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Creating the Colors,
Layers and Styles
First we are going to setup a document
with all the necessary elements for the effect. Make sure your document
measurement is set to Points.
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In a new document, create some new
layers named Reflections and Bevel. Put them in
the order that you see above.
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Then you will need to make some
new colors in the Color list (or Swatches).
Above are the CMYK mixtures to use
for the base colors (Blue, Light Blue, Ground). Then create a
50% Tint of the Blue. Also create 75% and 25%Tints of the Ground
color.
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Now we will be creating a bunch of new
Styles to use for the various objects we'll be creating. Below
are the names of the Styles and the colors to use in the Gradient fills,
as well as the angle of the fill.
To quickly create new Styles, draw a rectangle
(with no stroke) for each fill as described below. Then select
the rectangle and in the Style palette pull-down menu, choose
New. This will create a new Style based on your selection. Name
it and continue with the remaining fill Styles.
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Sky to Ground
Gradient fill
Blue -> 25%
Ground
270°
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Ground to Sky
Gradient fill
25% Ground ->
Blue
270°
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Ground Grad
Gradient fill
75% Ground
->
25% Ground
270°
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Horizon
Gradient fill
Black ->
75% Ground
270°
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Sky Grad
Gradient fill
50% Blue
-> Light Blue
270°
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Sky to White
Gradient fill
Light Blue
-> White
270°
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There, now we have all the assets for
the rest of the tutorial. This may seem like a lot of things to worry
about, but believe me, it all comes together later.
Building the object
bevels
The next series of steps are pretty lengthy
so it may be easier for you to print this tutorial out while
you are working on it. Just click in this frame and use the Print command.
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1)
Click on the Bevel layer
to activate it. Then type a large letter to start with. For this
tutorial it's best to use a fat sans serif font. I used Futura
Bold at 200 points. Throughout this tutorial, you may see
me use different letters to show different circumstances you may
come across for other letters you use in the future.
Convert this letter to paths, and
set the Fill to None and give it a Black Stroke.
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2)
Now you'll want to delete some extra
points that may be in the letter. Some corner areas may have
two points like shown above in the zoomed area. Just remove one
of the points since it will be easier to create the bevels later.
If the letter is joined as a composite
path, you can select points by holding the Option(Alt)
key as you click.
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3)
Next, Clone the whole letter
and put the clone on the Reflections layer. Hide the Reflections
layer for now.
Select the letter on the Bevel layer
and Clone it one more time.
WOW, a lot of clones huh? Well I
hope that wasn't too confusing for you. Here's a recap. You should
have one clone on the Reflections layer, and two clones on the
Bevel layer. Ready to continue? Here we go...
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4)
Select the top clone elements and
bring up the Inset Path dialog by either using the Toolbar
icon or going under the Modify menu -> Alter Path.
In this dialog, enter 1 for
the Steps and use -7 for the Inset amount. Make sure that
the Join option is set at squared. You can modify the Inset
amount to make the bevel either thinner or thicker.
When you hit OK, you should see
the clone expand like shown above.
If your letter has knockouts like
shown above, then Split both clones under the Modify menu.
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5)
Now Shift-select only the Corner
points of the paths like shown above. Ignore any points that
appear on the curves.
While the points are selected, Split
them under the Modify menu.
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6)
Next it's time to join all of the
bevel parts together. Select the corresponding paths from the
inner and outer shapes. Then Join them together. Go into
the Object Inspector palette and click the Closed option.
Repeat this for all of the paths
in your letter. To check to see if you've joined them all, select
all of the paths and give them a temporary fill. This makes it
easier to see what you've missed.
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Special
Note
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What you wanted What
you got instead
Sometimes when joining certain
paths, FreeHand will join the closest points together instead
of the points that should be joined.
To fix this, select one of
the points. Then with either the Bezigon or Pen
tool, click to the other point you want to join to. If the
points don't automatically join, drag-select around the
points and Join them together.
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When you are finished joining the
paths, you should now have a bunch of bevel shapes like shown
above.
Now we are ready to starting adding
some color to this letter.
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Filling the object
bevels
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The bevels sometimes pose some interesting
combinations of the reflections. Bevels that face down, will reflect
more of the ground, while bevels facing up, reflect more of the
sky. Curvy bevels will sometimes reflect both.
The next part of this tutorial will
show what kinds of fills to use when faced with different types
of bevels.
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Vertical bevels will reflect both
the sky and the ground.
Use the Sky to Ground style.
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Curves bevels that face outward
will also reflect the sky and ground.
