glass sphere

Glass Sphere CreationJohn Woods

Adobe Certified ExpertPhotoshop 7.0

Glass Sphere: The simple glass sphere starts as a regular file filled with Black.Select File>New from the Banner Bar as shown in Figure 1

Figure 1

When you select File>New a flyout dialog box will open, as shown in Figure 2

Figure 2

Notice within the flyout dialog box I have set the file to be square 4in x 4in at 200 dpi, also notice that the contents are set to Background color which was set to Black in my Tools palette. See Figure 3

Glass Sphere:

Figure 3

Photoshop Tool Palette, with Black set as my Background Color

Figure 4

Results of File>New at 4”x4” at 200dpi

Glass Sphere:

Figure 5

Select Filter>Render>Lens Flare as shown in Figure 5

Glass Sphere:

Glass Sphere:

Figure 6

Lens Flare Filter Control Panel open, drag the Lens Flare Center up and to the left, set the Brightness to 175.

Figure 7

Results of Filter>Render>Lens Flare 50-300mm Zoom at a Brightness of 175

Glass Sphere:

Figure 8

Glass Sphere:

Apply a secondFilter>Render>Lens Flare 50-300mm Zoom at a Brightness of 175 except move the center point down and right a small amount.

Figure 9

Results of seccond Filter>Render>Lens Flare 50-300mm Zoom at a Bright-ness of 175

Glass Sphere:

Figure 10

Select>All on the Banner Bar.

Glass Sphere:

Figure 11

Glass Sphere:

Select>Filter>Distort>Polar Coordinates as shown.

Figure 12

Glass Sphere:

In the Filter>Distort>Polar Coordinates control panel set the Options to Polar to Recctangular

Glass Sphere:

Results of Filter>Distort>Polar Coordinates Polar to Rectangular option set.

Glass Sphere:

Figure 14

Select>All on the Banner Bar.

Figure 15Glass Sphere:

Select>Edit>Transform>Flip Vertical on the Banner Bar.

Results of Edit>Transform>Flip Vertical

Figure 16

Glass Sphere:

Glass Sphere: Figure 17

Select>Filter>Distort>Polar Coordinates on the Banner Bar.


In the Filter>Distort>Polar Coordinates control panel set the Options toRectangular to Polar and click OK

Results of Filter>Distort>Polar Coordinateslwith the Options set to Rectangular to Polar


Glass Sphere:

Figure 19

Select the Marquee Tool in the Photoshop ToolBar, set the Marquee to Elliptical Marquee Tool,to toggle between the Tools Click the Shift Key and the “M” Key. Once you get tthe Elliptical Marquee tool selected push the Mouse button and the Shift and Command keys on a Mac or Mouse Click, Shift,Control keys on a PC to cconstrain the selection to a perfect circle.


Elliptical Marquee drawn around the center of the sphere, notice the Marching Ants.


Select>Inverse on the Banner Bar, once the selection is inverted Press the Delete Key.

Figure 22

Results of Select>Inverse on the Banner Bar and Delete Key

Glass Sphere:

Figure 24

Figure 23

Select>Inverse on the Banner Bar.

Select>Save Selection on the Banner Bar, as I want to use the Sphere in other design projects.


Save Selection Control Panel, name the selection Sphere. Click OK the whole Sphere outline is now saved in the Channels Palette


To complete the Sphere we have to soften the center point of the sphere. I draw another circle around the center point of the Sphere

Glass Sphere:

Figure 27

Once the circle is drawn around the center point of the Sphere Select>Feather to soften the transition edge of the circle to the rest of the Sphere

Figure 28

Select>Feather Control Panel with a Feather Radius of 16 Pixels set.


Select Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur from the Banner Bar


Set the Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur to approximately 38 or 40 pixels


Results of Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur on the center point of the Sphere. Select>Deselect to release the center point.


Select Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation from the Banner Bar.


Hue/Saturation Control Panel open

Figure 31

Adjust the Saturation slider in the Hue Saturation Control Panel to -100 thus removing any color in the Sphere.


Click on the Colorize Radio Button. Nottice when you do that the Hue and Saturation sliders change.

Change the Hue and Saturation sliders to the values shown to get a Steel Blue color in the Sphere.

Figure 33


Results of Hue/Saturation change


Select File>Save As... on the Banner Bar


File>Save As Control Panel open.


Save the file as Sphere.Tif on the hard drive or other storage area. Set the Format as TIFFand name the file.


Tiff Save Options dialog Box open, notice that the byte Order is PC and there is no Image compression. Click OK.

This completes the Glass/Metal Sphere tutorial but it will be the basis for at least one more graphical element tutorial so save the file.

glass sphere

Design