First start by makeing a new document 900×45. Then fill your base layer with black.

Next make selection 900×30. Make a new layer. Fill the selection with black. Now we are going to add some blending options. Add a Gradient Overlay starting with #000000 and ending with #3a3a3a. Finally add a 1 pixel inner stroke in #6d6b6b.

Next make selection 900×25. Make a new layer. Fill the selection with black. Set the layer fill to 0%. Now we are going to add some blending options. Add a Gradient Overlay that goes from White to transparent. Set the Overlay opacity to 20%

Make a new layer. Now using the Single Column Marquee Tool make a selection. Fill that selection with black. Move the selection over one pixel and fill that selection with #6d6b6b. Then use the Single Row Marquee Tool to erase one pixel from the top and bottom on the navi area. Finally delete all the excess.

Now we need to create the content of the nvigation area. Grab your text tool and select the font “04b_19″ and set the size 20 pixels. Type out the word “HOME”. And add these blending options. Add an Inner Shadow (0 size and 3 Distance), Bevel and Emboss (Outer Bevel, Chisel Soft, Direction Down, Size and Soften to 0), and finally a Gradient Overly (Set the start color to #b5fe01 and the end color to #699001).

Highlight all the layers of the navigation and right click in the layer pallette to duplicate the layers then CTRL+E to merge them. Now go to Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical. Now move the reflected navigation to the bottom of the main. Make a new layer. Make a selection 900×10 at the bottom. Fill it with black set the layer fill to 0%. Then add a Transparent to Black gradient and hit OK.

Finally make a rectangle selection 30px tall over the home button. Make a new layer and fill the selection with white. Add a Gaussian Blur of 1.5 and set the fill to 20%. Then go to Edit > Transform > Perspective and give it a 45° angle. Lastly CTRL+Click the Home Text and hit delete to remove the glare ove the word. And you are done.

First start by makeing a new document 1920×1080. Then fill your base layer with black and add a Gradient Overlay. Set the start color to #76accc the midcolor to #0e76c4 and the end color to #004371.

Next Download Asset00 here. Add it to our wallpaper. Then go to Edit > Transform > Perspective. Using your own judgement give it some depth by changeing the perspective. Then hit CTRL+I to invert the colors. Finally set the layer to soft light and using a lar soft eraser at 50% opacity blend the water to the background.

Now Download Asset02 here. Open it in photoshop. Usuing the pen tool cut the reef from it’s background. Add it to our wallpaper. Aligning to the bottom right side and add an Inner shadow. Set the Shadow to -90°, the distance to 7, and the size to 23.

Now Download Asset03 here. Open it in photoshop. Usuing the pen tool cut the fish from it’s background. Then go to Image > Trim and remove all the extra transparent space. Then go to Edit > Define Brush Preset and call it Fish. Now go back to the wallpaper we are working on and select the brush we just created. Now we are going to set some new Presets open the Brush Presets Palette. Select Shape Dynamics and set the Size Jitter to 100%. Then select Scattering and set the Scatter to 1000%. Finally select Other Dynamics and set Opacity Jitter to 50%. Change the forgoround color to White. Now create a small school of fish on the left side in the middle. Then rotate the school 20°. Next go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur set the radius to 2.0 and hit OK. Scale to your liking.

Download Asset01 here. Follow the same steps as on the first reef only this time align the new section to the bottom left. Add a Gradient Overlay set the blend to Saturation and select the Spectrum as the overlay. Hit OK.

Now Download Asset04 here. Open it in photoshop. Usuing the pen tool cut the shark from it’s background. Add it to our wallpaper and move it the the right upper middle section. Then using the Rectangular Marquee Tool make a selection of the shark from dorsal fin to tail and right click. Layer via copy. Next go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur set the radius to 3.0 and hit OK. Finally, using a largr soft eraser at 50% opacity remove some on the base shark tail.

To give the wallpaper a little more life ad the fish we cut out for the brush. Scale it down to look porportionate with the scenery and add an Inner shadow. Set the Shadow to -90°, the distance to 0, and the size to 23.

Select the top Third of the wallpaper using the Rectangular Marguee. Then and a White to transparent gradient within the selection. Then go to Filter > Liquify. Pull the gradient down to make sunbeams. when you are satisfied hit OK. set the layer blend to overylay.

