Glowing Orb. (PhotoShop and Corel Photo-Paint)

[Crestfallen]

This is my first tutorial, but I thought it was time to make one. But, this is mainly for Christie of Vizionary Studios, since she said that it'd be awesome if I made a tut showing how to make one of my glowing orbs. Well, I did it. So enjoy the tut.

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PREVIEW: www.xenodesigns.com/oresteszero/Tuts/Step_1.gif

First off, create a black circle. It has to be a separate object/layer so that you can select it and move it around. A good size would be 50x50 pixels, but if you're wanting one for an icon (such as an on/off icon for ProBoards), 24x24 pixels will suffice.

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PREVIEW: www.xenodesigns.com/oresteszero/Tuts/Step_2.gif

Next, select a color for the circle. Something not too bright and not too dark, such as a mid-teal. Then, duplicate the object/layer, and color it in complete white. Turn the opacity down to 75%, and move it down a pixel or two. Now, edit the object/layer but "smushing" them in a few pixels width-wise, so that there is some space on the left and right of the circles. You should have the result as shown above. If not, get it to look like that.

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PREVIEW: www.xenodesigns.com/oresteszero/Tuts/Step_3.gif

Grab the eraser tool, and set it so it's really soft. Go over the bottom half of the white circle so that it fades out and looks like the above.

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PREVIEW: www.xenodesigns.com/oresteszero/Tuts/Step_4.gif

Duplicate the circle, and flip it vertically. Move it to the bottom of the circles. Grab the eraser tool again, and slightly erase the top left and top right sides of the circle. If needed, extrude the object so it's a bit higher and fades in more with the top circle.

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PREVIEW: www.xenodesigns.com/oresteszero/Tuts/Step_5.gif

Merge all the objects/layers together to form one, and then duplicate it. Add a gaussian blur (around 4 in radius), move it to the back and change the opacity to 50%. That gives the orb a glow. Don't merge them again, instead, duplicate the top orb again, but this time fill it in completely black, and extrude it to make a really narrow oval.

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PREVIEW: www.xenodesigns.com/oresteszero/Tuts/Step_6.gif

Move the black oval to the bottom right, and change the opacity of it to 20%. For an added shadow effect, slightly erase the left side of it. Once that's done, you have yourself a pretty snazzy glowing orb.

[Aaron]

That's one good tutorial! I've got to try and make me one of those orbs!