Do I finally have the Aqua look down?

Ricky

Ricky

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See the attached image and let me know.

aqua.jpg


Complete Photoshop 7 goodness. And it's actually shrunk! :p
Anyway, I know there are more skilled out there, so is there anything I can do to refine my Aqua technique?
 
Not too bad, Ricky. I kinda think the color of the object has alot to do with how well it turns out. Some colors just don't do the "aqua" look right.

I have a copy of a tutorial that MacDesign Magazine did. Let me see about a few things, and maybe we can get some tips online here.

Anyone else like the idea of having a monthly "How-to" topic? Maybe stick it at the top of the forum for a month, then moving it to the HOWTOs and starting a new one.
 
Wow. That chat bubble looks tasty.

*CHOMP CHOMP*

Mmm.... Adam likes to have a good byte every once in a while.
 
Mdnky: That's a good idea. You should suggest it to Scott.

Ricky: It's pretty close. It doesn't exactly follow the formula I saw somewhere, but it's really nice overall.
 
I think it looks great. Myabe if it were a deeper orange/red it might "shine" a bit more, but overall, it looks fu@k*** cool ;)
 
Hehe, I actually did one in a kind of a blood red color... :p I'll post a few variants when I can get to my Mac.

I made the PSD file so that all you needed to do was change one layer and its effects to change the entire bubble's color. Shouldn't be very difficult.
 
There's a tutorial on making Aqua Buttons on Railheaddesign.com that can be used for different shapes
HERE
 
Originally posted by Ricky
Hehe, I actually did one in a kind of a blood red color... :p I'll post a few variants when I can get to my Mac.

I made the PSD file so that all you needed to do was change one layer and its effects to change the entire bubble's color. Shouldn't be very difficult.
Click to expand...
Couldn't you just have an adjusment layer on top of the entire stack? Would be quicker to change colors that way i think.
 
It looks good! Really!
Only complain is the reflections should fade instead of all out stopping. ;)

Nice job!
 
This is the tutorial, or "formula," I mentioned above. About as good as Bob's, but with less navigation.

Xyle: There are several ways to recolor an image with an covering layer. You can use an adjustment layer, or you can use a layer filled with a single color, and apply "Multiply" or "Darken" or "Overlay" or opacity to get the desired effect. Simple. :)
 
Originally posted by bobw
There's a tutorial on making Aqua Buttons on Railheaddesign.com that can be used for different shapes
HERE
Click to expand...
Ack.

It reminds my of Aqua bubbles from OS 10.1... So ugly and blurry...
Originally posted by Trip
It looks good! Really!
Only complain is the reflections should fade instead of all out stopping. ;)

Nice job!
Click to expand...
If you noticed, all the UI elements from 10.2 on up have had the gloss cut off a bit before it would fade off. I mean, just take a look at the iChat icon, and all the UI elements around Jag. Plus, I used vectors to make it crisp. You can't say that about any of the tutorials out there.
Originally posted by arden
This is the tutorial, or "formula," I mentioned above. About as good as Bob's, but with less navigation.

Xyle: There are several ways to recolor an image with an covering layer. You can use an adjustment layer, or you can use a layer filled with a single color, and apply "Multiply" or "Darken" or "Overlay" or opacity to get the desired effect. Simple. :)
Click to expand...
Ugh, another fairly flawed tutorial that I see used constantly. You can always tell when someone used it from the way it looks. It has a style all its own.

Which is bad when you're trying to emulate the Aqua style.

Anyway, here's the bubble in a few different colors... Blood red, silver, Aqua, Graphite, and a deep ocean blue. :D

various.jpg
 
Post those at 32x32 thumbnail size so we can see what it would look like as an actual widget.

Trip: Nah, I don't like that one. But it's old, so...
 
actually i have my own little aqua style... not really aqua, but its a neat little thing, easy, neat use of gradients :)
Ricky's bubble is much better, but if you want, i'll make a little tutorial of my little thing here :)
 
Androo's Simple Aqualike Look:

make a new document, a size that's equal (128x128, or 256x256, or 800x800, you get the point).

Then select the Eliptical Marquee Tool ( the circular selection tool :)), click and hold shift, and drag, so that you get this:

step1.gif


Then get get the gradient tool (its the second paint bucket tool), and then look on the top left of your screen. It should show a little gradient. Click it and a little popup thing comes out. Select foreground to background and hit OK.

step2.gif


Make sure white color is ontop, and another color like blue, red, green, or yellow is the other color (White is foreground, redbluegreen or yellow is background.)

step3.gif


Then hold shift and click at the top of the circle selection. Then drag down to the bottom of circle (still holding click and shift). Then you get a gradient :).

http://penguinn.com/tut/step4.gif

Then look at the top left of the screen and double click that little gradient again. Select foreground to transparent.

Then hold shift and click at the bottom of the circle and drag 1/4 up the circle. Then you have a nice circle!
circle.gif
 
blam.png

Tutorial coming soon... :D
EDIT: The highlight is too much, this will be fixed in the tutorial. :)
 
Yeah, it's a little too sharp, even for your standards (whatever that means).
 
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