Use the Sky to Ground style.
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Inner facing curved bevels will
reflect the sky and ground in reverse.
Use the Ground to Sky style.
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Bevels that face upwards will reflect
a lighter sky.
Fill with 50% Blue and no
Stroke.
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Downward facing bevels reflect a
diffused ground.
Use the Ground Grad style.
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Downward facing horizontal bevels,
reflect only the ground.
Fill with 75% Ground and
no Stroke.
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Bevels that face upwards, reflect
just the sky.
Fill with Blue and no Stroke.
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Other curved shapes
and serifs
It gets more complicated with really curvy
bevels and serifs that may be in your letters. Below are how to handle
those.
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Draw two Rectangles over the top
of the upper curved bevel. The seam of the rectangles should be
about where the curve starts to go back upwards like shown above.
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Fill the top rectangle with the
Sky to Ground style and use Ground to Sky for the
bottom rectangle. Lines for clarity only.
Select both rectangles and Cut
them. Then select the bevel and Paste Inside.
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Repeat those steps very similarly
for the lower bevel. Fill the top rectangle with Ground to
Sky and the lower with Sky to Ground. Lines for
clarity only.
Select both rectangles and Cut
them. Then select the bevel and Paste Inside.
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Next, set the Strokes of the bevels
to None.
You should have two bevels that
look like above. That is starting to look great!
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Serifs can be pretty confusing,
but if you think about what is reflected, it makes sense.
Use a similar technique as before
creating rectangles that cover the bevel. Make sure that the seams
touch where the curves change direction. Use the fill styles as
shown above.
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Another daunting bevel type could
be like the one shown above where the curves go all over the place.
Using similar techniques as described
before, create a new fill wherever the curve starts the change.
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At this point, you may be asking yourself,
"Why aren't we using the multicolored Gradient fills instead of
all these paste insides?"
I thought about that too. This tutorial
was originally written before the multicolored gradients were introduced,
and I started playing with creating all these gradients instead of using
paste insides.
The problem I started to see appear was
when there were different letter shape bevels. Since each bevel shape
has different needs, I found myself adjusting the placement of the colors
in the Gradient palette in order to fit that particular shape. Using
the rectangle paste insides gave me more accurate results as far as
the placement in those extreme curve areas where the colors may shift.
It was much easier to control the rectangle placement rather than adjusting
the gradient colors. Not to mention that I would have needed to create
a new style for every different gradient I was going to come across...
not fun.
But of course, that's my preference. If
you would like to experiment with creating multicolor gradients instead
of using the rectangle paste insides, go for it. Now let's finish off
the chrome effect.
Creating the reflection
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1)
First hide the Bevel layer and make
the Reflection layer visible.
Draw a Rectangle across the
top of the letter. If you have more than one letter, make it's
width cover all of them.
The placement of the rectangle is
completely up to you. This is where the horizon of the reflection
will be.
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2)
Bring up the Knife Tool dialog
by double-clicking on the Knife Tool.
Pick the FreeHand setting,
with a width of 0. Also make sure that Close cut paths
is turned on.
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3)
Keeping the rectangle selected,
make a wavy cut across the entire width of the rectangle
like shown above.
You should now have two pieces to
create the horizon area.
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4)
Fill the top piece with the Sky
to White style. Use the Horizon style for the bottom
piece.
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5)
Cover the rest of the letter (or
letters) with three more rectangles so they touch, but not overlap
like shown above.
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6)
Fill in the rectangles using the
Styles and color shown. Lines for clarity only.
Select all the parts and Cut
them.
If the letter has knockouts like
this one, then select those parts and Join them together.
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Select the letter shape and Paste
Inside. Give the letter a 1 point White stroke.
Finally, reveal the Bevel layer
and there you have a beautiful Chrome letter.
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Well I hope you survived this tutorial.
There were many things here that I hope you learned from it. These include
using Styles to easily create similar fills as well as how to use Paste
Insides to solve certain problems with Gradient fills covering really
curvy shapes. Not to mention how to look at objects and understand how
they work in real life such as how the chrome reflects things around
it.
I know that when I first learned this
technique, it helped me keep things organized on layers and naming colors
to easily track down colors.
I highly recommend you experimenting with
other shapes besides words. There are all kinds of things out there
that may pose challenging circumstances. For instance, try to make a
chrome object out of an odd symbol in any Dingbat font. Be warned however,
that the more letters or objects you will be making into chrome, the
longer it will take.
Download the sample file below that already
has the Styles and Colors ready to go. Have fun! 
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