How to create a 3D style Pop Up menu navigation bar in Photoshop

Create an eye-catching 3D-style Pop Up navigation tab menu in Photoshop!

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Adobe Photoshop CS3
• Adobe Photoshop CS4

1. 
    

   Create a new Photoshop document that is more wide than tall. For this example I set the width at 900 pixels and the height at 300 pixels.

2. 
    

   Select the Rectangle (path) tool and draw a rectangle across the entire width of the document, the height as tall as you'd like your navigation menu bar to be. Switch to the Path Selection (arrow) tool and select the rectangle you've just drawn.

3. 
    

   In your Layers palette, at the bottom, select the "Create new fill or adjustment layer" icon and select "Solid Color" from the popup menu. Select a color (I'm using #CCCCCC) and click Ok.

4. 
    

   In the Layers palette, click once on the "Background Layer" to deselect your newly created "Color Fill 1" layer.

5. 
    

   Now select the Rounded Rectangle (path) tool and in the main horizontal toolbar at the top of the screen set the radius to 8 px. Draw a rounded corner rectangle the size of the navigation tab you wish to create. Make the rounded corner rectangle "pop up" a small amount over the top of the gray navigation menu bar and make sure the bottom of the rounded rectangle goes below the bottom of the gray navigation menu bar.

6. 
    

   Switch to the "normal" rectangle path tool and draw another rectangle just like you did in step 2, across the entire width of the document....but this time draw the height of the rectangle so that it goes below the document's lowest edge. Align the top of your new rectangle with the bottom of the gray navigation menu bar.

7. 
    

   Switch to the Path Selection tool, hold down the Shift key and select both the latest large rectangle path you've just created as well as the rounded rectangle path. Pull up the Paths palette and double click on the path entitled "Work Path". Name this path "tab and page body" and type the click Ok.

8. 
    

   Now, using the Path Selection tool, click on only the rounded rectangle path to select it. PC users right click and Mac users Control click in the middle of the path and select "Make Selection" from the pop up menu. Set the Feather Radius to 0, and make sure that "New Selection" is selected, then click Ok.

9. 
    

   Now, using the Path Selection tool, click on the larger lower path to select it. PC users right click and Mac users Control click in the middle of the path and select "Make Selection" from the pop up menu. Again, the Feather Radius should be 0. Select "Add to Selection" and click Ok. Now click anywhere in the "body area" of the Paths palette but NOT on a path to deselect any selected paths. You should now just see the "marching ants" of your new selections that you've just made.

10. 
     

    Switch back to the Layers palette and click once on the "Color Fill 1" layer to select it. This will ensure that any new layer we create will be on top of the gray navigation menu bar.

11. 
     

    In your Layers palette, at the bottom, select the "Create new fill or adjustment layer" icon and select "Solid Color" from the popup menu. Select a color for your page body and tab selection (Here I'm using #212b46) and click Ok.

12. 
     

    Select the "Color Fill 1" layer and then from the topmost menu bar select Layer > Layer Style > Blending Options.

13. 
     

    Click the checkbox next to Gradient Overlay, then click on Gradient Overlay and set the Blend Mode to Multiply, the Opacity to 25%.

14. 
     

    Click the gradient bar and create a Black to White gradient with the Opacities for both colors at 100% and the left Location Stop at 10% and the right Location Stop at 75%. Click ok.

15. Now click the Stroke checkbox and then select Stroke. Set the size to 1, the Position to Inside, the Blend mode to Normal and the Opacity to 60. Set the color of the stroke to #FFFFFF (white). Now click Ok.

16. 
     

    Click on the Color Fill 2 layer to select it. From the topmost menu bar select Layer > Layer Style > Blending Options.

17. Click the Stroke checkbox and then select Stroke. Set the size to 1, the Position to Inside, the Blend Mode to Normal, the Opacity to 75% and the Color of the stroke to #ccccff.

18. 
     

    Click the Gradient Overlay checkbox and then select Gradient Overlay. Set the Blend Mode to Normal, the Opacity to 100%.

19. 
     

    Click the gradient bar and create White to White gradient with the left Opacity Stop set at 0 Opacity and 65 Location and the right Opacity Stop set at 25 Opacity and 100 Location. Click Ok. Click Ok again.

20. 
     

    Switch back to the Paths palette and click on the "tab and page body" path to select it. Using the Path Selection tool click on the rounded rectangle path and PC users right click and Mac users Control click and select "New Selection" from the popup menu. (Feather Radius 0, New Selection) Click Ok. Now click anywhere in the "body area" of the Paths palette but NOT on a path to deselect any selected paths. You should now just see the "marching ants" of your new selection that you've just made.

21. 
     

    Switch to the Layers palette and click the Quick Mask button at the bottom of the main toolbar. Select from the top menubar, Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Enter a Radius amount of 6. Click Ok. Click the Quick Mask button again to switch back to Normal View mode.

22. 
     

    In your Layers palette, at the bottom, select the "Create new fill or adjustment layer" icon and select "Solid Color" from the popup menu. Select a color of this new layer to #000000 (black) and click Ok.

23. 
     

    Click and drag the Color Fill 3 layer down below the Color Fill 2. Select Edit > Free Transform from the top menubar.

24. 
     

    Grab the top middle-most anchor of the Free Transform box and drag it down until the shadow disappears below the top of the tab. Double click inside the Free Transform box to accept this change. Change the Layer Mode to Multiply in the Layers palette.

25. 
     

    In the Layers palette, select the Background layer by clicking on it once. In your Layers palette, at the bottom, select the "Create new fill or adjustment layer" icon and select "Solid Color" from the popup menu. Select a color of this new layer to #a3000f (red) and click Ok.

26. 
     

    To finish up the menu bar and tab, click once on the top-most Color Fill 2 layer to ensure any new layers are created on top of all the other layers. Using the Text tool, create "links" in the tab (make a light color like White) and also in the gray nav bar (use a nice dark gray color like #333333). That's it!

[skyedanzer]

on 5/30/2009 Fantastic instructional