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Glass Ball


Sharp

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This tutorial is available as a PDF. Click here to view or download it

I've been seeing a lot of glass tutorial requests in the short time I've been here, most recently This one, so I decided to make a tutorial on how to make a glass ball.

Note: For the sake of simplicity this tut uses a selection, for better AA on the edges, etc. use an alpha mask.

Plugins needed: N/A

Step 1. Open a new canvas or an existing image. For this tutorial I'll use a blank 800x600 image. Add a subtle gradient to the background layer so you can better see the highlights and shadows on the ball, then click the :AddNewLayer: button.

3056863621_6a193c0cc2.jpg

Step 2. Choose the :EllipseSelectTool:, and hold shift to make a circle. Select the :PaintBrushTool: with a fairly large size, and black set as your primary color, then brush where you want your shadow to be. In this case, the top left corner. Do the same in the opposite corner with a white brush.

3056863693_48470cef22.jpg

Step 3. Next gaussian blur at a radius around 50, but this will change depending on how large your circle is. Now lower the opacity to 150-200.

3057700418_9df47873b6.jpg

Step 4. Now click the :AddNewLayer: button, and make sure you still have your circle selected. Now brush where your shadow is, but with a smaller brush size than last time. Do the same with the highlight.

3056863835_3784cd1b2a.jpg

Step 5. Gaussian blur again, this time around 25 radius. Lower the opacity to 125-175. These 2 steps define the shadow and highlights. Make sure you still have the original selection.

3056863893_d42a47d0d5.jpg

Step 6. Now add another layer, :AddNewLayer:, and select the :PaintBrushTool: again, with a brush size about 70-80 pixels. Set white as your primary color and click once in the middle of your glass ball. Gaussian blur at a radius about the same as the brush size you set. lower the opacity to around 150.

3057700624_8c75b6b824.jpg

Step 7. Now for the specular highlight. Add a new layer, :AddNewLayer:. You should still have the original selection. Now lower your brush size to the 30's, and click once with white as your primary color. Lower the brush size by 10, and click again to below and to the left of the first click. Lower your brush size by 5, and click again with about half the 3rd dot over the 2nd one.

3057700678_cb88aa1008.jpg

Step 8. Gaussian blur this new layer at 10-15 pixels. Add a new layer, and set black as your primary color. Select the secondary color, click the "more" button and moce the "transparency-alpha" slider to 0. Using the gradient tool in :RadialGradient:, click in the middle of the circle and drag to a little outside the circle. If the black is on the inside, right click on one of the nubs to reverse them.
 

On 3/16/2011 at 10:56 AM, Djisves said:

In step 8 you should still have the original circle selected.
On a new layer, draw a black & transparent radial gradient inside the selection.

 

3057700740_fd5714c50d.jpg

Step 9. Use the :MoveTool: to resize the shadow. Make sure the bottom of the shadow lines up with the bottom of the circle. Lower the opacity depending on how dark your background is. Now that we are done with the selection of the circle, we can move the specular highlight back where it was. go to that layer, select all with ctrl + A, then move it back.

 

 

On 3/16/2011 at 10:56 AM, Djisves said:

In step 9, use the Move Tool :MoveTool: to move the gradient you drew in step 8.
Click on the top nob (knob? nib? handle?) of the selection and drag it down to about half the original height.
Click on the right nob of the selection and drag to the right, about half again the original width.
If needed, click anywhere inside the selection and adjust the position of the shadow/gradient so that the bottom of the shadow lines up with the circle/ball, like in the example image.
Press Crtl+D to deselect all.
Lower the opacity as needed.

You can ignore the rest of step 9, "Now that we are done with the selection of the circle...". I suspect that was written for an earlier version of the tutorial and then Sharp must have forgotten to delete it after an update.

 

3056864215_d1c7f9a45c.jpg

Step 10. Now you probably noticed that there are some random black pixels on the outside of the circle. Turn visibility on and off to figure out which layer it's on. Once you have, you'll have to manually go in and erase the black pixels. I'm not sure why this happens, but if you use an alpha mask they don't appear.

