Glass Orb Tutorial
PSP 7
1) Open a new file 300 x 300, resolution 72, transparent background, image type is 24bit.
2)Add a layer. Select the selection tool, choose circle, feather = 0, antialias checked. Starting at coordinates (150,150) which is also the center of the screen, draw a circle however big you would like. Flood fill it with white.
3)Save selection to alpha channel. Selection > Save to alpha channel > ok > ok. This is really an important step since you will have to use this selection again.
4)Make a mask of the circle with 3d effects. You should have a white circle selected on layer 2. Invert selections and flood fill the background with black. Deselect or Ctrl+D. Now for the 3d. Without anything selected, go to effects, blur, gaussian blur, radius set to 16. This is what you get:
Now load your circle selection from the alpha channel. Selections > Load from Alpha Channel > ok. You can see that some of the feathering is outside the selection. We can fix this before we make our mask. Invert your selection. Now the background is selected. Flood fill it with black. We now have a perfect 3d orb ready to be a mask. Invert your selection to where the orb is selected.
Choose Mask > New > Show Selection. You now have a mask of the selection only and the black background disappears.
5) Add lighting affects to the mask. We will be adding an amber light in the upper left and another blue light in the lower right. I have these both saved as presets so I can use them again. With the masked circle still selected on the 3D Mask layer, go to Effects > Illumination Effects > Lights. Here is a screen shot so you can get the settings right.
Screen Shot
Now for the blue light. Effects > Illumination Effects > Lights. Here is a screen shot so you can get the settings.
Screen Shot
6) Add a lensflare. Add a new layer and title it lensflare. Load your selection from alpha channel and flood fill it with black. All you will see is a black circle. Don't worry our mask is underneath and we will see it soon. With the black circle selected, go to Effects > Illumination Effects > Sunburst. Use the settings in the screen shot below.
Time for a cool trick. Change the blend mode of the layer that holds the black circle to Screen. The black disappears and you only see the lensflare. Here is what your image should look like so far:
7) Add color. Now it is time for some color. Add a new layer and name it color, set the blend mode to multiply. Choose any color you like and flood fill the selection. If your selection is not showing, just load it from alpha channel. Bright colors work best but you can change this and play with colors since it is on its own layer. I used color #40FF40 for my example. Here is what we have so far:
I know it looks great as is but it is missing a glow that glass has. We have a trick up our sleeve for that. Select the 3D Mask layer to make it active. You should have the circle selected, if not just load it from alpha channel. We are going to make the dark colors light and the light colors dark. Colors > Negative Image. When we do this the color switch happens but we also loose some of our shading around the edge. We are going to fix that.
Add a new layer above the 3D mask layer called shading. Flood fill it with black. Don't worry about the spot you see. Now load our selection from alpha channel. Hit delete to remove the black. To add the shading we do Effects > Blur > Gaussian Blur, radius set to 5. Invert the selection and hit delete to get rid of the black background. Here is a screen shot of the layer menu:
Screen Shot
We are done making our glass orb. Add a frame, dropshadow and background of your choice the uses for this are endless!
