Complex Cluster

Step 1.

Start a new document that is 500 x 500 and fill the background with a dark grey color, I used: #6A6A6A

Step 2.

Create a new layer. Set your foreground color to #6A6A6A and your background color to: #252525

Now get out the elliptical marquee tool ( ) and make a selection somewhere on the canvas while holding down the Shift key on your keyboard to create a perfect circle:

Now get out the Gradient Fill tool ( ) and set it up like so:

Now fill the selection from bottom to top like so:

Step 3.

With the selection still active, create a new layer, and go to: Select->Modify->Contract with a setting of 8 pixels or so (the amount of the contraction depends on how large the first circle you made is):

Now grab the gradient tool again ( ) with the same settings, but this time fill the selection from top to bottom so the gradient is reversed. Press Ctrl + D on your keyboard to deselect the selection.

Result:

Step 4.

Now double click this layer, and apply the following blending options:

Outer Glow:

Bevel & Emboss

Stroke:

Result:

Step 5.

Create a new layer, get out the elliptical marquee tool again ( ) and make a selection like so:

Set your foreground color to white (#FFFFFF) get out the gradient fill tool ( ) and set it to 'foreground to transparent':

Fill the selection with the white transparent gradient, from bottom to top like so:

Press Ctrl + D on your keyboard to deselect the selection.

Press Ctrl + G on your keyboard to 'group' this layer with the previous.

Result:

Now change the blending option of this layer to 'overlay' and drop the opacity down to 30 percent:

Result:

Notice: I just wanted to point out that if you look at what we've got so far makes a *great* looking button to use on your layout/interfaces...

So you can stop the tutorial here and use the cool button we've just made, or you can continue on to create that "plastic flower" logo that I promised you in the beginning.

Step 6.

Now we're going to merge all the layers together. Go down to the background layer, and click the little "eye" icon to hide it:

This should turn off the background layer now that this has been done click the layer directly above the background layer to activate it and go to Layer->Merge Visible to merge all visible layers.

Your layer pallet should now look like this:

Go ahead and click the little eye icon on the background layer to turn it's visibility back on.

Step 7.

Now for the easy stuff. Go ahead and click the layer directly above the background layer again to activate it. Press 'v' on your keyboard or click on the ( ) move tool on the tool pallet.

While holding down the Shift and Alt keys on your keyboard click the "button" looking dot we had made and move it to the left of the original, lining the edges up as close as you can without overlapping them.

Again, hold down the Shift and Alt keys and move another copy of the button over so you have three of them lined up side by side like so:

Press Ctrl + E on your keyboard 2 times in a row to merge all three of these layers together. Your layers pallet should now look like this:

Step 8.

You should still have the move tool ( ) go ahead and hold down the Shift + Alt keys on your keyboard and move a copy of the three buttons downward, lining up the edges as best you can:

Once again, merge these together with the previous layer by pressing Ctrl + E on your keyboard one time.

Step 9.

Now move the set of 6 buttons up near the center of the canvas, at the top as I've done here. You can do this using the move tool, or by using press Ctrl + A on your keyboard (to select all) and using the Align buttons:

Result:

Step 10.

Press Ctrl + A on your keyboard to make a selection of the entire canvas.

Go to Filter->Distort->Polar Coordinates and apply these settings:

Result:

Step 11.

Now press Ctrl + J on your keyboard to duplicate this layer.

Go to Edit->Transform->Flip Vertically

Press 'V' on your keyboard to get out the move tool again ( ) and move this duplicate layer slightly upward as I've done here:

Step 12.

Press Ctrl + E on your keyboard to merge these two layers together.

Press Ctrl + J on your keyboard to duplicate this layer.

Go to Edit->Transform->Rotate 90CCW

Press Ctrl + E on your keyboard to merge these two layers together and you are done!

Result:

Finishing Touches

Here is another example of this technique used with different colors, and some slight background effects added:

Have fun and remember to experiment! Thanks for reading.