How To Apply A Gradient Mask To A Selection In Photoshop CS3
Hello Experts!
I need your help to try and resolve a problem I am having with some png images. I am using the images as backgrounds for the horizontal menu on my website http://sleepamazing.com/. What I am trying to do is emulate the drop down menu effects from target.com. As you can see by comparing the drop down menus from the two sites, my site has a sort of white tone to the shadow (you can see it as you hover your mouse over "Products" or "Information" at the top) which shows up really well when the drop down menu passes over the red stripe. Target's does not. I know I can select out the shadow and work with that, but I was wondering if there was a way to apply perhaps a gradient mask to the drop shadow to make it go from grey to transparent, without the white tone.
Or perhaps one of you experts that are really skilled at photoshop knows of an even better way to match Target's effect. To be honest, I'm pretty new to Photoshop.
Any help I can get would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks a million in advance.
I need your help to try and resolve a problem I am having with some png images. I am using the images as backgrounds for the horizontal menu on my website http://sleepamazing.com/. What I am trying to do is emulate the drop down menu effects from target.com. As you can see by comparing the drop down menus from the two sites, my site has a sort of white tone to the shadow (you can see it as you hover your mouse over "Products" or "Information" at the top) which shows up really well when the drop down menu passes over the red stripe. Target's does not. I know I can select out the shadow and work with that, but I was wondering if there was a way to apply perhaps a gradient mask to the drop shadow to make it go from grey to transparent, without the white tone.
Or perhaps one of you experts that are really skilled at photoshop knows of an even better way to match Target's effect. To be honest, I'm pretty new to Photoshop.
Any help I can get would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks a million in advance.
ASKER
tahota, thank you so much!
I don't know what I am doing wrong (although by your instructions I can tell that I know almost nothing about Photoshop), but in attempting to follow your instructions the best I could, I still was left with a whitish effect on the shadow.
I had no problem with steps 1 and 2.
On step 3, I had trouble selecting exactly the outline of the shadow, perhaps because of the subtleties of the colors. What would you recommend as being the best way of making this selection?
No problem with steps 4-6.
On step 7, I could not locate a tool identified as a "gaussian blur tool". I attempted to use the blur tool in its place, but this seems to have no effect on the pitch black surface. If this is not the same tool, can you identify the correct one?
On step 8, I wasn't sure why I would need to move the shadow since it lied directly under the panel.
No problem with step 9.
On step 10, I adjusted the layer's opacity. Is this the same as you were thinking?
No problem with the rest of the steps.
Sorry for my ignorance.
I don't know what I am doing wrong (although by your instructions I can tell that I know almost nothing about Photoshop), but in attempting to follow your instructions the best I could, I still was left with a whitish effect on the shadow.
I had no problem with steps 1 and 2.
On step 3, I had trouble selecting exactly the outline of the shadow, perhaps because of the subtleties of the colors. What would you recommend as being the best way of making this selection?
No problem with steps 4-6.
On step 7, I could not locate a tool identified as a "gaussian blur tool". I attempted to use the blur tool in its place, but this seems to have no effect on the pitch black surface. If this is not the same tool, can you identify the correct one?
On step 8, I wasn't sure why I would need to move the shadow since it lied directly under the panel.
No problem with step 9.
On step 10, I adjusted the layer's opacity. Is this the same as you were thinking?
No problem with the rest of the steps.
Sorry for my ignorance.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER
D Brugge:
My sincerest apologies to you for not getting back to you sooner. I was out of the office yesterday.
And my deepest gratitude for your willingness to break things down at a very step-by-step level for me.
I was able to do the things you had suggested, i.e. create a new canvas with a white background and red stripe, just like on my website, create a new layer named "mytab", draw the whole tab including the body, double click the mytab layer and click "Outer Glow" and set the blend mode to "Multiply".
This is where it seems the instructions break down. My Layer Effects dialog box does not seem to show any yellow color. I have included a screenshot so you can see what I am seeing. Can you tell me how I would change the color to black as you instructed?
screenshot.jpg
My sincerest apologies to you for not getting back to you sooner. I was out of the office yesterday.
And my deepest gratitude for your willingness to break things down at a very step-by-step level for me.
I was able to do the things you had suggested, i.e. create a new canvas with a white background and red stripe, just like on my website, create a new layer named "mytab", draw the whole tab including the body, double click the mytab layer and click "Outer Glow" and set the blend mode to "Multiply".
This is where it seems the instructions break down. My Layer Effects dialog box does not seem to show any yellow color. I have included a screenshot so you can see what I am seeing. Can you tell me how I would change the color to black as you instructed?
screenshot.jpg
Ha! the jokes on me. I'm sorry that I let that step slip. You know how it is when you do things over and over again without thinking about them, and the steps become automatic.
I had to go back and repeat the steps myself to see where I messed up.
