How to Make Pearls?

[Marilynx]

Well, I know that Pixey has made pearls -- that gorgeous gold-and-pearl necklace in her Gallery! -- and I find other references to them scattered about the Forum.

 

No apparent tutorials on the making of pearls.

 

I need to make pearls.

 

First, I need a large black pearl (said to be from the head of the eldest son of the Dragon of the Eastern Ocean).

 

And second, I want to make a file of lots of pearls that I can use for a fill template to then apply that to this tutorial on the making of rope or cable to make a pearl rope which I will then want to bend into a DNA strand.

 

But first... how does one make a pearl?

[barbieq25]

http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/20478-need-help-creating-a-damaged-pearl/?p=342039

 

Might be good place to start. 

 

[Eli]

I hope this one looks like a pearl:

 

 

I Started with blue, pink and yellow clouds:

 

Then I gave it a litle distortion with Twist with zoom effect:

 

I made a circle with Shape 3D effect ( I switched off the lighting):

 

After that I used TR's Simple light to give it a very light shadow:

 

Finally, I added a layer and drew two white spots which I blurred a litle bit and adjusted the layers transparency.

Edited November 25, 2015 by Eli

[Ego Eram Reputo]

Shiny!

[barbieq25]

Nice one Eli! A very pretty outcome.

 

Why not make it a tute in Creations so anyone else who might want to make one can find it easily. 

[pdnnoob]

Here's a tutorial on shiny glass balls: http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/29991-shiny-glass-balls/

It's not exactly pearls, but you can borrow some techniques from it.

I made this a while back...

http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/pdnnoob/Chromesphere.png~original

...and wrote a quick tutorial to go with it in my gallery here, but it's really hard to follow because I didn't have time to write everything out.

There's more hints further down the page too.

If you would like, I could try writing up an official tutorial with pictures and everything.

It is certainly not the fastest method (you can actually make a quick pearl with only the circle selection and the gradient tool), but I liked how it looked and it doesn't use shape3D (which I despise for unknown reasons)

[Marilynx]

I hope this one looks like a pearl:

 

 

Ooh, I like that! I like that a whole BUNCH! That is absolutely PERFECT for the white pearls I'm going to need! Yes, PLEASE make this a tutorial!

 

How did you start with three color clouds? I'm peering at your color setting, and it looks like your secondary color is a translucent (reduced alpha) and your primary is somewhere between the red and the yellow?

 

I am amazed at how people can think of some of these things. I did try starting with clouds, but it didn't occur to me to try the twist-n-shout, er, the Twist with Zoom. I'm pretty sure I have that one. If not, I'll go looking for it.

 

Any thoughts on how to make a black pearl?

[Marilynx]

http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/20478-need-help-creating-a-damaged-pearl/?p=342039

 

Might be good place to start. 

 

Yep, I hunted that one down, and tried it, but I didn't understand enough to know what I was doing with it. Messed around with it for some hours and wasn't getting anywhere. But thank you for the link.

[Marilynx]

Here's a tutorial on shiny glass balls: http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/29991-shiny-glass-balls/

It's not exactly pearls, but you can borrow some techniques from it.

I made this a while back...

http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/pdnnoob/Chromesphere.png~original

...and wrote a quick tutorial to go with it in my gallery here, but it's really hard to follow because I didn't have time to write everything out.

There's more hints further down the page too.

If you would like, I could try writing up an official tutorial with pictures and everything.

It is certainly not the fastest method (you can actually make a quick pearl with only the circle selection and the gradient tool), but I liked how it looked and it doesn't use shape3D (which I despise for unknown reasons)

 

Yes, there are some really good techniques in there that may not be for what I'm after THIS time, but it started ideas churning for using it for some other things.

 

<chuckle> Absolutely no reason why you shouldn't prefer your own plugin! And if you have the time, I would be delighted to see it as a full tutorial to study. I'm always willing to look at different ways of achieving a goal.

 

I can deal with multi-step things if it gives the right effect. As someone said elsewhere, a true work of art takes time!

[MJW]

Perhaps you could post images of, or link to, some examples of the type of thing you're looking for.

[Marilynx]

Perhaps you could post images of, or link to, some examples of the type of thing you're looking for.

 

Yes, you are correct -- I should have been clearer on that. Black pearls are also called Tahitian Pearls.

 

Here is a link to a site which sells Tahitian Pearls, with pictures of same. I had thought they were primarily black, but in turns out they come in a range of hues. Interesting. Learn something new even when you think you are familiar with a subject.

