[c0lin]

I've decided to write a tutorial on how I make my Vista sig. I hope this helps people.

First start with a blank canvas, any size, any colour (We'll make it the size limit of the thevistaforums.com signature rule 500x150):



Once we have our canvas choose the rectangle tool(1), then rounded rectangle tool option(2), set the radius to 9px(3) The radius determines the roundness of the corners the higher the radius the rounder your corners:



Then we draw our shape. This will be the Vista glass so make it whatever size you choose, you'll want to remember to leave room for a shadow as in Vista all the Windows have a shadow on them. Here's my shape:



Now that you have your shape created you need to rasterize it, do this by choosing Layer > Rasterize > Layer. Now we want to recolour the shape with a Vista-ish window colour(this can be any colour you want but I'll show what I used), double click the 1st color box(1) and then type in the colour code aec8e8(2) then click Ok, after that choose the paint bucket tool(3) and fill in our shape:



Now we want to apply the glass effects to the layer, to get to the dialog box we need go to Layer > Layer Style > Blending Options and change the settings as per my screenshots below:









Remove the white backgound layer and you should have something that looks like this:



Now that we have our glass all made up we need the buttons:



Add these the top corner of your glass to make it look like this:



Now a background is needed, I'll be using this cool Star Trek wallpaper I found somewhere on the internet, just drag and drop the background you want into your workspace, order the layers so it's the bottom one


resize it to your liking...


then highlight the glass layer choose the magic wand tool and click the center of your glass to select it...


then choose Select > Inverse...


then highlight your background layer and hit the "Delete" (or "Del") key to get what you see just below:


Now you just need to edit the glass to show off your background, first use the rectangle marquee tool to make a rectangle box (this will be where you remove the glass):



Select the glass layer so that you're deleting from the right layer then hit the "Delete" (or "Del") key on your keyboard to remove it and make it look like this:



Add some text, maybe a little icon. Get creative:

[shave31]

Hey...i was hoping someone posted a tutorial on here!!!
Thanks alot colin!!!
Im trying it RIGHT NOW!!!

[kish18]

hey thanks i'll give it ago and reply back and tell me if its good

thanks for tutorial

nearly i will post my sigs in few hours time

thanks so much ty

help needed

i dont get:
Now you just need to edit the glass to show off your background, first use the rectangle marquee tool to make a rectangle box (this will be where you remove the glass):



Select the glass layer so that you're deleting from the right layer then hit the "Delete" (or "Del") key on your keyboard to remove it and make it look like this:

This post has been edited by kish18: 18 July 2007 - 01:55 PM

[c0lin]

kish18, on Jul 18 2007, 04:08 AM, said:

hey thanks i'll give it ago and reply back and tell me if its good

thanks for tutorial

Yes please post your results.

[Jason™]

Nice work colin I will have to get Photoshop and have a play

[Mak]

Well, I loved your tutorial! So easy to understand. Anyway here is a quick creation from me:



Haha, just having some fun:



Thanks so much Colin!

[kish18]

heres the new sig i made:

is it orite?first go your way

[unable2rap]

welp after about 30 min a messing with it here is my version - thanks for the tut

[crank]

A better way to use the background image would be with a clipping mask. it doesn't require you to crop it with a selection

Also for the colour of the shape you can just change the shape colour

I actually feel like revising your tutorial, with added blur effects. if you don't mind of course.

Here's an example with blurring:


PM me or something about a revision of your tutorial

[c0lin]

crank, on Jul 20 2007, 05:41 AM, said:

A better way to use the background image would be with a clipping mask. it doesn't require you to crop it with a selection

Also for the colour of the shape you can just change the shape colour

I actually feel like revising your tutorial, with added blur effects. if you don't mind of course.

Here's an example with blurring:


PM me or something about a revision of your tutorial

No of course I don't mind, go right ahead. I was trained on PS 6(meaning I worked on PS6 before PS7 came out) and I'm used to PS 7. So I'm used to having to do things manually. If there's an easier way then by all means.

I actually originally had a blur effect (as per Jordy's tutorial on joejoe) but I just liked seeing more of the background when it came to my own sig. Then I just got used to making it without the blur.

Anyway if you want to make any changes go right ahead.

[jagger]

Nice tut, a LOT easier to understand than the tut I learned from.

[no1Joeno1]

Yeah good tut.

BTW, make the selection the same size as the box but take 20px off the height, then contract by 5px or a bit more.

[c0lin]

no1Joeno1, on Jul 21 2007, 04:09 PM, said:

Yeah good tut.

BTW, make the selection the same size as the box but take 20px off the height, then contract by 5px or a bit more.

Good suggestion. I've been doing it by eye since I started making these so I never really thought about other people trying to do it. (i.e. Didn't think people might have a problem reproducing that last selection properly). I'll try reproducing what you suggest and see what settings would be best and add it to the tut.

[no1Joeno1]

[c0lin]

no1Joeno1, on Jul 21 2007, 05:35 PM, said:

Looks good. Looks like you didn't bother with transparency.

[no1Joeno1]

colin86, on Jul 22 2007, 12:38 AM, said:

no1Joeno1, on Jul 21 2007, 05:35 PM, said:

Looks good. Looks like you didn't bother with transparency.

I did, the background looked the same colour and was blue though.

[c0lin]

no1Joeno1, on Jul 21 2007, 05:42 PM, said:

colin86, on Jul 22 2007, 12:38 AM, said:

no1Joeno1, on Jul 21 2007, 05:35 PM, said:

Looks good. Looks like you didn't bother with transparency.

I did, the background looked the same colour and was blue though.

Ah yes, I experienced that myself. I've got a few scrapped backgrounds because they didn't illustrate the transparency enough.

[saleh]

Thanks colin ... I was waiting for someone to help us with it.

[matt]

Nice Tut Colin

It will help me make a nice new sig

[crank]

So here's the final result i get when i add everything i felt was missing:

Only 3 extra layers really. Or 4 because the background is a clipping mask on a duplicate of the original window shape.