Chrome Chains

[dipstick]

You can make some decent looking chrome chains in an image editor like PDN. Example: https://forums.getpaint.net/topic/26665-chrome-effect-chain-links/ 

 

I've made a few myself. However you can't compete with a real 3-D program like Blender. I took a chain link shape and converted it into a path. I then imported that path into Blender and extruded it, I then added the chrome reflection using one of my chrome E-maps. The advantage to using Blender is you get to put the links to the proper 90 degrees apart from one another like a real chain. If anyone is interested, I can upload the two links set at 90 degrees apart from one another. You can then use those two links to assemble your chrome chain.

 

My example:

 

 

 

Edited June 30, 2019 by dipstick

[HyReZ]

@dipstick
Great job!
Even if you never used the 3D creation and rendering features of Blender, it is the one of the best video editing freeware around!

[Seerose]

  @dipstick!

 

Your creations are beautiful, as always! Thank you for sharing your result!  

 

[TrevorOutlaw]

20 hours ago, dipstick said:

I took a chain link shape and converted it into a path.

 

As someone who has dabbled and made a few things in Blender, I am really curious how you did this.

[dipstick]

It's a simple single line 1 px chain link shape. I made mine in Gimp, but you can make it in InkScape. You can make it in PDN with shapemaker, draw a 1 px shape and import it into InkSkape to convert to path and export as svg. Import the svg in Blender and add a Curve > Circle. Adjust the size (thickness) of the circle curve to your liking. Duplicate the link and turn it 90 degrees on the X axis.

 

Here is my ChainLink.svg, if you want to experiment.

 

ChainLink.svg.zip 

 

[dipstick]

Here is a desktop wallpaper I made out of it. Almost looks real, I think.

 

 

[dipstick]

@welshblue, I agree with you about Blender. I rarely use it, maybe 3 or 4 times per year. Unfortunately I end up wasting much time trying to figure out how to use it. Lot's of trial and error to get what I want. Blender is simply hard, unless you use it everyday  which I have no need for. I really should do some tuts for these simple effects, if nothing else, it will help me remember how I did it.

 

I forgot about 3D Object. FYI, G'mic plugin does some decent 3-D images using the sequence filters. Unfortunately you can't use an E-Map reflection texture, you'll need to overlay colors using blending modes.

Edited July 2, 2019 by dipstick

[dipstick]

I made a screencast tutorial on making a chrome chain in blender. Mostly so I don't forget how I did it, but anyone can try it out if they are adventurous. It's relatively simple as blender animations goes. I'm also attaching the chain path svg and the E-map I used to make the chrome reflection. Good luck trying to figure out my thick Boston accent.

 

Chrome Chain Blender Tut

 

Chain_files.zip

Edited July 14, 2019 by dipstick
fix links

[TrevorOutlaw]

Nice tutorial.  One tip I would offer is to include key strokes you are using.  I believe that Blender allows you to enable that in screencast as it will capture and display every keyboard strokes (Shift + A to add object, middle mouse button click, etc).  It also appear you are using Mint Linux.

[TrevorOutlaw]

4 hours ago, welshblue said:

(Must be good water in Boston you only sound about 21)

 

Must be the tea.  😈

[dipstick]

@TrevorOutlaw I didn't use blender for the screencast, I didn't even know it could do that. I used a 3rd party app called "SimpleScreenRecorder" which runs in Linux. Yes, I'm running "Linux Mint". I've been running Linux for years now and have no plans to ever go back to Windoze, aside from a VM.

 

@welshblue It wasn't the water, it was the very tall glass of wine I had before making the tut. I wish I could go back to being 21 again. I can't really complain though, as I'm still in decent shape for my age.

Edited July 15, 2019 by dipstick

[TrevorOutlaw]

1 hour ago, dipstick said:

I didn't use blender for the screencast, I didn't even know it could do that. I used a 3rd party app called "SimpleScreenRecorder" which runs in Linux. Yes, I'm running "Linux Mint". I've been running Linux for years now and have no plans to ever go back to Windoze, aside from a VM.

 

Like I said, I have been an on- and off-again user of Blender for years, mainly for making those C4D-like abstract shapes that are or were popular.  I can't remember where to find that, but I think if you press space bar and type in screencast, there has to be a check box that allows you to capture keystrokes.  I find it highly useful when following along video tutorial.

 

I have often desired to go full blown into Linux, but what held me back was I was in school (which I finally finished the week of 4th of July).  However, I bought an iMac and was forced to purchase Parallel to run Windows for using softwares like National Instruments Multisim, Visual Studio, and a physics software.  Now, I still use Parallel to run only PDN as I find it to be too easy to use and every time I try GIMP or Krita, I keep reverting back to PDN.  I have flirted with the idea of purchasing Affinity, but since you shared the remove.bg website, I found no justification in purchasing Affinity and decided to stick with PDN.