Picture 1. Web 2.0 style glassy button.
01.11.2007 Category: Photoshop
These days glass buttons seem to be very popular. You can find glass buttons in
Windows Vista and all around the Web. Other popular buttons are metallic and plastic buttons. All these buttons have one thing in common: They are all shiny. Some people call these kinds of buttons Web 2.0 buttons. Here I cover the creation of two different glass buttons in Adobe Photoshop CS3. Both glass buttons utilize the same principles. Once you have completed this tutorial you should be able to apply the same principles and create many different kind of glass buttons. In this tutorial I give you the exact measurements and values to make things easy but feel free to try other settings as well.
Rectangular Glass Button
Picture 2. Create black basic button on the new layer.
Create a new picture the size of which is 400 x 180 pixels. Create a new empty layer. Activate the Rounded Rectangle Tool and set the Radius to 10 px in the Options panel. Select black color and create rounded box (140 x 50 pixels) on the new layer according to picture 2. (You can see the size of the box in the Info panel while drawing.) Probably the most common way to create a glass button in Adobe Photoshop is to use layer effects.
Next we are going to apply several different layer effects to the button
to make it more glassy:
- Gradient Overlay
- Inner Glow
- Stroke
- Drop Shadow
Gradient Overlay
Picture 3. Gradient Overlay settings in Photoshop.
Right click on the new layer in the Layers panel and select Blending Options… from the menu. Turn Gradient Overlay on. Change the
color of the right end of the gradient to 50% gray (#808080) according to picture 3.
Inner Glow
Picture 4. Inner Glow settings in Adobe Photoshop.
Turn Inner Glow on. Change the color of the glow to pure white. Change Opacity to 40%. Change Size to 8 pixels. The button should now look like in
picture 4.
Stroke
Picture 5. Stroke settings.
Turn Stroke on. Change Size to 1 pixel and color of the stroke to 50% gray (#808080). The button should now look like in picture 5.
Drop Shadow
Picture 6. Drop Shadow settings.
Turn Drop Shadow on. Change Distance to 0 pixels and Size to 8
pixels. The glass button should now look like in picture 6. Click OK to close the
dialog.
Button Text
Picture 7. Button text.
Create the button text with Type Tool. Select white color for the text and create 1 pixel wide black stroke for it. Align the text to the
middle of the button. The glass button should now look like in picture 7.
Highlight / Glare
Picture 8. White rounded rectangle will become the highlight.
Picture 9. Complete glass button in Adobe Photoshop.
When creating a glass button the highlight (reflection of the light source) is the most important element.
Create a new empty layer on top of the text layer. Select white color and create new Rounded Rectangle (136 x 23 pixels) on the new layer according to picture 8. Right click on the new layer in the Layers panel and select Blending Options… from the menu. Turn “Blend Interior Effects as Group” on. Turn Gradient Overlay on. Change the color of the left end of the gradient to 25% gray (#404040) according to picture 9. Click OK to close the dialog.
Change the blending mode of the new layer to Screen and Opacity to 90%. Now the glass button is complete and it should look like in picture 9.
This is a black and white glass button but using the same
principles you could create a glass button of any color.
Ive been following your blog posts for several weeks now and find them a riveting read.
[...] Glass Button in Photoshop « Risposta [...]
well i find it extremly hard to work with photoshop
My name is Piter Jankovich. oOnly want to tell, that your blog is really cool
And want to ask you: is this blog your hobby?
P.S. Sorry for my bad english
I genuinely wish to get out and about a little more and also eliminate wasting a large percentage of of my daytime hours practicing poker on myspace or facebook considering the fact that as of late i have been losing out on reading with regards to this. Even while I cant disclose that I undeniably go along with every single concept, it’s nice to scan some keen commentary as a substitute for the routine spam I discover floating around the web.
This is my first visit here, but I will be back soon, because I really like the way you are writing, it is so simple and honest
hey there wonderful little blogging site you got here
I utilize the same exact web theme on my own but for whatever nutty factor it would seem to stream faster on this blog eventhough this site features a lot more multimedia. Have you been using any individual plug ins or widgets which will speed it up? If you could share the names so I can use them in my own site so twilight eclipse fans could watch twilight breaking dawn online trailers and clips faster I’d personally be ever so thankful – many thanks in advance 
I just like the approach you took with this article. It isn’t typical that you discover a subject so concise and informative.
woot woot
can i see more of this please
I read a article under the same title some time ago, but this articles quality is much, much better. How you do this?
After reading you site, Your site is very useful for me .I bookmarked your site!
I really enjoyed this post, especially the “examples in this post” portion which made it really easy for me to SEE what you were talking about without even having to leave the article. Thanks
One again, your articles is very good.thank you!very much.
Touche! Great post and blogsite!
Very good sharing this.
great experience, dude! thanks for this great post wow… it’s very wonderful report.
nice share, good
article, very usefull for me…thank you
One again, your idea is very
good.thank you!very much.
nice share, good article, very usefull for me…thanks
This guy is really lucky !
Nice content. Thank you for your information.
Was an interesting article, thank you..
Great article, i
hope can know much information About it!
I’ve already bookmark this article and will definitely refer this article to all my close friends and colleagues. Thanks for posting!
Thanks for posting! I really enjoyed the report. I’ve already bookmark
this article.
Thank you for Posting & I got to read nice information on your site.
Just want to say what a great blog you got here!
I’ve been around for quite a lot of time, but finally decided to show my appreciation of your work!
Thumbs up, and keep it going!
Cheers
Christian, watch south park online
hey,this is Stevie Hettinga,just found your Post on google and i must say this blog is great.may I share some of the article found in this site to my local buddies?i am not sure and what you think?in either case,Thanks!
Good article Thank you so much
I searched for something completely different, but found your website! And have to say thanks. Nice read. Will come back.
Story, i enjoyed sharing this.
Great article! It’s often hard to find such well put together information that makes sense!
free ecards
I’ll gear this review to 2 types of people: current Zune owners who are considering an upgrade, and people trying to decide between a Zune and an iPod. (There are other players worth considering out there, like the Sony Walkman X, but I hope this gives you enough info to make an informed decision of the Zune vs players other than the iPod line as well.)
One again, your articles is very good.thank you!very much.
good share, great article, very usefull for us…thanks!
great experience, dude! thanks for this great
Articles wow… it’s very wonderful report.
Just want to say what a great blog you got here!
I’ve been around for quite a lot of time, but finally decided to show my appreciation of your work!
Thumbs up, and keep it going!
Cheers
Christian, iwspo.net
Thanks for best news!
Thanks for this useful article.
Wonderful journey and experience!
great information you write it very clean. I am very lucky to get this tips from you.
I’m a huge fan of your weblog! Check out my website, You can check your weblog here!
Great journey and experience!
Great sharing this.
Download Internet Explorer 8
great share, great article, very usefull for me…thank
you
Great discussion. And I REALLY like that you practice what you preach. That’s when you can tell a post has come together.
].
And I’m also fascinated by how fresh you made the routine [admit it: what you just shared has been regurgitated millions of time.
Ben Johnson said people don’t need taught as much as they need reminding.
Good work.
Thank you for your great
content.
Thank you for the information, going to bookmark the site!
hey i posted a remark a while back about how to speed up my twilight eclipse website’s loading time for the reason that we employed the very same theme at that time and someone placed a comment answering it on my weblog weeks ago – if that was you I simply wanted to say i am grateful, and if it was not you then sorry to take the time you, but thanks anyhow!