3056864143_cfc1579326.jpg

Your Done! You just made a glass ball. Play around with the level of blur and layer opacity of your ball to suit your preferences.

 

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Open a new canvas or an existing image. For this tutorial I'll use a blank 800x600 image. Add a subtle gradient to the background layer so you can better see the highlights and shadows on the ball, then click the :AddNewLayer: button, and paint it black.

do you mean paint the layer black? or do you mean change the brush color to black?

ciao OMA

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I moved this to the Newbie Playground because I think this is something newer users would LOVE. Great effect, pretty simple.

 

The Doctor: There was a goblin, or a trickster, or a warrior... A nameless, terrible thing, soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all the cosmos. And nothing could stop it, or hold it, or reason with it. One day it would just drop out of the sky and tear down your world.
Amy: But how did it end up in there?
The Doctor: You know fairy tales. A good wizard tricked it.
River Song: I hate good wizards in fairy tales; they always turn out to be him.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Awesome.

This is the second thing I have attempted on Paint.net.

And this is by far my best yet.

Please tell me if this is good, and or how I can improve.

2zhnrcy.jpg

Started Paint.net on Sunday, December 21, 2008

o70hzp.jpg

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You could try feathering the glass and its shadow to get rid if the jagged edges.

Another way is radial blur .

Okay but after I saved it, it falttened it and made only 1 layer.

Don't I need the ball layer to feather it?

How do I get all te layers back?

EDIT: Also what's the easiest way to remove the background?

I was having some troubles.

Started Paint.net on Sunday, December 21, 2008

o70hzp.jpg

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If you have already saved it as one layer then there is no way to get the layers back as far as I know. I always save to a PDN projects file I have created before I flatten the image unless I know I will no longer be needing it. This way you can go back and make changes.

 

 

Please feel free to visit my Gallery on PDNFans

And my Alternatives to PDN

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If you have already saved it as one layer then there is no way to get the layers back as far as I know. I always save to a PDN projects file I have created before I flatten the image unless I know I will no longer be needing it. This way you can go back and make changes.

Oh.

I always save them as .PNG

I'll remember that to save as .PDN now, if something isn't to full potential.

Thanks,

Started Paint.net on Sunday, December 21, 2008

o70hzp.jpg

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good tut, but glass bundels light (just light a magnifier) ,so you should have a light point and a slightly darker area.

yhsjjie.png

History repeats itself, because nobody was paying attention the first time.

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Anything glass that isn't plat changed the direction of light, either bundeling it or the oposite, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lens_(optics), this means that the shadow of the ball should be a focal point, a point where the rays of light meet, so a point that is lighter then the rest. learn your physics :D .

yhsjjie.png

History repeats itself, because nobody was paying attention the first time.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Well this is my first attempt at really doing anything with PDN... That being said, I really liked your tut! It was very informative and incredibly easy to follow. Anywho, go easy on me. Like I said, it's my first try! I think I might have made it too blurry....

GlassBall-Finished.jpg

sig-siren-jpeg.jpg

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Anything glass that isn't plat changed the direction of light, either bundeling it or the oposite, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lens_(optics), this means that the shadow of the ball should be a focal point, a point where the rays of light meet, so a point that is lighter then the rest. learn your physics :D .

You mean something like http://0-ash-0.deviantart.com/art/Heat- ... t-61652750 ?

The_next_thousand_words_by_0_ASH_0.png

All creations Ash + Paint.NET [ Googlepage | deviantArt | Club PDN | PDN Fan ]

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Anything glass that isn't plat changed the direction of light, either bundeling it or the oposite, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lens_(optics), this means that the shadow of the ball should be a focal point, a point where the rays of light meet, so a point that is lighter then the rest. learn your physics :D .

You mean something like http://0-ash-0.deviantart.com/art/Heat- ... t-61652750 ?

Ash do you remember when , you, Vern, Madjik, myself and a few others discussed this way back in early 2007. When glass was just a faint hope for us all.

this old old post might shed some light on what you are speaking of about bending a shadow.

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=20683&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=15

PS I have found most of the old pictures and will either re write this or add the pictures back in after the person incharge of tutorial concerns gets back to me.

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