Rust

by Scansped

Rust is probably one of the more difficult fx to achieve. Some filters within Photoshop can help reproduce the Rusting fx, as also can some of the tools - the key here is to experiment. In this tutorial, I will start off making a simple shape resembling a metal cleat and show you one or two methods to reproduce a rust fx to it. Remember, there are no hard and fast rules here, the emphasis is on having fun, so let's go do it.

Open a new canvas 250 x 250, RGB Mode, 150 pixels p/inch, and fill with the background color of your choice. Make a New layer, name it Shape and with a combination of the rectangular and eliptical marquee tools, create a shape similar to mine.

To Create my Shape
On the Shape layer, make a rectangle (almost the size of the canvas) Now go to Select > Modify > Smooth 6, and fill with 50% Gray. Still working on the Shape layer, go to View > Show Rulers and drag a guide about 2/3rds down from the top, and 2 more guides, 1 at each side. Select the Eliptical marquee, set Marquee options to 50 width x 75 height, click on the canvas and butt the first circle against the guides and hit Delete, repeat for the second circle. Finally, go to View, Hide Rulers, and View Clear Guides.

At this point, think about why you want the effect, and where you're going to apply it. You may decide to rust up a part of an interface or maybe just add some rusted text.

Ok, now we're gonna give this some life. First off, some depth and shape, so let's load the selection into a New Channel.

On the the Shape layer, load the selection (Ctrl Click PC users or Command Click Mac) and go to Select > Save Selection - name it Rust Blur. Next go to channels and there it is already to work on. We're going to give the shape just a single blur, so Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur > 6 andDe-select.

Go back to your layers pallette and click on the Shape layer to Select it. Let's throw a little light on this thing eh, go to Filter > Render > Lighting Effects. Use the light settings below or if you're feeling adventurous, play around and set up your own.

Some of you guys may have noticed the image looks a little grainy, so before we go any further, lets go tidy it up. Load the Shape layer Ctrl Click PC or Command Click Mac, now Select > Inverse and fill with black, Select > Inverse again and then Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur > 1. Select Inverse once more and Delete that black, now deselect. That should hve cleared away that grainy look.

OK, let's re-arrange this some more. First up, let's add some noise...Staying on the Shape Layer, go to....Filter > Noise > Add Noise
Amount 12
Gaussian
Monochromatic

Rust varies according to type of metal and length of exposure. In Dark Garden's Metal Texture Tutorial, he has emphasised the degrees to which metal reacts to oxidisation etc. Rust has varying degrees of decay, from a light frosting in the early stages, up to full decay of the metal - usually in layers as the metal breaks down. The feel and look of reality is what we are trying to attain....think about it.....but most of all, enjoy what you create....be adventurous.

Here we go, make a New Layer, name it Clouds. Now click on the Add Layer Mask Icon at the bottom of the layers pallette, to create a layer mask.

Ok, working on the layer mask, go to Filter > Render > Clouds and hit ok. Now Select the other layer icon (the one linked to the layer mask which (when you click on it, will change to a brush). Check 'em out opposite, I've Circled them in Blue.

Now select a good rustic color, I chose RGB #155, 65, 14. Now Ctrl Click(PC) Command Click (Mac users) the Shape layer to load the selection and still working on the clouds layer, fill with your rustic color.

If my explanation of the above operation is a little confusing, then take a look at the 2 pics showing working in Layer Mask Mode and working without using the layer mask...to simplify, I'll call it Normal Layer Mode....sheesh, I'm confusing myself here...hehe...
....anyways, take a look below, to see what came out of this.

Hmmmm not bad...bundles of potential with this....
As I've said allready, Rust has many guises. You may want to stop here, after all the basic Rustiness is evident, you could lower the Opacity on this to get a less severe coloring, maybe use the eraser tool to reveal more of the structure or you could play with the Layer FX to attain something a little different.

Anyways, whatever you decide, you'll always strive for something better so let's continue and see what occurs.

Hop across to page 2 and see what else we're gonna do with this.