A different glass tutorial

This tutorial is fresh out the head,

There are millions of tutorials out for glass effects and they are all pretty much the same and i don't really see a point but i haven't seen this effect a lot maybe ever :o

I discovered it making a banner for a forum i work on and found it quite nice.

This will be the finished result of this tutorial:
http://img460.imageshack.us/img460/5870/blueeg28tx.jpg

Using this effect you can also create many things, i have only used it in signatures/banners so far so maybe you can find more uses? Here are other examples (i will probably update with more) i have done with this technique:
http://img460.imageshack.us/img460/3441/blackeg16lk.jpg
and
http://img460.imageshack.us/img460/3778/headshot3gm.gif


And on to the tutorial:

1> Open a new document, size doesn't matter but i used 300x102 because it was for an advertisement/banner and those sizes were needed.

2> Fill the background with a colour of your choice, preferably a light colour although a dark colour looks good but you will need to alter some settings.

Note: Step 2 does not really matter i am just putting it in for the lesser abled designers ;)

2> Add some text with a pretty simple and easy to read text, and place it in roughly the centre, i got it like so:

http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/4454/screen15cy.jpg

3> Now we need to add some text effects, if you feel confident enough to do these yourself then go for it because the text isn't too important here.

Note: I used two layers here, one for the black 'Head' and one for the white 'Shot' so read carefully to make sure you are following the right effects if you have done the same as me.

I used the following effects for the black 'Head' layer.

Only change what i note unless you are confident enough to use your own effect

Drop Shadow
Distance : 2
Spread : 0
Size : 1

Bevel + Emboss
Style : Pillow Emboss
Depth : 1
Direction : Down
Size : 1
Soften : 0

Angle : 90

Stroke
Size : 1 px
Color : White
Opacity : 50%


Now for the White 'Shot' text:

Drop Shadow
Distance : 2
Spread : 0
Size : 1

The same bevel + Emboss settings as the other text

Stroke
Size : 1 px
Color : Black
Opacity : 50%

You should now have something similar to this:
http://img460.imageshack.us/img460/6305/screen20uy.jpg


4>Grab the square marquee tool (If it isnt square then left click where it should be ;) ) And drag and selection from each side which is slightly larger than the text. Like so:

http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/4...een38pa.th.jpg

5> Fill this selction in with WHITE and lower the opacity to 25%

6> Time for some blending effects to give it the glassy look:

Tick drop shadow and leave everything the default and make sure its on 90 degrees *Ticking global light would help changing all other settings to 90 degrees*

Tick Inner shadow and leave everything default and make sure its on 90degrees

Outer Glow:
Blend mode : Normal
Color : White
Size : 13

Bevel + Emboss:
Size : 5 px
Soften : 11 px
Angle : 90

and then tick contour

Satin:
Opacity : I used 30 but fiddle until it looks its best
Angle must be 19
Contour : Click it and choose 3across from the left on the top row, see below for which one:
Tick invert
http://img460.imageshack.us/img460/4...een44ym.th.jpg


Gradient:
opacity : 15%
Angle : 90

Pattern Overlay:
Opacity : 50%
Pattern : Use the black dot pattern, if youhave not got this do the following in italics:

Go to FILE>New, make sure its 3x3 pixels, grab the pencil tool (right click the brush tool) make sure its a one pixel and its black, zoom in as far as possible into the canvas, click once in the middle so theres a small dot, go to EDIT>DEFINE AS PATTERN and call it dot.... close that window and get back to our glass :P

Finally for the effects add a one pixel, black stroke with 50% opacity

You should now have something similar to this:
http://img460.imageshack.us/img460/6742/screen54qe.jpg

If you prefere this look :
http://img460.imageshack.us/img460/4885/extra2ye.jpg
Then raise the opacity of the layer to 100%, if yours looks like that and you don't want it to then lower it to 25%.

7> This bit is tricky if you have not done this before, grab the circular marquee tool, start top right out of the canvas and drag way to the left and down half way through the canvas, let go of the left mouse button and you should get this:

http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/6...een60vi.th.jpg

If you need detailed help on that bit my msn is bencrook76 AT hotmail.com

8>Make a new layer and Fill that selection in with white and set the layers opacity to 10% and go to FILTER>BLUR>GAUSSIAN BLUR and set it to 1.

You should now have this:
http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/8294/screen72js.jpg

Add a border and you're pretty much done :D

Its now up to you to turn it into what you need, this is just basic, apply your own knowledge and im sure some people can make some nice things with it ;)

If you use it i would like to see your results to see how it turned out :P

Any problems Add my MSN bencrook76 AT hotmail.com, reply here or PM me :D

Hope you learnt something from this :)
Ben :P

And god damn it why the low amount of images?

wow dude looks great! i bet p eople could fin alot of use outta this one. Good job.

v. nice my friend.

Nice tut mate, sexy result too. ;)

looks sweet! :D :) :D

c'est tres bien :D

Quite nice dude, just did it myself and I'm too lazy to mess around with it at the moment to put it on photobucket... I'll get it up sooner or later.

Nice..... more screens tho....

Very nice tut, well done :)

Awesome tut. Real easy to follow

Superb! Pretty decent effect as well, good job.

Thanks people ^_^

awsome tut im sure i will use this in my next project

I like the outcome. Thanks for the tut. :D

Really nice. I love the outcome.

Glad you like it :)