This material is very similar to the Chrome material in that it's mostly generated from an environment map. We'll go over the steps here and you can adjust it to produce any kind of material based on environment maps.

Load up the file 'ringmask.psd'. This file contains the ring from which the selection set to create the material samples was generated.

If you loaded the ringmask file, you can Ctrl/Cmd-Click the layer with the ring to select it. If you didn't, create a new selection for the bevel.

Before you launch ShapeShifter, make sure you have selected a new layer. This will create the bevel without anything behind it. If you have something, say the black ring mask in the background, you might find the edges of the object appear blocky after you apply. This is because the edges are antialiased, and if something is beneath them the antialiasing will appear odd.

When you launch ShapeShifter, you will be presented with the default settings. These settings have a few things we don't want such as lights, colour, and transparency. Because we're just building a material from an environment map, and because ShapeShifter environment maps carry their own lighting, we can remove all of that. If you wish, you can load in the Polished Gold Preset from the tutorial's preset file. The rest of this tutorial assumes that you don't do that.

Note: Depending on the selection you have when launching, you may need to adjust the Bevel Scale in the Main Shape panel to prevent it bevelling too far. Ideally, you want a bevel that looks like a rounded shape and does not 'meet' in the centre causing sharp ridges.

The first thing we want to do here is make sure that there's nothing in the material settings that will interfere with the final environment. The things that can affect the final colour of the environment are Lights, Tinting, Mix Environment, and potentially the Metal/Plastic toggle. We'll deal with the Lights after we're done with the Environment Panel.

• Using the Color Tint thumbnail, click and drag to select a very dark orange, so dark it's all the way at the bottom of the orange region of the colour picker. This means that the environment map will be shifted only towards a gold-like colour by the surface. You can also select a mid grey if you do not want to tint your environment map at all.
• Drag the Mix Tinting Color slider all the way to the right so that nothing from the layer you're applying to can tint the object.
• Make sure that the Plastic/Metal thumbnail reads 'Plastic' by clicking on it until it does.

These settings are ideal for creating in object that has colour only based on the environment map. You can tweak the Tint Color to get a more interesting result if you find it's not looking right.

We're now ready to load in the environment map to tint our bevel. In the Environment Panel, click on the small preview image, or use the menu's 'Import Environment' option to load an environment map.

The environment map you select will define what you get at this point. We're working on gold so let's load in a gold map.

• Locate the environment map 'simplegoldenv.jpg' that came with the tutorial and load it.

The result you have might be a bit dark at this point, so you can add lights back in until it's bright enough. For the moment, let's add a set of five lights to bring out the highlights.

Let's start by removing the lights so we have a blank layout to work with.

• In the 3d Lighting panel, select a light and press the Delete key. Do this until there are no lights left.
• When there are no lights left, you will see the Ambient Glow slider, make sure this is all the way to the left so that there is no light at all.

The first light to add is a general light that will illuminate the entire object.

• Add a new light using the Add Light button.
• Set the Light Brightness to 56%, and the Highlight Sheen to 0.
• Move it to be directly over the centre of the light preview.

This light casts a general glow over the entire surface. Now let's add some highlights.

• Add a new light using the Add Light button.
• Set the Light Brightness to 50%, the Highlight Sheen to 74%, and the Highlight Spread to 87%.
• Make sure that the Highlight Type is Sharp using the Sharp/Diffuse thumbnail.
• Position this light at the top left of the lighting preview.
• With this light selected, add a new light using the Add Light button. The new light is a clone of the one that was selected.
• Move the new light to the bottom right of the lighting preview.
• Reduce its Highlight Spread to 35%.

You now have two lights adding highlights to the gold. If you find that they are getting too bright, you can reduce their Light Brightness, or reduce the Highlight Sheen to focus them a bit more on a smaller area.

Finally, let's add two lights to prevent some of the darkening at the bottom left and top right of the bevel.

• Add a new light using the Add Light button.
• Set the Light Brightness to 24%, and the Highlight Sheen to 0%.
• Move this light to the bottom left of the lighting preview.
• With this light selected, add a new light using the Add Light button. The new light is a clone of the one that was selected.
• Move the new light to the top right of the lighting preview.

The result is a less pronounced darkness at the bottom left and right.

You've now got a basic material type that can be changed to simulate all sorts of materials. Try loading in some other environment maps and you'll see how the material is almost entirely defined by its environment.