Photoshop Tutorial: Sig Bars

Ahyoka

Daemon Poster
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Alright! here is the Tutorial on how to make Userbar Sig's. They are really easy to do. I will be using Photoshop 7.

We're going to make a Firefox userar today.

lets get started....

1. First, go to "File" and select "New"


2. Create a Document with the following settings. Set the "Width" to 350px, The "Height" to 20px. Use "RGB Color", Set the "Contents" to Background Color


Note: We will use Black as the background color and White as the foreground color in this tutorial but you can use any color you want.


3. Alright, you should have something like this.
Blank.jpg


Now we're going to add this little effect that will make your userbar look clean and shiny.


4. On the tool menue (where the paint brush, move took, crop tool etc are) select the "Elliptical Marquee" tool (in my version of photosohop it is the tool on the very top left of the tool menue)

Note: If you don't see the "Elliptical Marquee" tool then right click the tool that is in the very top left corner of the tool menu, you might have the rectangle marquee tool set, so right click it to bring up a menu showing the other marquee tools.


5. Now that you have the "Elliptical Marquee" tool selected, click and hold your mouse at the top left corner of you document and drag the "Elliptical Marquee" tool down and across your document...you want kind of a half circle shape across the whole document.


6. Now when you have the half circle across your document you can quit holding down the mouse, you should see a flashing, moving outline of your half circle,


7. So now that we have our half circle, Right click inside the half circle and select "Fill" from the options


8. In the "Fill" menue, select "White" as the color to use and set the blending mode to normal, finally set your "Opacity" to 47% and select OK.


9. Now you should see a white, glossy film over the top of your document, with your "Elliptical Marquee" tool still equipped, click inside the document on one of the corners to get rid of the flashing bars that dance around the perimeter of your half circle.

Ok! you should have something like this about now.
Blank_with_Gloss.jpg



10. looks pretty cool don't it? alright, now to add the picture. Today we're going to use this picture so go ahead and right click it and save the pic to your PC.
firefox_logo.jpg



11. In Photoshop go to "File", "Open" and open the Firefox picture you just downloaded.


12. Go back to "File" and select "New", Create a new document set as 250px by 250px and set the "Contents" as "Transparent".


13. Now, drag the Firefox pic onto the Transparent document.


14. Now select the "Magic Wand" Tool from the Tool Menue (in my photoshop it is on the second row from the top, on the right)


15. Left click one of the white sections, you should see a highlighted area around the perimeter of the white area, now right click another white area and select "Add to Selection", do that for all the remaining white sections. when all the white areas are selected, press the delete key. Now you should just have the Firefox pic, Don't worry about the moving dashes you see, they won't appear after the next step.

16. Now select the Firefox pic you just edited by clicking on the top of the document, and go to "Image" and go to "Image Size". Set the height to 30px.


17. Now drag the tiny little Firefox pic onto your black userbar and drag it to where you want it.


18. Your almost done, all thats left it to add the Text....you can use any text you want, one text you see alot in userbars in "04b08", I will use it in this tutorial as well. you can download it for free here, http://www.dafont.com/search.php?psize=m&q=04b08

after you download it, scan it with your Anti Virus software, then open it and you will see two files...delete the GIF one, the "About" GIF File simply tells you about how you are welcome to use the font however you wish. After you delete the GIF file extract the remaining file to C:\WINDOWS\Fonts


19. Photoshop should recognize the font after you extract it, if it dosen't appear in the list of fonts, it should appear at the very top of the font list. if not it will afterwhile so feel free to just use a different font in your Sig Bar. However if you wish to use the "04b08" font then simple save your userbar as a photoshop document and close photoshop and then re open the program later and import your Sig Bar back and try to use the font again.


20. To add Text to your Sig Bar the Text button is the big "T" tool on your Tool Menue, Highlight where in your document you wish the text to be and drag a box, make sure it is tall and long enough so your font appears well.


21. One more little thing that will make your Sig Bar look cool is after you finish typing out the text you want to use, on the right side of the screen under the window where you see all the color patches, you will see a window with all the layers, right click the Text layer (the one with the big "T") and select "Blending Options"


22. When the menue pops up, go to the very bottom and click the "Stroke" text. Set the stroke with the following options. "Size": 3px. Position: "Outside". Opacity: 100%. Fill type: "Color". then click the color patch and select Black from the list.

alright! we're done. you should have something like this now.

End_Result.jpg


*Whew* That wasn't so hard now was it? lol

hope that was helpful! let me know if you have any problems!
 
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