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How To Make Rank Buttons

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Last modification by CaptainIcy
April 12, 2012, 12:05 am → version: 4
Language: English
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How To Make Rank Buttons 5 by 25 users
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tildee tutorial imageOpen PhotoShop. ;)


tildee tutorial imageOpen the Template.psd file. It might ask you about an "embedded profile mismatch" or something. If that happens, just click the top option (it really doesn't matter though) and continue.


tildee tutorial imageBingo! There it is. Feel free to look around at the various layers and things, but it's best to leave everything as it is.


tildee tutorial imageNow time to find an image for the game you're making a rank button for. In this tutorial, I'll be making a rank button for Cogs (PC). Usually just go to Google Image Search and type in the game's name, look around for a good image you think will work on a rank button, etc.


tildee tutorial imageSo there's the image I chose. Once you get to the image (usually click the image in the search results, then over to the left say "view full size" and it should resemble the image in this step.
Right-click the image and say "Copy image" or something to that effect, depending what browser you use.


tildee tutorial imageNext, go to PhotoShop. Click "File" (top left corner) then go to "New" (new image). This is how you paste a new image. (The one you copied from Google) Just say okay to the box.


tildee tutorial imageNow paste the image (Either by going to "Edit > Paste" or just pressing Ctrl + V) and then go to "Image > Image Size". We're going to scale the image down since it is far too big for the part we want to fit into a rank button. (We're going to get the bottom left part of the puzzle in the rank button)


tildee tutorial imageAfter you click "Image Size" this box will come up. Go to the "Height" box (Or the Width box, I just find it easier to size them down using height, easier to know what it will look like before you do it. ;)) and tone it down to whatever you think. Usually somewhere within 100-250 depending on the game/image you're using. For this one I'm going with 200 for the height. That should be just about right. After you do this, click OK and the image will resize. If it doesn't seem right then keep messing with it until you find a good size.


tildee tutorial imageThere it is, all small and everything. Go to "Select > All" (Select all) Then go to "Edit > Copy".
Now it's time to go back to the Template file. Once you're there, make sure you have the folder "Game Image" selected, then paste the resized image in there.


tildee tutorial imageNow we're getting to the fun parts. Select the Move tool (top tool in the tool… toolbar) and start dragging the image around till you're happy with the position of it. If the image won't fit or needs some editing, well, you can edit it a bit but I won't go into detail since this is primarily about the rank button-making process. Look up some PhotoShop editing tutorials if you need to.


tildee tutorial imageNow, this step is probably the biggest yet. Go down to the layer you made by pasting the image, (bottom right, you'll see the small thumbnail) make sure it's selected, then go to "Select > All" once again. You're not selecting the entire pasted image, just the visible part in the rank button. (The dimensions are 88x31 in case you're wondering) then go to "Edit > Copy" and copy the selected image. Now paste it (Edit > Paste) and it will create yet another new layer with the newly pasted image. The reason you're doing this is because when we put the bevel effect on it won't put a border around the 88x31 part of the image that you see in the rank button, it will be putting it on the larger image that is pasted in this layer, just not visible. Whatever, that's not really important.
Once you have done all this, delete the previous layer (with the first image you pasted) but don't delete the template image. You should probably always leave that there.


tildee tutorial imageNow, right-click the template layer (The WarioWare one ;)) and click "Copy Layer Style" (this is the bevel effect and all)


tildee tutorial imageNow go to the latest layer with the pasted image and right-click it as well. This time click "Paste Layer Style" (of course) This should add the bevel effect.


tildee tutorial imageNow you can go edit the bevel if you want. You can do this by right-clicking the layer once again and going to "Blending Options" (second from the top) then go to "Bevel and Emboss". The default size of the bevel is 4 pixels, but sometimes it will need some work, so feel free to mess with some of the various controls in there. Usually you don't even have to touch this, but it is there if you need it.


tildee tutorial imageNow to add text! (Assuming you need to. Some games need an abbreviation, some don't. I usually make one with and one without if I'm unsure) So assuming you want to, go select the Text tool on the tools… toolbar. After you do that, go down to the layers menu and scroll up to the "Abbreviation" layer. Select it. Then go right-click on the image (with the text tool selected) and go to the very top of the menu that pops up. Click "Edit Type".


tildee tutorial imageType out whatever you want. Usually an abbreviation of the game's name, or NTSC or PAL or whatever the game may call for. Make sure you use the Agency FB font, and the font size is either 12 or 14. If it's a short abbreviation and won't cover up important parts of the image, go with 14, but if it might cover things up or it is a longer abbreviation, go with 12. Feel free to position the text however you want (But keep it close to the left side of the rank box, please) (Select the move tool and use the arrow keys to move it more precisely) and of course make sure the text color is white.


tildee tutorial imageNow if everything looks good, you may now proceed to save the rank button! Go to "File > Save As"


tildee tutorial imageNothing special here. Browse to wherever you want to save it and save it. Of course, I like to save it as a PSD file first so if I need to edit it later I'll still have the WIP file with all the layers and stuff. So do that first. Make sure it's saving as the PSD format and click Save.


tildee tutorial imageNext go to "File > Save As" once again but this time make the format "CompuServe GIF" or just "GIF". Rank buttons have to be GIFs to work, so make sure that's what you're saving it as. ;)
When you're ready click Save again.
When saving as a GIF two boxes will come up after you hit Save. Just ignore what they have to say and click OK to both of them. After that, you're done! Yay!


tildee tutorial imageNow here is the finished rank button. Looks great, doesn't it?
Thanks for reading, and I hope this helped you out. CS will always need rank buttons so the more help the better. :)

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