I was following the instructions on how to build a 3d button. I used the round rectangle tool to make a button, duplicated it, masked the top using the rectangle tool selected both objects and chose intersect from the Paths option to create the upper half of the button, which I then filled with a lighter colour and dragged it over the original Button to align (according to the red snap indicator) to cover the top half.
If I save this (at 300dpi) as a gif, everything aligns and looks OK, but if I use the gaussian blur as suggested from the tutorial, it leaves a lighter coloured edge around the top half of the gif, rendering it useless for any purpose. Is there a way to avoid this? I have tried less gaussian blur, but even with a level of 1 or less, this effect happens.
I’m using OSX, Snow Leopard 10.6.2 in case this is a bug or some kind.
I’ve since discovered that the problem is that when I make a gaussian Blur, it causes the object to “spread out” of its original area, so if I have a bottom layer button in one colour and overlay a similar sized top half of that button in a lighter shade, even if I align it perfectly, the moment I use a gaussian blur on it, this top object spreads outside the bottom layers constraints, as soon as I save this as a gif, it shows as a light coloured fringe around the button.
Hi Francis.
You can´t prevent the gaussian blur from spreading over your entirely object - but you can simply mask it out via grouping.
Have a look at the image and see if this will help: http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/1818/intagioblurshadow.jpg
Cheers
Frank
PS: Do you need a GIF? I prefer PNG over it for a better rendering.
Sorry not to get back and say thanks! I’ve been doing a lot of other things and have not had time to look here, but a very big thanks. That helps and my buttons are now fine. Good tip!
I might just add that it helps to remove the “stroke” around th e objects otherwise you get a black border which is only visible where the lighter coloured “blurred” object is.
Thanks again!
Francis
PS. I don’t supose I do need GIF, although its easier to deal with transparent gifs when using the image on websites. PNG sometimes doesn’t render correctly in IE