Creating a Cool Brushed Metal Surface in Photoshop

Mar 13th in Interface by Fabio

Today's tutorial comes in response to a reader request from Tom and it won't be about lighting effects, glows, or sparks. Instead, I will show you how to create the brushed aluminum texture similar to the Apple products!

Author: Fabio

I am a Brazilian designer living in Porto Alegre (south of Brazil). In 2003, I founded a web design studio called ZEE, with Fabiano Meneghetti, an architect and friend of mine. It's a small studio now, with 4 people working basically with web.

Step 1

To start, create a new document. As I wanted to create a wallpaper for my laptop I used 1440x900. Unlock the background layer, then apply a Gradient Overlay using a Layer Style. Use Multiply for the Blend Mode, for the style use Radial, and for the colors use #f2f2f2 and #c3c3c3.

Step 2

Create a new layer and rename it to "noise." Select the Paint Bucket Tool (G), fill the layer with white, and change the Blend Mode to Multiply . Make sure that the background color is black and go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise. Use Monochromatic, Uniform, and 8-10%.

Step 3 Creating the Pattern.

With the Ellipse Tool (U), create six very small circles. Select them and align them horizontally. Then click on the Distribute Vertical Centers Button. It will make the distances among the circles the same.

Step 4

Make sure the rulers are visible. If they are not, just go to View > Rulers. Now add some guides like I did and move three of the circles like the image below.

Step 5

Duplicate the three circles from the first column and move them as I did in the image below.

Step 6

Select all circles and Convert them to Smart Objects. If you are not using a CS2 or CS3 version of Photoshop, just go to Layer > Merge Layers. Then double-click on the layer to open the Layer Style dialog box. First add a Color Overlay, use a very dark grey, or even black. After that, add an Inner Shadow.

Step 7

Hide the background and the noise layers. With the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) select four circles but use the others as reference for distances. Then go to Edit > Define Pattern. Name it "holes."

Step 8

With the Rectangular Tool (U), create a rectangle. Then, again, lets use a Layer Style. First change the Fill Opacity to 0. Add a Pattern Overlay and select the pattern we have just created. Then just copy the rectangle and place it on the other side of the image.

Step 9

Add your logo or any symbol you would like to use and place it in the center of the image. Go to the Layer Style and select Gradient Overlay. For the Style, use Reflected and black-and-white for the colors. After that, select Bevel and Emboss and just follow the image below.

Step 10

Then create a new layer on top of the logo's layer and name it "noise logo." Fill it with white and change the Blend Mode to Multiply. With the Rectangular Marquee Tool, create a selection like the image below. After that go to Filter > Pixelate > Mezzotint, then Filter > Blur > Radial Blur, like we did on the Creating a Vinyl Record In Photoshop tutorial, and the last thing will be to change the Opacity to 50%.

Step 11

Create a selection from the logo, just click on the thumbnail of the layer while holding the Command/Control key. Then make sure that the "noise logo" layer is selected, and go to Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal Selection.

Step 12

With the Pen Tool (P), create a shape like the image below. Convert it to Smart Objects and go to Filter > Blur > Radial Blur. Select Zoom for the method and click OK. Go again to Filter > Blur > Radial Blur and this time use the Spin method.

Step 13

Repeat Step 11, but this time apply the layer mask to the “rays” layer.

Step 14

Create a new layer rename it to “white brush.” Make a selection from the logo again, like in the Steps 11 and 14. Select Brush Tool (B) with basic brush with 35px width, and select the white color. Start painting some areas that will be the highlights of the logo.

Conclusion

This technique can be easily applied on Web design and interface design projects. Besides that, we can create a huge set of holes patterns with different sizes and distances that will be very useful for future projects. I hope you enjoyed the tutorial!


Enjoy this Post?

We'd love your vote!

User Comments

( ADD YOURS )

  1. kelisjunky March 13th

    Pretty Nice!


  2. Eva March 13th

    Nice and so simple ;) Thanx


  3. Kim Dolleris March 13th

    beautiful…


  4. craZed March 13th

    Very cool , thanx : ]


  5. chandan March 13th

    supercool


  6. Markus March 13th

    I was waiting for this, and it came pretty fast! :D

    It is great! Realistic :)


  7. ZaFaR March 13th

    GREAT,COOL TUTORIAL, THANX’S


  8. kuldeep March 13th

    Very cool!!


  9. Salva March 13th

    nice one


  10. Leo March 13th

    thx for the tutorial!!


