Preserved Topic: Title bar...

Looking for some opinions on a title bar here...


WolfenMedia

I like the paneled-wood effect, but the buttons along the bottom blend into the rest of the composition too much for my eye to be drawn to them. I'd make them a slightly darker wood color, or carve the wood around them differently, or do something else to make them more visually striking. In particular, the dark wood rings make it slightly tricky to read the button text. (The "ome" in Home, for example, is crossed by an area of darkness almost the same shade as the letters.)

Maybe use a different wood grain?


WolfenMedia

how about a little less shine on the wood? and chisel it a little more.. dont use soft edges as much as you are possibly? just some ideas.. im not exactly TELLING you that it would be better that way.. but maybe something to try possibly?

-C*****n McLeay www.extremespace.com www.muchosucko.com

it looks rather odd that the bevel on the metal and on the wood are identical.

You;ve got two different materials supposedly taht look as if they are both made from plastic instead.

I assume by looking that the bevels are layer effects?

If so, don't use them. Learn to make them by hand, you'll be much happier! If not, well...they look like it, so practice a bit more at getting a less 'white shiny' look and more realistic shadows.


I would also recommend cutting down the size - it seems unnecessarily large as a whole, and in particular the buttons.

These tutorials may be of help -
http://www.handson.nu/HTML/insetbar.shtml
http://www.gurusnetwork.com/tutorials/photoshop/depth1.html

Bah! Gauss/Emboss. Or is it Emboss/Gauss? Season with Levels.
http://www.gurusnetwork.com/tutorials/photoshop/depth_masks.html

Bwahahahaha.

Actually, my favorite method is to copy the layer, clip group it, set to Hard Light, then Emboss/Gauss (in that order), tweak with Curves.

I would trash the beveled wood text... and burn it! heh.... I am thinkin a burned wood tut would fit very nicely at Gurus?

I would that there were more wood interfaces out there... they are not the usual... and a bit hard to make.

Keep it up man!

A good looking bevel generally calls for more than one method to be used, in my opinion.

You generally get the best effects with a mix of both soft and hard definition of the edge to be beveled.