Aqua-Soft Forums

Photoshop special effect ?

I am trying to make that glare effect that you see on icons and images, especially in apple advertising. I need help also making apple style reflections with just a black background, kind of like the iChat effect. I have attatched an image to show one of the glare effects I am talking about, it is the leopard spotlight icon. Please tell me what you guys know about these effects. Oh, by the way im using photoshop CS2

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060807_7.jpg

#453016

Google for photoshop glass orb tutorial and reflection tutorials.

#453022

For the reflections, I just do this:

  1. Type some text on a new layer.
  2. Confirm the text when you're done so that you're no longer editing it
  3. Press V on the keyboard to get the Move tool ready Ctrl+J to duplicate the layer
  4. Ctrl+T to free transform
  5. Right click on the layer
  6. Select Flip Vertical
  7. Hold down SHIFT and drag the flipped layer down, STILL IN FREE TRANSFORM MODE.
  8. Get it to where it looks really close to mirrored, and use the arrow keys to nudge it until there's about 1 pixel space maximum between the flipped layer and the original
  9. Press enter to exit free transform mode.
  10. Create a new layer mask for the flipped layer (it's a button in the layers pallette, near the bottom of the window)
  11. Press D on the keyboard to get the default black/white colors handy
  12. Select the Gradient tool, and make sure the gradient you have selected looks like it's going from black to white.
  13. Now, select the Layer Mask if it isn't selected already. Try clicking on it. If it appears that a "box" went away that was around the thumbnail, click it again to make it reappear. The little border on the thumbnail of the mask should be there before you start.
  14. Now, hold down Shift and draw the gradient from about 15-20% up from the bottom of the flipped text layer all the way up into about a third the way up the original text layer.
  15. If you drew it correctly, you will see no black or white on your image, you will only see that your flipped layer now looks like a pretty decent reflection. Play with where you put the gradient to get your desired reflection effect.

I've attached my own flavour of the reflected text icons so you can see what I did.

[edit]: 7 Views, still no comments? If you're gonna leech my resources, please at least give me a comment with the download...;)

Template.psd

Attachment: Template.psd

#453038