<Return to the Table of Contents> Brushed Metal Brushed Metal is a brand new effect that renders architectural surfaces, such as stainless steel diner walls, copper counter tops and colorful anodized aluminum. It's great for backgrounds in user interfaces, Web pages and themed compositions. Brushed Metal offers three brush patterns (Linear, Circular, and Hand-brushed) to imitate many etched metals. Settings Tab See Using Settings for more information. Basic Tab Create Output In New Layer Above Current Creates a layer above the working layer (in Photoshop and Elements only) and renders the effect to it. This feature allows you to view, edit, or turn off the effect without affecting the original layer. If you switch filters from within a filter window, the new layer feature will be disabled in the filter you've switched to. If you want to apply a filter in a new layer, make sure you start with the filter you plan to apply. Create Output In New Layer Above Current is unavailable when recording actions in Photoshop. Clear this checkbox when recording actions. Brush Style Selects one of the following three styles of brushed metal surfaces: Linear Circular Hand-Brushed Left to right: Linear, Circular, Hand Brushed. Make a simple selection and scroll through the list to quickly preview the brush styles. Direction Specifies the direction in which brush strokes travel. Click and drag within the direction control box to change the direction, or enter a value between 0 and 360 degrees. Metal Color Choose any color for the metal and shiny highlights. For more information on selecting colors, see Color Selection Tools. Highlight Sharpness Controls the width of the shiny highlights. Lower values allow the bright highlights to dominate, yielding a brighter overall appearance. Left to right: increasing Highlight Sharpness. Grain Contrast Controls the difference in brightness between the lightest and darkest streaks. Left to right: increasing Grain Contrast. Grain Length Controls the average length of individual brush marks. Brush Size (Hand Brushed Mode only) Zooms the brush marks in and out. High values yield a close up view. Surface features become larger and more detailed. Brush Density (Hand Brushed Mode only) Controls the number of circular patterns placed in a selection. Brush Variation (Hand Brushed Mode only) Controls the regularity of brush stroke shape and placement. Random Seed Controls the random elements of this filter. Click it until you get a result you like. <Return to the Table of Contents>