Posted on June 17th, 2007
Written by admin and filed into the Design, Miscellaneous category.
In this tutorial I will teach you how to create a trendy orb like this:
Orbs like this can be used for logos, websites, signatures, avatars and more. They are a very helpful thing to know how to make. My tutorial assumes you have a basic to intermediate knowledge of photoshop.
To start off making your orb you need to grab your elliptical marquee tool. On a new layer, while holding shift (to keep your cicle perfectly symetrical) create your circle. Make the circle as big as you want This will make the edges of the circle. Rename this circle layer orb holder.
While you have the Orb Holder layer selected to go to the blending options and insert these settings.
If you have applied the settings correctly your Orb Holder layer should look like this.
Now we are going to move on to the actual orb. Make a new layer and name it Orb Base Layer. Then Ctrl- click the Orb Holder layer, a selection should pop up. Go to Select > Modify > Contract. Contract anywhere from 5 pixels to 13 pixels. The larger your orb the more you want to contract. I used 7 because I am making a relatively small orb.
Assuming you are still on the Orb Base layer I would like you to fill your selection with any color. Then open the blending options and enter these settings.
If you inserted all of those settings correctly you should have something like this:
Now that we have the base of the orb done. Its time to make it look more like glass. To do that you want to make a new layer. Name the layer Orb Reflection. Then Ctrl - click the Orb Base layer. Now grab your gradient tool. Plug in these settings:
Now assuming that you are still on the layer Orb Reflection and you still have the selection selected, drag from the top - left of the orb to the middle with your gradient tool.
If you did it right it should turn out like the one above.
Now add your own flare to it. I added screws to the side of mine, but experiment and come up with different ways to make this yours.
Congratulations! you completed this tutorial on how to make an orb. This orb can be useful for many things and I hope you go on and use your new knowledge to create good graphics.
This was a really good idea:D
Thnx for the good tutorial:p
Posted by Lars on June 18th, 2007 at 11:21 am
WoW!! I really like this tutorial.
Nice work..I might use this Orb with a signature that i’m going to create in the future. ahaha
But yea I love this orb thanks for the great tutorial.
Posted by KenJo~ on June 18th, 2007 at 9:38 pm
Not really new,but nice and to the point tutorial.
Posted by CC on June 19th, 2007 at 3:05 am
It doesn’t work for me to go to Select -> Modify -> Contract. The Modify-button is just gray and can’t be clicked.
Posted by Meister Karl on June 26th, 2007 at 9:12 am
Hellow!
Can u plzzz… send me any other tips and tricks??I’m a designer from eastern Nepal and is involved in small organization realted in designing.
With hope and Regards
Roshan Subba
Posted by Roshan Subba on July 4th, 2007 at 4:24 am
Oh yeah…………….
this is just superb. thnx for this orb. I really need this for my recent design.
thnxs again.
Posted by ashis kumar mohanty on July 6th, 2007 at 6:07 am
cool never seen an orb made this way…
- likenota, from www.likenota.com
Posted by Likenota on July 8th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
Thanks for idea it will be great added to my icon colection
thanks again ….
Posted by Khalid Murii on July 11th, 2007 at 11:02 am
How do i make screws?
Posted by Jason on July 16th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
How do i make wires, screws etc?
Posted by Jason on July 16th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
I’ve just recently gotten back to PS after a long vacation from it…frustration with the graphics world! Now I’m in it just for myself and I had a lot of fun with this tut! Your instructions are clear and easy to follow and for that I thank you.
Posted by peter on August 30th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article Time2Photoshop, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.
Posted by Daniel on August 31st, 2007 at 7:10 pm
BAD explaining……
Posted by Riyas on September 4th, 2007 at 3:36 am
Great tutorial! I had to translate a little since I’m using a MAC, but otherwise it was very straight forward. Thanks!
Posted by Lois Croft on September 15th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
hi very well written and straightfoward thxs……………. you can find tutorials for wire and screw making at photoshoproadmap…
im making a web site now and i could use a lil help ( lol ) if anyone is interested in making an art /photoshop/ naruto fan site plz contact me at derrick788@yahoo.com or at chatango.com pervysage123 thxs very nice tut!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by pervysage on October 21st, 2007 at 5:03 pm
Hello…Man i love reading your blog, interesting posts ! it was a great Tuesday
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Posted by Consolidation Debt on February 10th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Very nice
btw very good tips i will use them.
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