Atomic Cupcake Painted Metal Action
for Photoshop 7.0, Photoshop CS, or Photoshop CS2

Part I -- Installation

1. Copy the "atomic_cupcake_paintedmetal.atn" file to the location of your choice.

2. Open Photoshop. Open the Actions palette (from the "windows" menu section).

3. Click on the triangle button in the top corner of the Actions pallette and click "load actions" Open the file from the location you chose in step 1.



Part II -- Using the Action

1. Open the image you would like to turn into metal.

2. Select the layer you want to look metal, it can be a text layer, a custom shape, etc. If it is a custom shape layer, you should right click on it's name in the layer's pallette and rasterize it. 

3. Click on the name of the action in the Actions palette "atomic_cupcake_paintedmetal" (Click on the action, not the folder it's in.)

4. Press play. (The triangle button at the bottom.)


The metal version will be created in a new document -- leaving your original document in it's original condition. 





To make a charm:

On a new layer, create the colored areas of your charm (draw them or use the custom shape or font tool. Remember to simplify custom shape layers.) Run the our enamel inset effect on this layer. When finished, ctrl-click the layer's name to select it's shape. Create a new layer, and use edit-stroke to add an "outside" stroke to the charm. I like to use 16 pixel for the width. The color doesn't matter. Run the painted metal action on the new layer, and paste the finished trim over the enamel layer.

You can use our glass effect instead of the enamel to make clear charms, or other effects like our gel text. Be creative! You can use the painted metal effect to make a ring for chains and jump rings as well!