Using Inner Glow to Create Highlights

Like Drop Shadows, the Photoshop Inner Glow style is great for adding complexity to your textures with very little effort. The two places I use Inner Glow the most are when I want to suggest highlights on both solid and fabric surfaces. When working with very few polygons, you don't have the luxury of adding a lot of complexity to the edges of your models. Simple 3D models can have a tell-tale hardness at the edges, and anything you can do in your texture to soften that edge will only make your models look better.

In this example I have taken a simple aged brass texture and added a Vivid Light glow around all four edges. When applied to a simple shape, like a cube, you gain a highlight effect that suggests that the edges of your model are picking up the light differently than the rest of the surface.

In the Layers Styles window I select Inner Glow and play with the settings until I get something I like. For metal highlights I usually choose Vivid Light, but I have to be careful because it can get give your edges an over saturated, burned out appearance.

In the below example, I have used Inner Glow to create the highlighted edge of the sides of this leather lounge chair. As you can see, a little goes a long way to suggesting more complexity then is actually there.