Speedy Glass Orb

Here’s a quick tutorial that will show you how to create a simple glass orb that can be used in your interfaces and images.

Create a new document. Size and background doesn’t really matter. I’m using 200px by 200px with a white background. Now make a new layer.

Using the eliptical selection tool, make a circular selection in the center of the document. Now select a light blue color for your foregrouna and a darker blue for your background. I’m using #467597 and #447192.

Select the gradient tool and select Foreground to Background as the type and the radial gradient as the style. Now drag from the bottom right of the selection to the top left.

Now create a new layer and make a slightly smaller circle. Fill this with white and bump it up to the top and to the left a little, like I have below.

Next, use the pen tool to create a curved, s-shaped path across the top left of the white circle. Go to the Paths palette and Ctrl+Click on the path to load the selection. Hit Ctrl+Shift+I to invert the selection and press delete.

Now, we take the Polygonal Lasso tool and make a selection diagnoally that cuts through the protruding portion of the shape we just created.

Hit Ctrl+Alt+D to feather the selection and select a value of 10. Hit delete. Now lower the opacity of the layer to 50-60%. Add a slight drop-shadow to the underlying layer and your orb is done.

Added Saturday, May 13th, 2006 at 9:06 pm under Interface Elements.