Trying to create a concave image

[EvilGM]

Hi!

I'm trying to create a top-down (as if you're looking straight down at the bowl, not from the side) view of a metal bowl. Does anyone have any suggestions for how to do that?



EvilGM

[PAche]

you can try filter>distort>spherize

[EvilGM]

I've tried that, but it didn't have a noticable effect.

I started by creating a monochrome circle, then applied the Spherize filter. However, I just tried it again, applying the Tiger Eye Copper layer style, and now I can see the effect just fine.

Now I just need to figure out how to get it to show up on a plain circle.

[Tamlin]

I don't think the Spherize filter will give you the effect you want if your circle is a solid colour. Think about what the Spherize filter is doing: it's re-arranging the pixels within a given area to give a 3D look, but if all the pixels are the same colour, you're not going to see any effect. You'll need to introduce some form of shading to get the look you're after.

[EvilGM]

Yeah, I just realized that. Time to play around to see what I can come up with. Thanks for everyone's help!

[Tamlin]

I like a challenge, so I had a go at reproducing something like the kind of effect I think you're after - see attached.

First I drew a circle shape and filled it with a mid-grey colour. Then I made a very quick'n'dirty brushed metal texture by selecting the circle, applying the Add Noise filter (40%, Gaussian, Monochromatic), then applying the Motion Blur filter (Angle = 27°, Distance = 33 pixels).

Finally, I deselected the circle and added a Bevel and Emboss layer style, playing around with the settings until I got something that looked sort of concave. The settings I used are in the attached screenshot.

This was just a very quick experiment to see if what you want could be easily achieved - obviously it needs more work: The bowl needs a solid rim, for a start. Maybe you could use a displacement map to make the brushed metal texture fit the contours of the bowl, and there's probably a lot more you could do with the shading, but I hope this has given you an idea, at least.

[EvilGM]

Yup! That's what I was going for. Thank you very much for giving me a place to start. When I've succeeded in getting the bowl to look the way I want, I'll post it, maybe even do a tutorial for it. I can't be the only person wanting to make pictures of bowls.