A lot of you wondered how those nice glassy bars are created. Well, the mystery of it is now gone. In this tutorial, I will guide you on how to create one of those cool glass bars! Its easy to do because this effect only needs 3 layers. Do bear in mind that this tutorial assumes readers have basic knowledge and some experience with Photoshop 7.

Ok now. Fire up your Photoshop and create a new canvas measuring 759px width and 171px height. Note: The measurement units are in PIXELS.

Follow these steps one by one.

1.) The above is what you should already have - a new canvas measuring 759 pixels wide and 171 pixels high.

2.) Now, create a new layer in your Layers’ panel and give it a name “Base Shape”. The reason for the name is because it is always a good idea to create the basic shape that you want first. Then only you start putting on the effects onto different layers to achieve the results.

3.) Next, go to your tool bar and select the “Rounded Rectangle Tool”, and set its Radius (found at the top of the Photoshop window) to 15px.

4.) Set the foreground color to a dark grey (doesn’t really matter how dark because its just a shape guide) and then draw a rectangle roughly the size of the rectangle I have in this screen shot.

5.) Create another layer on top of the Base Shape layer and name it Gradient.

6.) Once you have created the Gradient layer, select that layer and set the Foreground color to a deep red and the Background color to a deep yellow. I have included a screen shot of the color sample for your reference. Set? Great. Now, you need to make a selection of the Base Shape. You can do this by holding the “Ctrl” key + (Mouse) Click on the Base Shape layer. Note: make sure your Gradient layer is still selected !

7.) Now, press the “G” key on your keyboard for the gradient tool. Then, click and drag from the top of the Rectangle to the bottom of it. You can always start from the very top of the canvas (even though the mouse pointer is way above the rectangle). Do this a few times to get what you want. DO NOT DESELECT. WE WILL NEED THIS. Hint: Hold the “Shift” key as you drag it downwards will constrain the gradient to a straight line.

8.) All done? Well for your reference, your Layers’ panel should look like mine.

9.) If all is well, let’s continue. Now, create a new layer on top of the Gradient layer and name it Highlite. Once, it’s created, select the Highlight layer and go back to our main canvas.

10.) Now, with the selection still in tact (if your selection is gone, press and hold the “Control” key and (mouse) click on the Base Shape layer), we are going to cut the selection in half. We will do this by first pressing the “M” key, which gives you the marquee tool, and by holding down the “Alt” key, you start your selection ( click and drag the mouse) from the lower right of the canvas, to the right of the canvas, and up to half the rectangle’s height. Use the above image as a reference.

Now, let go your mouse and you should have half the selection like the selection in the above screenshot. You can let go your “Alt” key too if you are still holding it now. :)

11.) So far so good? Excellent! Next, we need to contract this selection by 1 pixel. You can do this by going to Select->Modify->Contract in the Photoshop’s top menu bar. A small window like the one above will popup and put in 1 as the value and hit OK.

12.) You should now see that your selection is a little bit smaller (by 1 pixel). Next, hit the “D” key and follow by the “X” key. This will reset your foreground color to black and background color to white, and then switch them around. Refer to the screenshot above for a clearer picture. Now, hit the “G” key for the gradient tool.

13.) Then, look at the top of the menu bar, you should see a bar like the one above. Click on the gradient panel (labeled in the screenshot above).

14.) Once you clicked on the gradient panel, a window like the one above will pop up. Now, under the “Presets” window, click on the White to Transparent icon (labeled in the screenshot above) and click OK.

15.) Then, go back to our canvas, you should still have that selection on. If not, you will have to repeat steps 10 to 12. Now make sure your Highlite layer is selected! Apply the gradient from top to bottom while holding down the “Shift” key. You should have something like mine in the screenshot above. Try a few times to achieve the effects like mine. Once you are happy with the gradient, deselect it by holding down “Control” key + “D” key. Now have a look at your rounded rectangle. It should now have a glassy feel to it. But wait… its not finished yet! We still have to give it a little shadow.

16.) For the shadow, create a new layer and name it Shadow. Now, make sure that the Shadow layer is above the Base Shape layer and below the Gradient layer. And make sure that the Shadow layer is the active selection.

17.) Again, select the rectangle by holding down “Control” + Clicking the Base Shape layer. Once it’s selected, press the “Shift” key + “F6” key simultaneously.

18.) By pressing “Shift” + “F6” keys, you will activate the Feather Selection tool and a small window like the above will pop up. Enter 2 as the value and click OK. Now, the selection will have softened edges for a nice shadow effect.

19.) Next, press the “Shift” key + “F5” key simultaneously to fill the feathered selection with color. A Fill window will pop up like the one above. In the Contents section, make sure Black is selected. And in the Blending section, set the Mode to Normal and the Opacity to 85%. Hit OK.

20.) Now, you have a glassy bar, with a slight shadow behind it. Hit “Control” key + “D” key to deselect and now, use the Arrow keys on your keyboard, and hit the Down key ONE TIME. You should have something like the screenshot below:

Taa daaa! You’ve got it. A simple 3 layer ( +1 layer for Base Shape) glass panel that is groovy and trendy. From here, you can add text, and images to make them look nice! Hint: Use a little shadow on texts and graphics on the glassy tops to give it a nice overall effect.

Check out the example in below:

Have fun! If you have any questions, please post them at the forum!

Comments

Thanks Written by Guest on 2004-03-27 01:31:00 Thanks for sharing this tidbit.

Written by visualdensity on 2004-04-02 07:44:55 You're most welcome. One more coming next week!

Cool tutorial! Written by Guest on 2004-04-27 18:32:39 Thanks

Written by Guest on 2004-05-01 21:59:40 Great tutorial. I look foward to the next www.caneharvesters.com

PDF-HACK for Mambohut plz Written by Guest on 2004-05-17 06:57:51 Hi   nice Tutorial, but your Server dont work with pdf INCLUDE Pictures!  It generate pdfs WITHOUT Pics for a Photoshop Tutorial   Maybe it works better with the pdf-Hack for Mambo

Very Nice Written by Guest on 2004-06-03 01:26:23 Thank You for taking the time to share this information. It was enjoyable to read.

drop shadow Written by Guest on 2004-06-24 01:54:47 Nice tutorial. The hand made drop shadow at the end is a little too much work though. Just double click the layer you want to drop shadow (or use the "f" icon at the bottom of the layers pallette, and apply a drop shadow style to the layer's object.    You can also use layer styles to apply your gradient to the rounded retangle object as well.

Written by Guest on 2004-07-08 10:15:30 Thanks a lot, love it

Firworks Version... Written by ccdog on 2004-08-11 10:31:13 Any Mamcromedia Firworks tutorials planned for the future?

"asstop" Written by ccdog on 2004-08-11 10:32:20 You realize the picture in the top right corner says this, right?

Photoshop CS Written by jltray on 2004-12-22 21:01:37 Like others, thank you for the insight. I was able to do the same on 1 layer and using the Layer Effects.    Thanks again.

didi Written by Guest on 2005-08-05 07:19:25 thanks.... bravo!

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.

Powered by AkoComment 2.0!