user bars are becoming more and more common on these boards. so i thought i would piece together a quick tutorial on how ot make on in adobe photoshop, and i will also put one up for makeing one in paint.net for those who do not have photoshop.

1.create a new canvas  350 x 20 pixels
and reset your colour palette by pressing "D"

2.ok next pick a colour. any colour but white or black (you will see why in a bit)
with your selected colour fill in the layer useing the "paint bucket took"


3.next we will add the gradient. i am going to use white.
create a new layer "ctrl + shift + n"
call this layer "gradient"

so select the gradient tool and make sure you have these settings

play around with it until you are happy with the result, here is mine


4. now we have the gradient on, we need to add the stripe pattern,
create a new layer "ctrl + shift + n"
call this layer "stripes" or "pattern"
and do steps 7 and 8 of my last tutorial here
now place that layer beneath the gradient layer simply by drag and drop.
set the opacity of this layer to about 20% or what ever you feel looks good


5.now we need to do that glassy effect you see on them
ok create a new layer (name it "glass effect") on top of the rest and fill this with white
useing the circle marquee tool (right click on the marquee tool and select the circle) make a selection like this

and press delete.
now set the opacity of this layer to about 15% or what ever you think looks good

6.now we add some text
i use verdana size 10 in white with a black  1pixel "stroke" effect
(to do the stroke effect, simply double click on the text layer in the layer window not the main window, so the belnding options open up, go to the bottom on "stoke" and set the colour and size)
their is no "format" for the text on user bars, but most people will put a username and a website or something they use on them.

here is my output


i have added a stroke effect to the picture, to do this
save your work as  PSD file
then flatten the image and go
EDIT/STROKE
select "inside2 and choose tour colour and size and you are done

hope this is useful to people and i would love to see what people have created

john

a user bar generaly displays an interest you have in something or something you use like an intel cpu or ATI gpu.

unfortunatly i do not know how to use the dodge and burn tools effectivly so i cnt help you their just yet, but i will look into it for you if you wish?

john

Mine: (might use it0





mees