Pro Userbar Tutorial

[Samness!]

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

This is a tutorial which will quickly enable you to create a userbar.

Plugins Needed

Borders and Shapes

Outline Object

Fonts Needed

Visitor TT1 BRK - http://www.fontstock...or-TT1-BRK.html

Step 1: Open up a new canvas, with the dimensions of 350 and 19 pixels.

Step 2: Paste in a background image for your userbar, or use the gradient tool - - to make your own. I will be pasting one in.

Step 3: First we will want to add some text - - to the left hand side of your avatar – I'm going to using my username, Samness!

Step 4: Create a new layer.

Step 5: On this new layer, choose the font Visitor TT1 BRK – Colour White, Size 9. Now we're going to be typing the text that you will see on all userbars, and this will be on the right hand side of the userbar. If usually conveys interests, so I will be typing Paint.NET Enthusiast.

Step 6: Now to to Effects > Object > Outline Object. Set the Colour to Black and the Width to 1, and your text should now be outlined. You may also want to use Effects > Photo > Sharpen, just to make the text look a bit whiter and less blurry looking. You can now merge your layers together. :MergeDown:

Step 7: Create a new layer. Call this layer Ellipse. Now we're going to be drawing a white ellipse that covers about a third of the image, like so. and

Step 8: Now reduce the opacity of that layer to anywhere in between 30 and 70, depending on what looks better.

Step 9: Now create a new layer. Call this layer Lines. Click on the Paint Bucket Tool. :PaintBucketTool: Up the top there should be a drop-down list with the word Fill next to it. Choose Dark Upward Diagonal from that list.

Step 10: On the Colours Palette, click on 'More'. Make your Primary Colour Black and your Secondary Colour White – make sure the Transparency-Alpha for Black is set to 0.

Step 11: Fill in your image – you should have a whole set of white lines along your image. Set the opacity of the layer to around 20-40, depending on what looks better.

Step 12: Merge the Ellipse layer with your Background layer, and then merge your Lines layer with your Background layer. :MergeDown:

Step 13: Now go to Effects > Render > Borders N' Shapes. Set the Shape to Rectangle, the Width to 1 and the Pattern to Solid. Your image should have a border around it.

Step 14: Congratulations, you are done! Here is an example of the finished product.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!

[TopHATslash]

Its well explained and everything, but we have several of these tutorials already.

[Samness!]

Well it's my own style of easy userbar creation, so hopefully it stays.

[david.atwell]

I'll leave it, because it's very well written and we don't have one in the new Tutorials+ forum yet.

Samness!- keep in mind, though, it doesn't matter whether it's "your own style" or "a better way," we lock duplicated tutorials for the most part. If you have a new way of performing an existing tutorial, please post it as a reply to the existing thread. To that end, you'll want to search the tutorials forum before posting your tutorial.

Thanks.

[jiZer]

Really nice!

EDIT: i made those:

[Samness!]

Thanks, david.atwell. I'll remember to use the search function next time.

[Kemaru]

Don't forget to turn anti-aliasing off when typing your text! :wink:

Oh, and by the way, TT2 works better with userbars, and looks better aliased.

[LRT]

This is a pretty good noobie tutorial.

[flavio scorpione]

good tutorial !

its very simple to do .

I thought it was more complicated

why it isn't mo ved to noob playground ?

[Digital.Artist44]

Off Topic: What is a user bar, exactly?

[Down]

Itès a little bar that shows youère interests, things you have, enjoy usingéwatchingéconsumingédoing, something about yourself.

I could make one right now that says: Ègimpy keyboard userÈ.

Because all these accent characters appear when I try to add a apostrophe.

[Samness!]

Thanks for your kind comments, everyone .

[Digital.Artist44]

My signature userbars have been made with this tutorial (accidentally skipped the final outline step... :?)

[Yt27]

Here are my attempts at it:

[Samness!]

Yt27, you should try bringing the text up a bit so it's vertically centered - and for the second one, maybe reducing the size a bit.

On Step 6, before you merge the layers together, you can try using Sharpen to make your text look less blurry looking and a bit whiter. This has been added to the tutorial, just so everyone's userbars look that much prettier .

[Kemaru]

OR, you could always turn antialiasing off, like I said before.

[willisme1]

if you really want to stop the text from being blurry you should already know that you can turn off Anti alias

the button is right by the fill selection in the font bar becuz kemaru is rite!!!

hope you understand - this is what one of my userbars looked like (not using this tutorial tho)

that animated version without glow

< before i resized the font like the animated on

[psycodiablo]

I had a shot at this. It is a really good and well explained tutorial:

[Pixey]

Thanks so much for doing the tutorial - much appreciated and fun to do.

[Kairyuka]

Nice easy tut, always wanted to be able to make these

[comagoosie]

Me likey!

Good tut and 2 points if anyone guesses what movie the picture is from

[Pixey]

Me likey!

Good tut and 2 points if anyone guesses what movie the picture is from

Da Vinci Code - perhaps?

[Kairyuka]

Haha, lol it's of course from "300" (hopefully, as it's the only movie I know of with spartans in it :S)

[comagoosie]

Haha, lol it's of course from "300" (hopefully, as it's the only movie I know of with spartans in it :S)

Yup, that would be correct 8)

Have you two points, for this is sparta!

[snogry]

Great tut for noobs like me. =P

Here are the ones i made.

I think i left out the diagonal bars on the first one by accident, but i still think it looks pretty good. Hope you like them.