   Decent Buttons
  Not sure if this is the right forum section to be asking this but, how do I get from my button on the left to something decent remotely approaching blizzard's work on the right. http://yfrog.com/1nmybuttonpIs it art? Is it programming? Both?Any tips/info is very much appreciated.[Edited by - Antonym on April 28, 2010 6:58:23 PM]
  photoshop is your best friend!http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=photoshop+button+tutorials&aq=f&aqi=g-c1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=And for the times when your best friend is out of town on a business trip (or you don't have/can't afford photoshop), the gimp is like the cool cousin you can hang out withhttp://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=gimp+button+tutorials&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai= Enjoy! :D   ;  Oh~! Thanks! Thanks! Thanks!   ;  Two more alternatives ... use Paintshop Pro (it even comes with pre-made button shapes) ... or if 2D art is tricky for you how about creating 3D buttons and rendering them to 2D (it's what I did using TrueSpace to create the button and Bryce to render them ... both with free versions available last time I looked). Finally find a good font to use that looks good and fits nicely into the overall art style of the game you are creating (celtic font for a RPG, etc).;  GIMP has similar features to those in photoshop and it's free. Paintshop pro is better and still quite reasonably priced...;  You could also use a vector graphics program like Inkscape to create the example button shown.   ;Quote:Original post by AntonymNot sure if this is the right forum section to be asking this but, how do I get from my button on the left to something decent remotely approaching blizzard's work on the right. http://yfrog.com/1nmybuttonpIs it art? Is it programming? Both?Any tips/info is very much appreciated.The background is a gradient, availible in most graphical applications. The top and bottom bits look like they also have 2 very subtle graients on them (though it could just be two solid colors) of 2 very similar colors (as you can see obviously).Bluring things is usually a simple way to get somehting looking glowy.Just make sure you use layers so you can mess around and see what looks good. I'm no artist though and I can appreciate the difficulty in getting nice looking buttons, it can be surprisingly hard :P.   ;  Download the 30 day trial of Abobe Fireworks, make a rectangle and apply some styles.  It'll be a piece of cake and you'll most likely love the results.   