  11. dip March 13th

    Great!!!
    Will use it right now in one work, thanks for the good idea ;)


  12. Shane March 13th

    Great reader request Tom :)

    Thanks for the tutorial Fabio. Very nice work - and it’s quite a short series of steps too!


  13. Paulo Sales March 13th

    fab…


  14. Arnaud March 13th

    Very usefull !


  15. giackop March 13th

    yes.. cool and simple.. thanks fabio


  16. Lamin Barrow March 13th

    Nicely done effect. Thx


  17. andy stewart March 13th

    http://www.andystewart-design.com


  18. Nodster March 13th

    hi there

    in Step ten i am unable to get complete

    ‘With the Rectangular Marquee Tool create a selection like the image below. After that go to Filter > Pixelate > Mezzotint,’

    when i create the logo noise layer, the new layer is transparent, i fill it then can create the marquee area but the filter option is not available.

    can someone give a pointer where i may have gone wrong.

    Thanks


  19. Leyre March 13th

    Another wonderful tutorial. I love you guys!


  20. Kev March 13th

    cant get step 3 to work; it wont let me select the ‘Distribute Vertical Centers Button’. can any1 help?
    PLZ


  21. Andrei Constantin March 13th

    I was looking for the tut since yesterday when i’ve seen it on your blog.
    good job


  22. PixlNinja March 13th

    WOW.. ! thankyou very much.. Actually I was trying to get such a result in many ways..


  23. Sumesh March 13th

    Quick and easy tutorial, this one.

    Been some time, especially after marathons by Collis and Andrew.


  24. JamieO March 13th

    Nice tutorial. A tutorial that shows ways to take that brushed metal effect and turn it into a tile-able texture / background image would be very nice as well. Metal is one of those topics which there seem to be a lot of little ones that are ok, but I haven’t found a “PSDTuts” quality one yet…


  25. b00m March 13th

    wow I love the background


  26. Andrew D March 13th

    Awesome! Looks very real.


  27. Martin March 13th

    very nice fabio but the logo is gay

    you could pick a better logo :)


  28. Ozwall March 13th

    excelente tutorial !!!
    saludos!!


  29. JoelG March 14th

    slick.


  30. Markus March 14th

    Martin are you danish? ;)


  31. Dragolux March 14th

    Very nice tut! The result is awesome. Thanks for your contribution!


  32. Tom March 14th

    Thanks for running my request!

    There are so many effects in this that can be applied in so many ways. Which is why I suggested it!

    Very well written, and I’m sure I can use this effect in many ways.

    Thanks again.


  33. Wouter March 14th

    Hello.

    I tried this tutorial but i lost the point on step 9.
    I used a brush tool but can’t get him oke like your steps :(

    Can you help or made that stap with screenshots ?

    Ty

    (Further : Nice tutorial)


  34. Wade March 14th

    I really appreciate the instructions for this tutorial.
    I can’t quite remember which one, but a while back I felt retarded and couldn’t quite get through a step similar to 11 in this tutorial. Will post results when finished!


  35. kev March 14th

    on step 3 theres the alignment panel thats used with the elliptical tool but i cant seem to find mine. how can i open find this to do the Distribute Vertical Centers Button part? thanks.


  36. John March 14th

    Sweet.


  37. Brent March 14th

    Dude, you rock!


  38. VectorCars March 14th

    Ha-ha :) Very nice..


  39. Felds March 14th

    I’m sorry if I’m being stupid… but where is the “brushed” part?


  40. Henriette f.r March 14th

    Hi
    On step 12 it says “…Convert it to Smart Objects and go to Filter > Blur > Radial Blur…” But how do I convert it to Small Objects?

    I love the turtorial! =D


  41. Michael Steel March 14th

    Cool!! Congratulations. from Colombia


  42. Tama March 14th

    cool! thank you!


  43. Cain March 14th

    Final product is soooo cool. Looks like a real apple product. Great tut and thanks for sharing.


  44. Ben Griffiths March 14th

    Cool, this has to be one of the better brushes metal tutorials I have seen, thanks!


  45. goldenthunder March 14th

    this is way cool! nice job!


  46. Fabio Sasso March 14th

    Hey guys thank you very much for the comments… now let me try to answer some questions.

    @Henriette - Probably your Photoshop version doesnt have the Smart>objects feature, it’s not really necessary though you can do everything without it.

    @Nodster - Make sure that the right layer is selected, because I did what you said here and it worked.


