If you can't afford illustrator, pick up the free demo of rhino 3d, it can make more complex shapes than crap ass Photoshop things. I'm gonna walk you through making pipes for Photoshop with rhino 3d. Hence the topic. Duh.
 |
OK, start with a curve, you can Use interpolated curves or just plain curves, I like the plain ones, because they are smoother |
 |
Pipe your curve with the pipe command, duh. Choose whatever diameter you want. Capping isn't necessary. |
 |
Render it, make sure the background is black. Use the best rendering settings, which don't take much longer than the worse ones. |
 |
Still in rhino, in the render box, click file->copy to clipboard. Now in Photoshop, go to quickmask mode and paste it, then push ctrl+I to invert the colors, then adjust the contrast so it has sharper edges, I went with +63. |
 |
Use eyecandy cutout as described in sentinels pipe tutorial. He recommends a wacom for smooth lines. I say screw sentinel! |