Brushed Metal Tutorial for Paint Shop Pro (PSP)

Create a new image , 400x250 with a any color background, even though a light gray is good. I used #7F7F7F. It can be any size, but I will keep it smaller for our purposes of this tutorial so it will be easier to impliment when you make your own skins. Select the selection tool, and set it to rounded rectange. You can make any shape you want, but I'm going to make a box. Use my Rounded Corners tutorial to make a more complex shape, then come back to this tutorial. Go to Layers | Promote Background Layer, then make your selection.

The next step is to fill the box with a gradient. Select the fill tool, and enter these settings . Make sure the ligher gray is on the top (the angle should be 180, not inverted). Now make a new raster layer by going to Layers | New Raster Layer, and name it 'cutout1'. Then, with the selection still active, go to Selections | Modify | Expand, and enter 1. Your image should look like this.

Now we are going to add a cutout to the metal. To do this, go to Effects | 3D Effects | Cutout. Enter these settings . Now go back to the first layer you made, probably called Raster 1.

Add some noise by going to Adjust | Add/Remove Noise | Add Noise. Check uniform, set it to 5%, and make sure monochrome is UNCHECKED. Now blur it a little by going to Adjust | Blur | Motion Blur, and enter the angle as 270, and the strength at 3%.

This next step is optional, but I think it makes it look a little better. Go to Layers | New Raster Layer, and name it cutout2. Now contract the selections by going to Selections | Contract, and entering 6. Now go to Effects | 3D Effects | Cutout, and enter these settings .

Last step. Deselect all by pressing Ctrl-D, then go to Adjust | Blur | Blur. You are done! You can add this effect to anything. I didn't like the purple (from the noise filter), so I changed it to grayscale, and I think it looks a little better. Also, try experimenting with a drop shadow.