  47. Jonathan Solichin March 14th

    Nice. Step 11 is a nice touch. very detailed and stunning. Good job.


  48. Bruce Ackerman March 14th

    Did one for Kerosin Clothing.
    Thanks!
    http://i31.tinypic.com/29w7mdi.png


  49. Wil March 14th

    Very nice! I made something similar a while back for a wallpaper, with a similar layout and perforated theme. :)


  50. Ham March 14th

    cool! Arigatou!


  51. jayhan March 14th

    Cool tuts! Thanks for sharing your skill :) Loves it.


  52. mikeyork March 14th

    Beauty & Styled
    PSDTUTS ROCKS!!!


  53. Joefrey Mahusay March 14th

    Nice tut again Fabio thanks for sharing.


  54. BogDinamita March 14th

    really cool one for real


  55. Braintrove.com March 15th

    Very nice. I like it! Great job.


  56. wildwise March 15th

    simple and reallistic. Nice one


  57. dev March 15th

    i luve u…..


  58. maurizio March 15th

    Very very nice….. and easy…….

    Thanks from italy ………. :-)


  59. computer jobs March 17th

    Thanks for tut. it was really helpful :)


  60. Fubiz March 17th

    Very good technique!


  61. David March 17th

    I’d like a little clarification on Step 3 as well.. What settings does the ellipse tool need to be on?


  62. ryaninc March 18th

    I really like this one! Well done, I definitely learned a few things from following along. Thanks!


  63. Stronghold Crusader Extreme March 18th

    its looks quite good thought


  64. Abhisek March 18th

    Great tutorial. I really like it…


  65. Reader March 19th

    Sorry I am writing this here but I don’t know where else to.
    I was wondering what there is in the psd file you can download and psdtuts require when you submit a tut. Because I am writing one and got a bit confused when I read about that.

    Any help would be great

    By the way
    Wonderful tutorial. Will be very useful for my design work
    Thanks


  66. Andrew J March 19th

    Awesome and free! My favorite price ;)


  67. Mark H. Abucayon March 19th

    This is simple yet nice. thanks for the tut


  68. Katalog Stron March 19th

    Looks nice.


  69. workingondreams March 21st

    superb!


  70. Omar Essam March 22nd

    thnxxxx alottt that helped me muccccchhh


  71. Alex March 22nd

    Wow this is a very great and easy tutorial. Im 12 ad i’m a professional graphic designer and i’ve been using Photoshop since grade 5. http://www.nowthatsintense.piczo.com


  72. reader April 1st

    Really cool! Thanks for sharing!


  73. Tom April 3rd

    The metal effect on the hearth is amazing. Great work!


  74. Enes Kaya April 8th

    Very gorgeous effect. Thank you!


  75. Qbrushes April 26th

    simple but great outcome.


  76. riri May 7th

    great metal effect, thanks for sharing!


  77. John May 17th

    Great tutorial. Like some other people here, though, I’m looking for a way to create a metal/brushed-metal image that can be tiled as a web-page background. Anyone here have any links to good tutorials that help to do that?

    Thanks!


  78. Maya June 16th

    Really great !!!

    Thanks


  79. wibo June 17th

    kickarse tutorial, top-quality everything.


  80. raj June 30th

    Excellent work!

    Thanx


  81. hm July 5th

    How do you white brush step 14 to neatly in the center? isn’t the 35px brush too big? i’m having tough time on this step


  82. suckoja July 8th

    Thanks a lot! This is just so cool!


  83. araz September 5th

    dear sir or madam, we need a proffesional gold material design on our company arm. can you help us? what`s your prices? singerely yours ARAZ


  84. Peredo September 28th

    Oh that’s incredible it amazing. i like so much i remember the Mac Pro


  85. dave October 5th

    Way too hard for me


  86. tsauri28 November 2nd

    thank you for your tutorial, it’s so useable for me.. :) :B


  87. Galinette December 13th

    awesome!


  88. Max December 16th

    Great tut! Thanks!


  89. sam December 16th

    Nice tutorial, but I’m still struggling finding the Distribute Vertical Centers Button.. theres no aligment panel.
    Using Photoshop CS3.
    Couldn’t google the solution.
    Does anyone know where it could hide?

    greetings to fellows anyway


  90. sam December 16th

    @kev (and everyone :) )
    just found it out myself.
    just do as you’re told xD - create the circles and then select all 6 layers - the alignment panel will appear.


Add Your Comment

( GET A GRAVATAR )
  • Gravatar

    Your Name January 9th

Arrow