Web Interface Design

Here you will be taught how to make a web interface that is transparent. This design requiresthat you use an image as your webpages background.

1) Open a new file, around 300 x 250pixels, with any background color. I used black.

2) Make a white square on a seperate layer. Set the opacity to 45-55%. This is going to be the table for our web interface.

3) Click on the Polygonal Lasso Tool.

4) Now cut some corners.

5) Still using the polygonal lasso tool just cut out lines from the square. Heres what i did.You don't need to do this, but this gives our website a more techy look.

6) Repeat step 5 until your happy with what you have.

7) (OPTIONAL) If you want a boarder around your table.GO TO LAYER > EFFECTS > INNER SHADOW. Use these setting with any color you want.

8) Now just add a background. I made this one using my Space Warp tutorial. Thats it for our web interface design tutorial.

You can add additional tables to your website for navigation or whatever else you need.

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Interface Skin and Bone

You first need to create your base or orignal pattern. Once you have the original pattern you then load a selection on the orignal pattern, expand the selection by 2 pixels (amount will vary depending on the size of the orig. pattern).

Create a new layer then fill the selection with a temporary color like white. This will create the second pattern that will be our interface skin.

Apply your effects for both patterns. Remember the original pattern will be the interface bone so only parts of that pattern will be seen.

I used the aqua affect for my interface bone (fig. 02a) and the 3D bevel effect (fig. 02b) for my interface skin.

Make sure the position of the elements and that the order of layers stay the same with the interface skin appearing on top of the interface bone layer.

We then cut out sections of the interface skin to expose the layer containing our interface bone. Use the elliptical marquee tool and position it over some areas of our interface skin layer. Hit the delete key to expose some sections of the interface bone layer.

Repeat the process until you are satisfied with the amount of bone layer exposed.

We will then apply a slice effect on the edges on the cut outs we made on step 3.

Use the elliptical marquee tool to select one of the edges of the interface skin made by the cut outs (fig. 04a). Make sure you have a small portion of the edge selected with the marquee tool.

Copy the contents of the selection and paste it on a new layer.

Load a selection on the chipped off edge and apply a vertical linear gradient (fig. 04b). The colors for the gradient will be the lighter and darker shade of the base color of the interface skin. I used black and white for the gradient since my base color is dark grey. Once you're done with the gradient move the chipped off edges back to there original position (fig. 04c).
Repeat the process for the other edges of the interface skin

Double click on the layer thumbnail then add a 1 pixel black stroke around the interface skin layer using layer styles and add a drop shadow to complete the tutorial.

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Photoshop Brush Site Spotlight — Seishido Photoshop Brushes

Seishido offers a beautiful collection of Photoshop brushes that is not to be overlooked! All of Janita's brushes are tinged with an air of whimsy, from her beautifully detailed Angelic set, featuring delicate feathers, gossamer wings and dreamy clouds, to her sweetly festive Seasonal set. Janita was kind enough to let us in on a few of her own favorite sets, and the following are free Photoshop brush previews that she offers exclusively to our site.

Easter Brushset Find Me: A special and brand new Easter set full of high resolution and hand drawn Easter egg brushes, in swirly and floral styles. And to make it even more seasonal there's also a cute bunny brush that has been attached in different sizes. The egg brushes have been made with another brushset, the floral elements are all doodled and this way the brushes look like eggs painted by kids, which can be used for borders, backgrounds, and other graphic needs. Just a lot of Easter bunny designs.

Brushset Pointed Out: This is one of those sets that everyone has a different use for. To me the brushes look like sea plants and faerie wings, but they can also be used as feathers, or just whatever would look cute with these brushes on.

Brushset Pussycat: These brushes are actually made of a scanned feather scarf but no one would ever guess it. Can be used for grungy designs as well as cloudy ones. Same thing as for the Pointed Out brushes, useful in all kinds of different ways, with just endless possibilities.

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Create a Stone Texture

Create a realistic stone texture in Adobe Photoshop Tutorial. A preview of the final result can be seen below:

*How to make a realistic stone texture that isn’t as fake looking as in other tutorials*

STEP 1 (Texture 1)

Open a new document 500 by 500. Select a dark gray as the foreground color, and a washed out or desaturated orange as the background color.

Next go to Filter > Render > Clouds (You can press Crtl + F to get different variations of the clouds)

Then go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise (I used the settings “noise amount 3, Distribution Gaussian, and Monochromatic checked.”

Select the channels window next to layers. Then create a new channel and select it.

Next go to Filter > Render > Difference Clouds

Then go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise. The settings should be the same as before.

Next go to Filter > Fade Add Noise 48%

Lastly go to Filter > Render > Different Clouds. Keep pressing Ctrl + F until the channel is = black and white.

Now it’s time to go back to the layers menu. Select the layer from before and go to Filter > Render > Lighting Effects. I used the settings…

Intensity > 60
Focus > 70
Gloss > -100
Material > 48
Exposure > -6
Ambience > 4

Next go to Image > Adjust > Brightness/Contrast and put the Brightness at + 10 and the Contrast at +12

By now you should have something close to this…

STEP 2 (Texture 2)

Open a new document 500 by 500

Go to Filter > Render > Clouds. (You get to decide the colors, but keep in mind if you want it to look realistic pick colors that could actually occur in a rock. They can be blue and purple, but don’t make it neon colors. Remember to make everything in proportion.)

Next go to Filter > Artistic > Plastic Wrap. Use the settings “Highlight Strength 2, Detail 15, Smoothness 14”

This is approximately what you should have so far

Next go Filter > Texture > Craquelure and apply the settings from the picture below.

Combine the plastic wrap and craquelure layers. Once again go to Craquelure filter and apply the settings “Crack Spacing 88, Crack Depth 1, and Crack Brightness 4.

STEP 3 (Stone)

Copy the merged layers from the second texture we made. Paste it on top of our first texture and put the opacity down to 60 %. Hear is my final product...

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Enhance The Rays Of Light In Your Photo

Step 1 - Open your photo and save it as a new image to preserve your original.

Astoria, Oregon

Before The Ray Of Light Effect

Step 2 - Open your new photo and click on Filter>Blur>Radial Blur and set amount to 25, select Zoom and set Quality to best. Move your mouse over the white Blur Center to set the direction of your blur. If you want a more dramatic effect, set your Radial Blur to 50 or something which looks best for your photo.

Step 3 - Next, go to your Layer and select Lighten and set your Opacity at 75. You can set Opacity at what level looks best for your photo.

Step 4 - Afterwards, select the Eraser Tool and erase the sections where you don't want the Ray Of Light effect on your photo. In my example below, I erased the upper right hand side.

Astoria, Oregon

After The Ray Of Light Effect

Step 5 - Now you can save the image.

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