eraser
26-01-2006, 10:19 AM
Spheres are a dietary staple of the interface design professional, and make their way into many different designs, whether by choice or just plain habit. This is not a coincidence - carefully crafted 3D-effect spheres are one of the most visually pleasing and effective weapons in the designer's arsenal. There are, consequently, dozens of different methods used to get a similar result - some more complex than others. My technique takes a middle road - it looks good and takes a moderate amount of time to set up. Its biggest advantage, however, is that it uses nothing but Photoshop Layer effects, so you can fine-tune the effect with relative ease (something that's just not possible if you rely purely on the lighting effects filter or radial gradients). For the sake of those interested in the theory, I've also spent a little time explaining the different settings, and how their alteration will affect the final look of the effect. Read on...
http://biorust.com/tutorials/ps-shinyspheres/step1.jpg
Step 1: Create a blank 200px by 200px document and fill the background with anything you like (white may be best at first). Create a new transparent layer on top and, using the elliptical marquee tool (), draw a circle whilst holding down the shift key (this will give you a classic circle with equal proportions). Now make sure you have the top layer active and choose Edit > Fill from the menu. Fill the circle with 50% grey. You can now deselect if you want
http://biorust.com/tutorials/ps-shinyspheres/step2.jpg
Step 2: With the circle layer still selected in the layers palette, click on Layer > Layer Style > Bevel and Emboss in the menu and duplicate the settings on the left. You can alter the direction & height of the shine highlight by altering the angle and altitude accordingly. Likewise, if its a little too bright for you, or you want to go for a more 'rubbery' effect, drop the highlight opacity a little. Don't exit the layer effects dialog just yet though...
http://biorust.com/tutorials/ps-shinyspheres/step3.jpg
Step 3: Now progress onto the inner shadow subsection and enter the settings shown here. This will just add a little black shadowing into the bottom-right of the sphere, and make the whole shape appear more rounded.
http://biorust.com/tutorials/ps-shinyspheres/step3b.jpg
Step 3b: As an optional step, you can go into the gradient overlay and add a little more shading to the surface. If you don't want a sphere that 'pops out at you' though, you may consider omitting this stage. Now leave the layer effects dialog by clicking on the OK button
http://biorust.com/tutorials/ps-shinyspheres/step4.jpg
Step 4: And here is the result of all your hard work! Of course, its all a bit grey as yet, but a quick visit to Layer > Layer Style > Colour Overlay should sort that out sharpish.
http://biorust.com/tutorials/ps-shinyspheres/step5.jpg
Step 5: You shouldn't stop there of course - feel free to add other layer effects to your spheres for some truly unique effects. The sphere on the left, for example, is the same as the one above, but with a colour overlay, drop shadow, radial gradient, and pattern overlay defined. It really is simple to add these things using the layer effects dialogs, and no expert knowledge is required. So, go on, be a devil and experiment a little. You'll be shocked what you can conjure up in a few minutes...
http://biorust.com/tutorials/ps-shinyspheres/step1.jpg
Step 1: Create a blank 200px by 200px document and fill the background with anything you like (white may be best at first). Create a new transparent layer on top and, using the elliptical marquee tool (), draw a circle whilst holding down the shift key (this will give you a classic circle with equal proportions). Now make sure you have the top layer active and choose Edit > Fill from the menu. Fill the circle with 50% grey. You can now deselect if you want
http://biorust.com/tutorials/ps-shinyspheres/step2.jpg
Step 2: With the circle layer still selected in the layers palette, click on Layer > Layer Style > Bevel and Emboss in the menu and duplicate the settings on the left. You can alter the direction & height of the shine highlight by altering the angle and altitude accordingly. Likewise, if its a little too bright for you, or you want to go for a more 'rubbery' effect, drop the highlight opacity a little. Don't exit the layer effects dialog just yet though...
http://biorust.com/tutorials/ps-shinyspheres/step3.jpg
Step 3: Now progress onto the inner shadow subsection and enter the settings shown here. This will just add a little black shadowing into the bottom-right of the sphere, and make the whole shape appear more rounded.
http://biorust.com/tutorials/ps-shinyspheres/step3b.jpg
Step 3b: As an optional step, you can go into the gradient overlay and add a little more shading to the surface. If you don't want a sphere that 'pops out at you' though, you may consider omitting this stage. Now leave the layer effects dialog by clicking on the OK button
http://biorust.com/tutorials/ps-shinyspheres/step4.jpg
Step 4: And here is the result of all your hard work! Of course, its all a bit grey as yet, but a quick visit to Layer > Layer Style > Colour Overlay should sort that out sharpish.
http://biorust.com/tutorials/ps-shinyspheres/step5.jpg
Step 5: You shouldn't stop there of course - feel free to add other layer effects to your spheres for some truly unique effects. The sphere on the left, for example, is the same as the one above, but with a colour overlay, drop shadow, radial gradient, and pattern overlay defined. It really is simple to add these things using the layer effects dialogs, and no expert knowledge is required. So, go on, be a devil and experiment a little. You'll be shocked what you can conjure up in a few minutes...