes, I have intuitively tried to include surrounding colors. But not as a streak like you suggest. I've been trying to reflect surrounding colors, by using a very light shade of the color, rather than white. But I will definitely try your technique, because I'm still not entirely satisfied with my result.
Thanks again

I thought I'd show the new version of the silver ring, after using this new info from LadySapphire. The one with color is the one in the correct position. And the previous one is below it (although will not be there in the finished image) just to show my best effort up until now. It still does not look right to me, but is the best so far. Any comments, advice, tips for improvement?

That is looking really good!
I have a second suggestion, if you want to try it.
Look at your color wheel, and tint your gray a touch of yellow. I think what's off is that
the gray is tinted with just a tad blue, so it's a cool color. While the yellow is a warm color.
They need a way to tie in a little.
I hope this helps^^
~LadySapphire

now that the silver ring is shown in the whole picture..seems to me that the more or less realistic look of the ring doesn't fit in with the style of the picture..unless the rest of the picture is also made more pseudo-photorealistic..or there's some other intention behind it. i realize it's a work in progress, but still see the style of the ring different to the 3d pimped flowers so far. Also with the current placement of the ring, it doesn't seem to fit well into the picture in a cohesive way like the bunch of flowers and leaves. or is that just temporary placement? Maybe more contrast/shadow on the ring would work?
anyway, great bit of work for the picture as a whole.

Thanks chriswww, and Lady Sapphire again.
Yes, it is very much a work in progress. And I'm unsure which way to go with it (see my other topic viewtopic.php?f=9&t=7580). But it's all just for fun and experience. It's not my job. But I still want to learn and improve on my limited skills (and hopefully learn new skills). So getting the silver ring to look right is almost like a separate project, as far as skill building, whether I end up using it in the end, or not.

Anyway, here's another update based on LS's comments. Actually it was a staight gray -- no blue in it. I tried a yellow tint on it, but it really didn't look right. But because of all the green leaves, I thought maybe a slight green tint. I also toned down some of the gray/black reflections.

I think this is another improvement, as far as the silver ring, but as I said, still not sure on overall style.



Thanks again for your comments. Much appreciated