Havn't your ever wondered how to make your very own user bars from scratch? Well todays your lucky day because i'm going to teach you.Heres an example of mine (I was using a PS5.0 So mines is kinda crappy...) 
(Just TOTALLY ignore this >_<)Alright Here We Go
- Part 1:We are going to need a logo/render for the user bar. For the one were using today for and ex. will be
.When you picked your logo/render Open it. Once you have it in its own little window inside of PS(PhotoShop) Then Press Select>All. Then go to Edit>Copy Merged and then close the image, Click File>New and press Ok as soon as the window comes up. (Why did we do this:We needed to get the exact dimensions of the image and we needed to get it inside of its own window. By the way, when you copy something in PS and press File>New Then the exact dimensions are there.) - Part 2:Now we need to get the background from the image, see, the Windows logo has a grayish background, we are going to make it transparent. Select the Magic Eraser Tool/Magic Wand. The settings that it will have should look like such:
Alright, now click the background press 'Delete' on your keyboard. That easy. Once all of the background is gone from your logo/render then you can move on to part 3 =) - Part 3:Now go to Select>All>. Then Edit>Copy Merged. Close the window again and press File>New And press OK.
- Part 4:Now we will need to make the image smaller for the user bar. Go to Image>Image Size then lessin the height to about 40px.(pixels)
- Part 5:Now go Select>All then Edit>Copy Merged (DO NOT CLOSE THE WINDOW!!) then click File>New. Now change the dimensions of width 300px and of height of 19px. Then press OK.
- Part 6:Paste the image by clicking Edit>Paste and then create a new layer by pressing Shift>Ctrl>N at the same time on the keyboard, type 'BG'(background) as the name and press OK. Move the 'BG' layer below your other layer by left clicking on it, dragging the BG layer below your other layer and then letting go of the mouse. Your layers should now look like this:
(What we just did was create a new layer and put it all the way on the back of all the layers in order for it the BG. - Part 7:Select the Eyedropper Tool , click on one of the most used colours in the image, then press X on the keyboard and click on either a shade of the first colour you selected or a colour that would look good in a gradient. In this case, I've picked two of the most used colours in the windows logo
- Part 8: Select the gradient tool . If the gradient tool isn't visible in the toolbar, right click on the paint bucket tool and select the gradient tool. With the BG layer still selected, click and drag your cursor from the top of the image to the bottom. You should now have a nice gradient. (which if you're following this tutorial exactly should look like:
- Part 9:Select the layer containing the logo/design, create a new layer by pressing Shift, Ctrl and N at the same time, type 'lines' as the name and press ok. Now select your paint bucket tool , select 'Pattern' from the drop down menu to the left of 'Fill:' and select the diagonal lines pattern which is all located in the options menu. (read the intro for info on creating the diagonal lines pattern)
- Part 10:Make sure the settings are the same as above and then click anywhere on your image. While the 'lines' layer is selected, lower the opacity to around 13%. (you might have to change the opacity depending on the background and the logo/design you're using)Your user bar should now look something like this:
- Part 11:Right click on the layer containing the design/logo in the layers window and click on Blending Options. Click on Outer Glow and use the following settings:
While the layer containing the logo is still selected, lower the opacity to 77%. - Part 12::Now use any text that you want using the Text tool and select the HorizontalTypeTool, type your text at a size of around 6-8px with the pixel font of your choice and make sure that the anti-aliase is set to none.
Right click on your text layer in the layers window and click on Blending Options. Select 'Stroke' and use the following settings:
- Part 13:Select the Elliptical Marquee Tool and click and drag the cursor from the very top left corner down to the bottom right corner of the user bar while pressing shift. Press the Up arrow on the keyboard 9 times, press D and then X. Select the gradient tool, click on the arrow beside the gradient in the options window and select the white to transparent gradient.
Click and drag the cursor from the top of the elliptical selection to the bottom of it and then set the opacity of the layer with the white/transparent gradient to 75%.
- Part:14Click on the text layer from the layers window and create a new layer by going to Layer->New->Layer while naming it Stroke. Press D, go to Select->All, Edit Stroke and use the following settings:
- Part 15:Save a psd for future use to your desktop by going to File->Save As and then save a png for use on the net by going to File->Save For Web and using png-24 as the preset. You've now created your own custom user bar! =PEND RESULT:
Edited by :lalala:Night Mage, 09 June 2007 - 06:50 AM.
