The Photoshopper: Web 2.0 Glossy Badge/Button Tutorial

Oct 26, 2008

Web 2.0 Glossy Badge/Button Tutorial

Hey there!!

I wish there was some tutorial out there to teach us how to make a time-machine (not in Photoshop...a real one). But I couldn't find any on googling it. :)
Yesterday I was surfing the web, looking for some good stock pics (you could try www.sxc.hu). I came across many websites with nice looking glossy badges. But most of them seemed hopelessly 2D :)

So, here comes a tutorial to teach you how to make a nice looking 3D badge/button in Photoshop. We will use layer styles to make the basic 3D effect. The glossy look has also been explained in my other tutorials, namely RSS Feed Icon Tutorial and Vista Taskbar Tutorial. Do check 'em out. Now, let's begin... First, as always, the final outcome of this tutorial:

Step 1: The basic shape

1. Start with a dark, square canvas. Mine is 300x300px, with Black background.
2. Use the "Elliptical Marquee Tool" to make the circle. Hold down the Shift key to constrain proportions i.e. make a perfect circle. Choose ANY foreground color. Mine is Blue.

[Though the background is white in this pic, please start with a dark background]

Step 2: The 3D effect

1. Open up the layer styles for the layer with the blue circle on it, by going to "Layer>Layer Styles>Blending options".
2. Use the following settings. Click the images to see a larger view.

3. By now you button should look like this:

Step 3: The Content

Since we want the button to be interchangeable, i.e. different images and designs, we will use a nifty little feature of Photoshop, called "Fill Opacity". But first, let us pull in a background image for the button. I will use the Indian flag for this tutorial.

"Ctrl/Cmd+Click" on the thumbnail next to the blue circle layer. This will make a selection out of all the non-transparent pixels, i.e. select everything that there is to select on that layer. Copy the image you want to use onto this canvas, and place the newly formed layer below the blue circle layer.

Do "Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+I" to invert the selection. Hit "Delete".

Now for the "Fill Opacity". Go to "Layer>Layer Styles>Blending Options", and set the fill opacity to 0 (zero). The basic purpose of this feature is to set the opacity of the image, without changing the opacity of the layer styles. Sweet huh?

Step 4: The Gloss

Now that we have the basic shape and design done, lets move on to the frivolities.
Pick up the "Elliptical Marquee Tool", and make an elongated ellipse along the top of the badge (as shown). Using the Radial Gradient tool, make a White-Transparent gradient on a new layer.

Copy this layer onto a new one. Hide the original. Select the new layer.
Hit "Ctrl/Cmd + T" to "Free Transform" the selection. Drag the little crossed circle from the center of the transform rectangle to the center of your badge as shown below. This is the "anchor point"/"axis of rotation" for the transform rectangle when you rotate the layer. Basically, the image will always rotate about this point.

Now click and drag the mouse outside the rectangle. Notice that the white ellipse easily moves along the edges of the circle.
Go to "Select>Modify>Contract". Enter 2px as the size. Click OK. Hit "Delete" to leave just the outline of the ellipse. Use a soft eraser to remove the lower part of the ellipse. This will leave you with a nice little accent on the edge. See below:

This completes your badge/button tutorial. Try out new things. You might want to check out the site where I got some ideas for this effect. Here are a few more buttons: