Making a 3D ball in Photoshop
This tutorial shows how to build a simple 3D ball in Photoshop using a circular selection, layer styles, a highlight and a reflected copy.
1. Create a circular selection
Select the Elliptical Marquee Tool. Hold Shift while dragging to create a perfect circle.
2. Fill the circle
Fill the selected circle with the color you want to use for the ball.
3. Apply Inner Shadow
Open Layer Style by double-clicking the ball layer and apply an Inner Shadow to begin creating depth.
4. Add Bevel and Emboss
Apply Bevel and Emboss to strengthen the rounded three-dimensional appearance.
5. Create a white highlight
On a new layer, create another circular selection and fill it with white. This will become the highlight on the ball.
6. Feather and trim the highlight
Use an elliptical selection with about 20 px feathering, then remove part of the white circle to leave a soft highlight.
7. Check the ball shape
After trimming the highlight, the circle begins to look like a glossy ball.
8. Add a white glow
Add or adjust a soft white glow to improve the dimensional appearance.
9. Create the reflection
Duplicate the ball layer and use Transform to flip the duplicated shape vertically.
10. Fade the reflected copy
Apply a layer mask to the lower copy so it fades like a reflection on a glass surface.
11. Final result
The finished artwork combines the styled ball, highlight and faded reflection.
Further Reading
Subhendu Mohapatra
Author & Instructor at plus2net
I write and maintain practical tutorials on Python, PHP, SQL, JavaScript, HTML, jQuery, and web development at plus2net. The tutorials focus on clear explanations, working examples, and code that readers can test and adapt while learning.
| Bailey | 06-07-2015 |
| For the elliptical marquee tool part (the first one), does the size of the newly drawn circle matter? | |