CTRL+Click the layer we just created and go to Select > Modify > Contract and contract the selection 20 – 30 pixels. Then Layer via copy. Finally using your soft eraser blend the new beams in.

Following the same steps as the previous two we are going to make a glass layer. This part is optional. Using the rectangular marquee tool make varing weight Rectangles from top to bottom. A good set up for this is one fat, then one very skiny, and lastly one inbetween. Then fill the selection with white. Then deselect the selection and add a 10 pixel gaussian blur. Next using the perspective tool make the rectangles lean at a 45° angle and hit OK.

And you are done. what do you think? Send me a link to your version and I will be sure to post it here under User Submitted under this tutorial.

In this tutorial we show you how to create a demon circus worker for the upcoming Halloween holiday.

1.) Open your original image

2.) Hit CTRL + L to bring up the “Levels” window – move the two sliders on the left a little to the right to darken the image.

3.) Find an image of some flames and insert them into a new layer on top of your lady image.

4.) With the lady layer selected hit CTRL + Shift + X to bring up the “Liquify” window.

5.) Choose the “warp Tool” by hitting W, set your brush size to 30 and begin to move the corners of the mouth up, much like Jack Nicholson in Batman (1989). Hit OK to return to your main image.

6.) Zoom in around the mouth of the lady, choose the paintbrush tool, set the brush size to 1 or 2 px. and draw two fangs. Also while your zoomed in paint the inner part of her eyes red to complete the image.

Step 1 – First, create a document with the dimensions 500×400. Go ahead and fill it with what color you want to use, for this tutorial we’re going to use white.

Next we’re going to create the menu on the size. Create a vertical rectangle that fills only a small portion of the document. Fill it with a soft gray color, and set the opacity to 67%. You should be left with this.

Step 2 – Now, it’s time to create the different selections in your menu. Grab your round rectangle shape tool, and slide it on the top of your menu. Fill it with whatever color goes with your site. And then add a stroke with these properties:

and you should have this now

then go ahead and copy how ever many buttons you want for your menu and spread them out..

Step 3 – Now we’re going to finish up the menu. Create a small border that rests to the side of your side menu. Then we’re going to add the places your text is going to sit for your buttons. Create small rectangles and put them at the bottom of each button. Then use this Stroke blend:

and you should have this

Go ahead and fill in these text boxes with whatever options you wanted represented

Step 4 – Now we’re going to add the static images that will appear whenever you rollover a menu button. Just slide it in and make sure it’s behind your side menu. You should have this.

Now we’re going to add the finishing touches. Go ahead and add preview images on the buttons so people know what they’re going to see when they roll over it.

and the final menu should look like this

Next you should create the code for your menu. My recommendation is to use Jscript, it’s flexible and you can add some cool effects with it. It also runs quickly.

Let’s return to the subject of those user interface extensions, though.  Here’s a bit relevant info: a lot of people agree that BMWs are some of the best-driving cars on the planet.  Look over reviews of them covering the past few years, though, and you’ll notice that even the biggest fans couldn’t help but be enraged by the awful iDrive interface.

The fact that poor radio and navigation controls could piss off professional evaluators and the owners of “ultimate driving machines” should prove how important user interfaces are.

Anyway, Vassil Terziev, the co-CEO of Telerik, gave some details about his company’s offering by calling it “a purpose-built UI suite that fully leverages the advantages of Microsoft’s ASP.NET MVC framework.”

He then continued, “By developing native architecture from the ground up that is tailored specifically to the ASP.NET MVC environment, we avoid many of the pitfalls associated with non-native controls that have their roots in WebForms.  Instead, we are providing a model that is perfectly mated to the MVC platform.”

There are a few places left but they’ll go fast. The event is totally FREE to qualifying individuals, with Adobe laying out for the venue, the prizes and the bar tab. It’s an excellent opportunity to network, socialize, tell Adobe what you think about their software (gets interesting after a few beers I can tell you) and generally test yourself and your friends out under pressure. Don’t be put off if you’ve never played Poker before, well over half the attendees are always novices and they’re usually the ones who end up winning.