When I open the layer effects dialogue box, instead of clicking directly on the check box on the specific layer effect, I click on the name right beside it. Photoshop is full of little quirks that they never tell you about, and this is one of them.
Clicking right beside the check box not only puts a check in the box, but it automatically opens up the dialogue box (and thus, the yellow color). I guess that I have automatically clicking beside a check box for years without ever thinking about it.
I had to go back and repeat the steps myself to see where I messed up.
When I open the layer effects dialogue box, instead of clicking directly on the check box on the specific layer effect, I click on the name right beside it. Photoshop is full of little quirks that they never tell you about, and this is one of them.
Clicking right beside the check box not only puts a check in the box, but it automatically opens up the dialogue box (and thus, the yellow color). I guess that I have automatically clicking beside a check box for years without ever thinking about it.
ASKER
D_Brugge, you are a genius! Your method works like a charm! But before I let you go and award points, I am noticing a problem that I didn't seem to have before.
I tried rounding the corners of the tab, but they are ending up jagged and blocky. The outer glow seems to round fine around these jagged edges, but is there any way to get the smooth effect I originally had on the tabs (i.e. do you know of a method of producing anti-aliased rounded corners in Photoshop?)
I tried rounding the corners of the tab, but they are ending up jagged and blocky. The outer glow seems to round fine around these jagged edges, but is there any way to get the smooth effect I originally had on the tabs (i.e. do you know of a method of producing anti-aliased rounded corners in Photoshop?)
Here is a round up of the most popular ways to create rounded corners. http://www.tutorio.com/tutorial/photoshop-round-corners#Pixel%20by%20Pixel%20Rounded%20Rectangle
Then there is my favorite way. Simply erase the corner off that you want to be round. Then select a brush with the right degree of roundness that you need and click in the corner. This lacks the precision that the other methods have, but it's fast and easy.
One extra hint when using this method. If you hold down the shift key as you drag your brush, it stays confined to a straight line. Nice to know when you need two points to line up nicely.
Then there is my favorite way. Simply erase the corner off that you want to be round. Then select a brush with the right degree of roundness that you need and click in the corner. This lacks the precision that the other methods have, but it's fast and easy.
One extra hint when using this method. If you hold down the shift key as you drag your brush, it stays confined to a straight line. Nice to know when you need two points to line up nicely.
Just thought of another quick and dirty trick. In the layer effects where you selected the outer glow, there is another one called stroke. This will draw a stroke, however wide you define, either on the inside, the outside, or straddling the line of your object.
Sometimes you have a rectangle object and you want a nice thick border around the outside, with squared off corners. Ain't going to happen. The thicker the line gets, the more rounded the corners become. (You have to choose to stroke inside the object to get square corners)
But on the other hand, if you make your object just a little smaller than you need, then add a stroke with the same color as your object, Photoshop will round the corners for you.
I'm not saying you get a nice antialiased precision corner, but it does fine with small menu size shapes for the web, and it's quick.
Sometimes you have a rectangle object and you want a nice thick border around the outside, with squared off corners. Ain't going to happen. The thicker the line gets, the more rounded the corners become. (You have to choose to stroke inside the object to get square corners)
But on the other hand, if you make your object just a little smaller than you need, then add a stroke with the same color as your object, Photoshop will round the corners for you.
I'm not saying you get a nice antialiased precision corner, but it does fine with small menu size shapes for the web, and it's quick.
ASKER
D_Brugge, I repeat, you are a genius! I can see that the effect is just what I am looking for. I just have one more little glitch that I don't know whether you can help me or not. I have set up everything just as you instructed with the stroke and the outer glow, and it looks great on the transparent layer, but does not show up correctly when I expose the white background with the red stripe. What is going on? (I've attached a couple of screenshots so you can see what I am talking about.)
screenshot--transparent-only-.jpg
screenshot--with-background-.jpg
screenshot--transparent-only-.jpg
screenshot--with-background-.jpg
ASKER
Oops! Never mind. I continued on in your instructions and rasterized the effects and now everything is perfect.
Thanks a million. You are a super expert.
Thanks a million. You are a super expert.
ASKER
D_Brugge is an exceptional expert at Photoshop. I truly appreciate all his help.
ASKER
Ah, D_Brugge, you do excellent work. You can see the results of your advice at http://sleepamazing.com.
2. Move the layer behind the panel.
3. On the panel layer, create a selection marquee around your panel.
4. Turn off the panel layer and select the new transparent layer with the marquee still active.
5. Fill the marquee with black (not gray or any other color).
6. Deselect.
7. Use the gaussian blur tool to get the softness that you desire for the shadow.
8. Now turn the panel layer back on, move the new shadow layer to the position that you want.
9. Set the shadow layer to multiply.
10. Adjust the shadow's layer transparency to the lightness or darkness desired.
11. Re-export the PNG. You should not have any white or light shadow effects.
12. Good luck! I hope that helps.