3D Ball

Step 1: Creating the background.

Create a new document, 600px X 600px. Start off with a medium gray for the background; I used #8e8e8e. Next, we need to add the light gradient to make the background look more like a 3d space. We'll obtain that effect by using the gradient tool with the color white. Create a new layer and select the gradient tool. By default the gradient type should be "Linear Gradient"; change it to "Reflected Gradient" This should also come by default, but just to be safe, also make sure the gradient goes from white to alpha 0 Next, simply move your cursor (with the gradient tool selected) in the dead center of your image and holding the shift key drag the mouse vertically downwards until you reach the bottom of the image and release. Next play a little bit with the layer's alpha in order to get something similar to the following. You can also play with it with the transform tool (Ctrl+T) to change its shape a little bit.

Step 2: Creating the Circle

Create a new layer on top of the previous two and call it "Circle Background". On this layer, in the center of the image create a circle with a color of your choice (I used #9f0000). In order to create the circle use the Eliptical Marquee Tool to make your selection and then the Paint Bucket Tool to fill in your selection with a color of your choice.

Step 3: Adding the shades

Create a new layer on top of the "Circle Background" and call it "Circle Shades". Select the new layer (Circle Shades) and while holding the Ctrl key down, click on the layer "Circle Background" (on the square showing the layer's content). Select the Gradient Tool and select the gradient type "Linear Gradient"  Press "D" to reset your colors to black and white. Now start applying the gradients inside your selection by dragging from outside the circle towards the center. This might take a little bit of effort to get it right, but eventually it should look similar to this:

Step 4: Adding the shadows

Now we have to make this "3d ball" look like its staying on the plane and add its shadows. Create a new layer and call it "Ball Shadow" and move the layer under the layer "Circle Background". Select the Brush Tool and make sure you're viewing the "Basic" brushes ( which should be there by default). Select a round feathred brush and change its size to roughly 200 Click once with the brush tool at the bottom of the circle (behind it). Next, use the transform tool (Ctrl+T) and change the height and move it until it looks like a shadow. It should look roughly like the image bellow. To make it look even better play with the layer's alpha if needed. On top of that I duplicated the layer "Ball Shadow" and I made the new shadow even smaller so that the shadow is much darker exactly under the ball.

Step 5: Fixing the shadow at the bottom (optional)

At this point, the only thing left to fix with the shadow would be the bottom portion of circle. I don't really like how you can see the bottom of the circle so clear and I feel that it should blend a little bit more with the dark shadow under it. We'll use the same techniques shown in Step 4. Create a new layer on top of the layer "Circle Shades" and call it "Shadow Fix" and using the Brush Tool with a smaller size around "100″ press again once at the bottom of the ball. Next play with the transform tool until the bottom portion of the ball should be a little darker. This step isn't necesarry but it will help with the realism.

Step 6: Adding the light areas

Create a new layer, call it "Ball Light" and move it above the layer "Ball Shadow". Change your main color to white and then using the brush tool with a size of 150-200 place a spot towards the top of the circle. Change the layer Blending Mode to "Overlay". Create a new layer again on top of "Ball Light" and call it "Ball Light 2″ and with the Brush Tool with a size of about 20-30 place a spot on top of the new glow and change the layer's alpha to about 40 or so. Your image should look similar to the one bellow. At this point you can stop or do whatever you'd like with your image or you can simply continue with the tutorial and see what I came up with.

Step 7: Creating the "screen"

Duplicate the layer "Circle Background" and change the circle's color to a different one. I changed my color to #218165. Call the new layer "Screen Background" You can do this by selecting the "Circle Background" layer and then draging it over the small icon at the bottom called "Create new layer". Next right click your new layer and choose "Blending Options" and check the box called "Color Overlay" and also press the text so that you can see the menu options. Simply click on the colored square and choose a color of your prefference and press "ok".

Press "Ctrl+T" to activate the transform tool and while holding the "Alt" key down, change the height of the circle. It should look similar to the image bellow.

Step 8: Screen Border

Duplicate the layer "Screen Background" twice and move both layers under the original "Screen Background". Change the colors on both layers to black. Next move the first circle 2px up and the second circle 2px down. You can do that using the arrow keys and pressing the "up arrow" twice and the "down arrow" twice. Select the duplicated "Screen Backgrond" layer that's on top and merge it to the second one, that's under it by pressing "Ctrl+E". Change the alpha of the new layer to about 50% and rename the layer to "Screen Border". The only problem at this point is that the circle is a little bit outside the circle so we need to remove those small portions. Hold "Ctrl" and press on the layer "Circle Background" to obtain the circle's selection. Next press "Ctrl+I" to invert the selection and press your "Delete" key to remove the corners of the screen border. Everything should look similar to the following image.

Step 9: Embeded Screen

Duplicate the layer "Screen Border" and call it "Screen Embed". Apply a Gaussian Blur effect of roughly 6 (Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur). Hold "Ctrl" and press on the "Screen Border" layer to get its selection, go to Select>Modify>Expand and expand the selection by 1px. Next, press "Delete" to clear the selection. Hold "Ctrl" and press on the "Circle Background" layer to get its selection and then press "Ctrl+I" and "Delete" again to remove all the content outside the circle. The Embed effect should look like this:

Step 10: Adding the Screen Noise

Create a new layer above the layer "Screen Background" and call it "Screen Noise". Select the new layer and while holding "Ctrl" down click on the layer "Screen Background" to obtain its selection. Go to Filter>Render>Clouds. Next go to Filter>Noise>Add Noise. Change the Amount to 180, Distribution to "Uniform" and uncheck "Monochromatic". Press "Ctrl+U" and change the "Saturation" to -100 and press ok. Next change the layer's alpha to 20%. Your result should be similar to the following:

Step 11: Adding the high glows

Create a new layer on top of the all the layers and call it "High Glow". Use the Brush Tool with a value of about 150 and color black and click once on the image towards the top of the screen. On the same layer, change the color of the brush to white and the size to 80 and press in the middle of the previous brush. Change the mode of the layer to "Color Dodge" . Press "Ctrl+T" and change the size of the glow so that it looks good. Duplicate the layer and move the new glow towards the bottom of the screen and resize it until it looks good. While holding "Ctrl" click the layer "Background Circle" and then press "Ctrl+I" to invert the circle's selection. Press "Delete" to delete the content outside the circle on both "High Glow" layers. This is what I came up with:

Step 12: Creating the reflection

Put all of the layers in a folder, all besides the ones that build the shadow of the ball. Duplicate the folder and press "Ctrl+E" to merge all the layers in the folder into one layer. Go to Edit>Transform>Flip Vertical. Move the ball at the bottom of the circle and change the alpha for the layer to 10%. Select using the Rectangular Marquee Tool  about 1/3 of the circle, the lower portion, and then go to Select>Modify>Feather and choose 20, press OK and then press "Delete". Your image should look similar to the following:

At this point the tutorial is pretty much done. You can continue to play with it some more if you'd like, and that's what I did. I added the text "PSDSESSION" and a few white gradients here and there in order to have it a little more customized. I also like my reflections a little bit blured so I apply a Gaussian Blur of "1″. I hope you guys enjoyed the tutorial!