The rules are simple, the dealers are on hand to give advise and there’s a 15 minute lesson at the beginning for everyone. This is a strictly fun game only and you won’t be playing with or for money, though we do lay on cash game tables later in the evening if you’re feeling brave. It’s great fun and really is the thinking man’s card game. There’s even a ticket for Flash on the Beach up for grabs thanks to John at Flash on the Beach. So get along to www.pokercoder.com and register before the last places go.

I cropped it down to the part I wanted:

Next I put that on a new document four different times all going opposite directions:

Then go to Edit > Define pattern and save it as texture or rock or whatever suits you.

Now on to the planet.

Create a new document, fill it with black.

Create a circle with the Elliptical Marquee tool. Color it whatever color you want. Duplicate it two times but make these two layers just black circles.

Add the following effects to the atmosphere layer:

Set the layer mode to Screen.

Now on a new layer add your texture (or pattern if you want to call it that). Go to your paint blucket, choose your pattern:

Go To Filter > Distort > Spherize. Do this a couple times.

You will have something similar to this:

Now turn your shadow layer on. Select it and move it to whatever area you want.

Go to Filter Blur Gaussian Blur. I used 50 pixels but you use whatever you want.

Or you could lower the opacity of the shadow layer to 95%, so its not completely covered.

I wanted the orange color to show up a little bit more so I did a color overlay on the rock later:

That left me with this:

You could also use the Sharpen tool to add even more texture:

Now we will add some rings.

Open a new document, fill it with black. Make your default foreground and background layers are black and white, you can do this by just pressing D on your keyboard.

Go to Filter > Render > Clouds.

Now go to Filter > Distort >Twirl and use the highest setting.

Now we will erase the middle and around to get our rings.

I used the Elliptical Marquee tool to cut out the outside and the inside.

Then I went back over the edges with a soft brush and lowered the opacity to about 60%.

Don’t worry about making it perfect. (I put mine on a black background now so you can see it better)

Now take your transform controls and make it as small as you need for it to look like rings.

Go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise:

Now Go to Image > Adjustments > Levels and move the middle arrow until you get something similar:

Now we are going to go to Image > Hue/saturation to add some color and match it up to the planet.

Move it to your planet photo:

Set the layer mode to screen and erase parts so it looks like it goes around the planet.

Now I also duplicated my shadow layer. I set the opacity to 61%. I want some of the ring darkened but not all of it. I also don’t want it overlapping my planet shadow so I erased this layer except for where it covers the ring. If that was confusing here is what I meant in pictures. (I am temporality am hiding my original shadow layer so you can see what I mean by I just left this new shadow layer on the ring only and not the planet):

It just makes it look more realistic I think.

Now turn your original shadow layer back on. Here is my final image:

And, for a slighty altered look, you can take the Burn tool, lower the opactity and go over the ring layer:

ASP.NET AJAX is the free Microsoft AJAX framework for building highly interactive and responsive web applications that work across all popular browsers. The ASP.NET AJAX framework includes Server-Side ASP.NET AJAX, Client-Side ASP.NET AJAX, the AJAX Control Toolkit, and the jQuery library. ASP.NET AJAX enables developers to choose their preferred method of AJAX development, whether it is server-side programming, client-side programming, or a combination of both.

Those who are familiar with ASP.net and Microsoft’s Visual Studio should not have any trouble using the tools in ASP.net AJAX. The look and feel is similar to other Microsoft products. The toolkit also includes JQuery as part of the Microsoft ASP.NET MVC applications.
Microsoft has released a large number of tutorials that you can use to get started. They also have a video tutorials for those who would prefer that. You can download the Visual Web Developer Express directly from Microsoft for free.

Here’s a list of features that are provided by Snow Leopard:

- The ability to activate Expose’ from Dock

- Improvements in wake-up and shutdown functions

- Once installed, disk space will be provided back to you (around 7 GB)

- Newly enhanced 64-bit support. All of your system apps can take advantage of your Mac’s entire memory

- A new tool called Grand Central Dispatch which will provide better means to use multicore processors

- OpenCL which will utilize graphics processors in new and interesting ways.

- QuickTime X provides many new features to the video program. Including easier ways for uploading to YouTube

- New built-in technologies provide people with disabilities easier access to the Mac OS X.

Along with those features, Safari 4 will be included as well. The system improvements alone are worth the cost in this writer’s eyes. The other improvements are fluff, but depending on what you use your Mac for could be big improvements as well.