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Glass Button |
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| Download presets. Download these presets, unzip and extract them to your Presets directory. |
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| Start a new image. File ->New. 150 pixels by 150 pixels and whatever background color you like. |
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Create the vector base for the button. Click on the  Preset Shape tool. Set the shape to Elllipse, anti-alias and vector checked. Set the line width to 2. Set your foreground color swatch to black and the background color swatch to the B-W Gradient. Make the gradient Linear, 180 degrees and 0 repeats. Hold down the Shift key and right mouse button drag to draw out a circle. Grab the rotation handle and rotate the shape so that the darkest part of the gradient is at the top left of the circle. Selections->From Vector Object. Selections ->Load/Save Selection -> Save Selection to Alpha Channel. You can accept the default name. Layers ->Convert to Raster Layer. |
See a screen capture of this step. |
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Color and texture the button. Layers ->New Raster Layer. Set the Blend Mode to Multiply. Set your foreground swatch to a somewhat lighter color than you want the finished product to be. Here I used #FF1D1D. Click on the  Flood fill tool and fill the selection with your color. Adjust ->Add/Remove Noise ->Add Noise. Set it to Gaussian, 10% and Monochrome. Right click on this layer in the Layer Control Palette and choose Merge ->Merge Down. Adjust ->Blur ->Gaussian Blur by 3.0. |
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Add some refraction. We now need to make a crescent shaped selection. With the original selection still active, click on the  Selection tool. Set it to Circle, Remove, Feather 0 and anti-alias checked. Start the selection off center towards the top left and drag it until you have a crescent shaped selection remaining on the bottom right. Selections ->Modify ->Contract by 6 pixels. Layers ->New Raster Layer. Set the Blend Mode to Overlay and the Opacity to 35%. Flood fill this selection with white. Selections ->Select None. Adjust ->Blur ->Gaussian Blur by 3. Right click on the layer and choose Merge ->Merge Down. |
See a screen capture of this step. |
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Add highlighting. Selections->Load/Save Selection->Load from Alpha Channel. Hit the Load button. Effects ->Illumination Effects ->Lights. From the Preset drop down choose "amc_glasslight". Effects ->Illumination Effects ->Sunburst. From the Preset drop down choose "amc_highlight". Effects ->3D Effects ->Drop Shadow. Settings to your taste, here I used black with offsets of 2, Opacity 100% and Blur 11. |
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