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Posted this as help on another board... thought i may as well post it here too. Some one might like to use it.
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I used to have a tute for this glassy/plastic ball effect, back in 97/98... people had problems with it though and i never got around to reVamping it. But i've since figured out several other ways to do this, and the following is one of them...
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This is such a non-complicated effect really.
If you REALLY want a challenge, try this tute on: http://www.photoshopgurus.com/interm...ll_buttons.pdf
[size=18px]Before starting, make your background layer black.[/size] You can modify it afterward if you wish.
1) Create a circle selection on a New Layer.
Fill the selection with a Radial gradient using the colours of your choice -- make your Foreground colour lighter than your Background colour. Start the grad tool in the lower center position of the circle; bottom half. And drag and release the tool just below the top of the circle selection. This strengthens the hot-spot effect near the bottom center area. Leave the selection on.
2) Duplicate the Layer 1 sphere layer. Set the blend mode to Screen. Ctrl-click the layer, and invert the selection. Feather the selection by 2 pixels and press Delete. Deselect. Now move it upward 10 pixels by holding Shift and pressing your up arrow key once. Now select the sphere on Layer 1, invert the selection, and press Delete; to cut of the overhanging part of this sphere.
3) Duplicate the Layer 1 sphere layer. Move the layer above the others. Flip this layer vertically; or Rotate 180 degrees. Set the blend mode to Hardlight.
(using Softlight or Overlay will change the look slightly)
3-b) You can smooth/blend the edges of the sphere a little better if you select the Layer 1 sphere; invert the selection; feather the selection by 1 pixel; and hit the delete key. Deselect.
4) Ctrl/Cmd-Click the Layer 1 sphere. Invert the selection, and Contract it by 4 pixels. Press Ctrl/Cmd+J to copy the selected area to a new layer. Press Ctrl/Cmd +D to make sure nothing's selected. Then run a 2 to 2.5 pixel Gaussian Blur. Now set this layer on Color Burn blend mode, and move it just above layer 2.
NOTE: The larger your sphere is, the more you'll need to contract the selection by in the previous step. You'll have to experiment with that.
5) New Layer, and move it to the top of the Layer Palette. Grab a 65 pixel soft-edged brush. Use white, and give a quick click of the mouse/brush on the bottom center of the sphere -- right about where you started your gradient fill from, on the first layer. We're creating a fuller looking hot-spot. Set this layer to Overlay. (this is actually the spot where the light source is refracting inside the glass)
6) New Layer. Ctrl-click the sphere layer to make a selection of it. Grab that same brush as used above, with white again, and make a quick pass along the top half of the sphere/selection. Just be sure to brush over the top edge of the sphere. Set this layer to Overlay blend mode, at 50% Opacity. Deselect. (Try to do this with one stroke left to right, real smooth; or you may apply too much paint.)
7) New Layer. Grab a smaller soft-edged brush; about 35 pixels. Your Foreground colour should be white. Click once in the middle of the sphere, just above center. This represents the reflection of the main light source from above. Leave this layer on Normal mode, and at 100% Opacity.
Done!
The image at the top is what the final result should "resemble".
[size=18px]TIPS: [/size]
You can modify the look slightly by moving the highlight layers (steps 5 & 7) around within the sphere. And by turning off the ombient light effect created in Step 6.
And you can create a similar effect to my example image below by using a circular selection of a photo. And running the Spherize or Pinch filter on it (i used Pinch). Put this photo layer just above the 2nd sphere (layer 2). And hide any sphere layers above the photo layer. Set the blend mode to Multiply, and try lowering the Opacity a little. Try other blend modes too though; you have a few good choices for that, to create different effects.
Another cool look is to set the photo's Blend Mode to Lighten, lower it's Opacity to 10-15%, and move it above all the sphere layers; but below the highlight layers.
[size=18px]HINT: [/size]
If you want to see exactly how the highlights are doing all the work to create this effect, just open a photo, blur it by 20 pixels, and move it's layer so it's right above all of the sphere layers -- blocking them out.
[size=18px]GURU TIP: [/size]
If you wanted to save a version of the sphere in the above image, but without the background photo... select the Layer 1 sphere layer, click on the topmost highlight layer, and under the EDIT menu choose "Copy Merged". Then just paste into the same or a different document.
This is a great way to create a cool button set for an interface or other Website menu.
Mark, I tried it two times, but both times it didn't work out well, even though I tried a 120 pixels wide sphere. Can you show me an example how it should really look like using only these 6 steps. One question; why is that after completing step 3 that this particular layer is really close to invisible and I mean really close.
Well I tried, although it doesn't come close what you made Mark, but that's probably my fault; not easy to switch all the time from web page to Photoshop with one monitor
Hey that's good Rick... almost like a balloon huh?
I see you got the reflection goin too. [excited]
Gauss... yours looks almost exact, with the exceptions that you don't have a black bg and your gradient colours are a bit to similar; not enough contrast.
1) Definately start out using a black bg. That'll at least help you stay on the right track so far as getting a "similar" result to default image shown in the tute.
2) Use more contrasting colours; at least to start with. This too will help you acquire better results; because you can more easily see what's happening with the image step-by-step. Afterward, the colours and/or saturation can be effected if you wish.
Another glassy/plastic orb... 
Linear Mode
