Photoshop makes a fine XP style task bar

In the design of multimedia CD-ROM, multimedia courseware user interface, many designers like to make the simulation Windows taskbar and Start menu. Because the most common interface is just Windows desktop environment, so this style of user interface for many users love.

The key to designing such interfaces is to create realistic taskbar and start buttons, and today we'll show you how to use Photoshop to make this lifelike taskbar and start button.

This article takes Photoshop CS Chinese version as an example, other versions are similar. The end of the article provides a. psd file for everyone to download for reference .

　　Finish effect:

　　Drawing process:

1, run Photoshop CS Chinese version, a new size of "450x450" pixel, resolution of 72 pixels per inch, background color white files, input file name "Toolbar", specific settings as shown in Figure 1.

2. Press the D key on the keyboard to set the foreground and background colors as the default black and white, and then press the "Alt+delete" key to fill the current layer with black. The purpose of black is to make it easier to see the effect of the silver taskbar during the production process, and to remove the excess parts after the production is complete.

3, click the "Create New Layer" button in the Layers panel, create a new layer above the background layer, and name it "Bar." (Tip: Press "Ctrl+alt+shift+n" on the keyboard to quickly create a new layer above the current layer, to name the layer when you create a new layer, set the layer color, mode, press the shortcut key "Ctrl+shift+n", and then in the "New Layer" pop-up) dialog box in detail, as shown in Figure 2. )

4. Select the rectangular Marquee tool in the toolbox and draw a rectangular selection with a height of approximately 35 pixels on the layer "Bar" with the same width as the image file width. Press the "Alt+delete" key when the drawing is complete to fill the created selection with black.

In the design of multimedia CD-ROM, multimedia courseware user interface, many designers like to make the simulation Windows taskbar and Start menu. Because the most common interface is just Windows desktop environment, so this style of user interface for many users love.

The key to designing such interfaces is to create realistic taskbar and start buttons, and today we'll show you how to use Photoshop to make this lifelike taskbar and start button.

This article takes Photoshop CS Chinese version as an example, other versions are similar. The end of the article provides a. psd file for everyone to download for reference .

　　Finish effect:

　　Drawing process:

1, run Photoshop CS Chinese version, a new size of "450x450" pixel, resolution of 72 pixels per inch, background color white files, input file name "Toolbar", specific settings as shown in Figure 1.

2. Press the D key on the keyboard to set the foreground and background colors as the default black and white, and then press the "Alt+delete" key to fill the current layer with black. The purpose of black is to make it easier to see the effect of the silver taskbar during the production process, and to remove the excess parts after the production is complete.

3, click the "Create New Layer" button in the Layers panel, create a new layer above the background layer, and name it "Bar." (Tip: Press "Ctrl+alt+shift+n" on the keyboard to quickly create a new layer above the current layer, to name the layer when you create a new layer, set the layer color, mode, press the shortcut key "Ctrl+shift+n", and then in the "New Layer" pop-up) dialog box in detail, as shown in Figure 2. )

4. Select the rectangular Marquee tool in the toolbox and draw a rectangular selection with a height of approximately 35 pixels on the layer "Bar" with the same width as the image file width. Press the "Alt+delete" key when the drawing is complete to fill the created selection with black.

6. The key to making the Start button is to make the selection of the button shape. Create a new layer on the layer bar, name White, and then hold down the CTRL key while you click the layer bar to load the selection of the layer bar, as shown in Figure 6, 1.

7. Select the rectangular Marquee tool in the toolbox and set it to "subtract from selection" in the upper option bar, as shown in Figure 7, then select the right portion of the rectangular selection in the window and subtract it to get the result as shown in Figure 6, 2.

8, select the "Elliptical Marquee tool" in the toolbox, set to "Cross with selection" in the upper option Bar, and, as shown in Figure 8, draw the ellipse on the left to form the result as shown in Figure 6, 4. Once no, you can press Ctrl+z to undo and redo it again until you are satisfied with the result.

9. Fill the resulting selection with white, copy the layer, and name it "black." Press the shortcut key ctrl+i to reverse the image in the layer to black. Select Move tool in the toolbox, and then press the left ARROW key once to move the image to the left one pixel.

10, copy the layer "Black", and to the copied layer to the left one pixel, method ibid. Name the Layer "button" and use the method described in step 5 to open the Layer Style dialog box and set a gradient overlay for it, as shown in Figure 9, figure 10.

The setup is complete, and the results shown in Figure 11 are closer to the real Start button, but there is a shortage of places to go.

11. While holding down the CTRL key, click the Layer "button" (that is, the layer with the gradient button) to load the selection of the layer. Click the Marquee tool in the toolbox and tap the left arrow key 7 times to move the selection a little farther to the left.

12, create a new layer, fill the selection with any color.

13. While holding down the CTRL key again, click the Layer button to load the selection. Select the Magic Wand tool in the toolbox, and in the options bar, set to subtract from selection, and click the Fill area outside the selection in the new layer to get a new crescent-shaped selection. Keep the selection and remove the layer.

14, create a new layer, named "Bevel", fill the selection with black, and set the layer style to a gradient fill, as in step 10, as shown in Figure 12.

So we get the realistic XP style taskbar, as shown in Figure 13.

You can add the icons and text on the button yourself, as shown in Figure 14. . psd Original File Download