[BoltBait]

Why "make" them when you can just "copy-and-paste"?

[MJW]

Where's the fun in copy-and-pasting?

 

Here's a pearl I made using Shape3D.  It isn't really what I think you (Marilynx) are after, but I like it.

 

 

[MJW]

It appears to me that the black pearls are primarily reflective. That brings up the question of what should be reflected. It could just be some rather vaguely naturalistic pattern of light and dark, or it could be used creatively to reflect a specific environment.

[Marilynx]

Why "make" them when you can just "copy-and-paste"?

 

Well, because I'm planning on using some of this for book covers, and I don't want someone coming back to me and saying, "You stole our image! Sue! Sue! Sue!"

 

I grant you, if I copy something, and reduce it down, and that replicate it a bazillion times for, say, that pearl rope I was talking about upstream, they probably wouldn't recognize it.  Then again, they might. On my "wolf color" thread, didn't someone do a search and find the source of the Fotolia comp images I was using to determine if my layout idea would work before buying the actual wolf image?

 

Besides, I have this totally weird notion of honoring copyright and personal creativity when ever possible.

[Marilynx]

Where's the fun in copy-and-pasting?

 

Here's a pearl I made using Shape3D.  It isn't really what I think you (Marilynx) are after, but I like it.

 

 

 

I like it, too! That's an interesting double shadow in your image, along with a very nice pearl.

[MJW]

Actually, a shadow and a reflection. Or at least that was my intention.

[MJW]

As I see, one difficult aspect of the pearl rope will be getting all the pearl highlights to point in the same direction, toward the light source, and not depend on the location of the pearls on the rope.

[Marilynx]

It appears to me that the black pearls are primarily reflective. That brings up the question of what should be reflected. It could just be some rather vaguely naturalistic pattern of light and dark, or it could be used creatively to reflect a specific environment.

 

Yes. In the case of what I'm aiming for, the Black Pearl is part of an Oriental mythology. It gives certain gifts to its Bearer -- but also exacts a price.

 

I've liked a couple of the glass ball tutes that I've looked at, with peoples' use of same showing images floating in, or on the surface of the ball. That kind of technique, if I knew how to do it, could make for some interesting effects.

[Marilynx]

Actually, a shadow and a reflection. Or at least that was my intention.

 

OK, I can see that -- when I first looked at it, I was wondering how you'd done the "two light sources" effect. Realizing what it is, I can see what you did.

[Marilynx]

As I see, one difficult aspect of the pearl rope will be getting all the pearl highlights to point in the same direction, toward the light source, and not depend on the location of the pearls on the rope.

 

Yes. I wanted to experiment with creating the pearl rope first, and then figure out how to twist it into the DNA helix. Or, more correctly, twist two of them into the helix.  But you are SO right about the highlights.

 

(Hey, I can't set myself an easy task, now. Where would the fun in THAT be?)

[Limon]

Marilynx, for the highlights you could make one sample pearl without any shading, make the rope of pearls and then use Redochre's Bevel Objects plugin to make each pearl beveled in relation to a point of light set to your own choice

 

An example. The lightest area in the background is where I chose to put the highlight point in Bevel Objects. 

Hidden Content:

[Marilynx]

Marilynx, for the highlights you could make one sample pearl without any shading, make the rope of pearls and then use Redochre's Bevel Objects plugin to make each pearl beveled in relation to a point of light set to your own choice

 

An example. The lightest area in the background is where I chose to put the highlight point in Bevel Objects. 

 

 

Oh, I like that! And I do have Red Ochre's pack!  (Noting RO on my list of people to send donations to.)

 

This could be really nice for the pearl rope effect in that first cover I posted which has the DNA climbing from light to darkness. Set the highlight point underneath the completed DNA, put a light to smoky gradient on another overlay layer, and then it could look as if the farther away from the point the DNA climbs, the darker it gets.

[Eli]

I tried to convert a white pearl into a black one and this is what I got, a bowling ball. 

 

[Marilynx]

I tried to convert a white pearl into a black one and this is what I got, a bowling ball. 

 

 

Lol! Yes, that was what I was concerned about! It's a very NICE bowling ball, though!

 

Here is one of my attempts in that department. I could not find TR's light plug in, so I used your technique, with black and gray clouds to start with. Then, after doing the 3D fold-sphere, I duplicated the layer with it, set the layer to "glow" and reduced the opacity.