personally, I think this looks like crap. I'm not getting the effect that I want. I really want to get like a glossy coat on it, but I want it to kind of s-curve accross from the top left-to the bottom-right. I dunno. You guys can tell me what you think. I appreciate it.
Brandon P. Turner
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I agree. It looks bad. I have never been able to do white ones either. Maybe you should to to apple.com and study their buttons. I tried to create something for you quickly in PS (I can do other colors) but can't get the white to look good either. Sorry.
my work: http://www.one-waymedia.com
I guess the main problem is the blury drop shadow on the label of the button. Since visually there seems to be light coming from up above, the drop shadow falls as if there was light from right infront of the button. There is hence a problem of lights which makes the drop shadow not look like a drop shadow but like some dirt around the letters.
The S-curve is done with a vector mask ontop of the button. Assumeing you use Photoshop, make a rectangular shape that covers the uper third of the button, then alter the path of the bottom bit of the rectangle for it to become curved. Chose white as color or overlay with a white to transparent gradient in the level effects of that layer. Next turn the opacity to something 30% to make it see through. Crop that S-curved shape layer "into" the button-layer below by Option-Clicking on the deviding line between the two layers in Photoshop.
We've done that e.g. on a site for a German school contest at www.the-newsmakers.de (you can see the effect best on the logo of the contest). There is a post [url=http://graf-users.edu.ats.dk/maryus1/Aqua%20Button%20Pro%20(Photoshop%206%20or%20higher).htm]on this site[/url] that give you a quite good understanding of how to use layer effects on button for light purposes, basically you could go from there trying with a vector mask that features the s-shape as described above.
If you still feel lost, let me know, I could try and provide a download link to a Photoshop layer file I have here. Just let me know your version of Photoshop for that case...
Last but not least: white IS a complicated "color" indeed. There are people who argue white is not a color at all, and this seems true especially for what you are trying to do as white is used in so many cases to simulate a glow or shine in graphic design.
Good luck, Steve
Hello, I am trying to make the same effect by following your instructions but it is not turning out well. The sites you provided no longer exist and I'm basically flying blind. Do you have old screenshots of those sites/buttons? It would help so much if I can see how the end effect should look like. :(
I kinda like it except the dirty drop shadow. It's more milk than aqua though.
This is a bit more angular than yours but shows the method I usually employ to make thing look shiny. The key for me is always subtlety but with hard edges.
Hers is the PSD file, if your interested.
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http://mijlee.com
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Why is everyone trying to copy the apple style buttons and layouts? How is that being creative?
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