If you think Illustrator has the same look and feel as Photoshop, you couldn't be more wrong. Creating those nice shiny orbs in Photoshop is one of the easiest things to do, but in Illustrator it takes a lot more effort to get it right. That's why I decided to write this tutorial. After walking through this tutorial, you'll not only know how to create those nice glass orbs, but you'll also have learned how to create gradients with opacity, which is not a standard feature in Illustrator.
 

Step 1: Create a new document, it doesn't matter what size, because you can resize vector graphics to any size you want without losing quality.

Grab your Ellipse Tool and make a circle in the center of your document. With the circle selected, press the gradient button and create a nice radial gradient. 'What?!' I hear you say. You can find the gradient button underneath the stroke and fill colors, it's the middle one of the three small icons.

You can adjust your gradient in the gradient palette (if you don't see it go to Window > Gradient of press F9). Make a gradient similar to the one I created on the right. It doesn't matter which colors you use, as long as you have the light one on the left and the darker one on the right. Slide the little diamond all the way to the right, this way the darker color will only be visible on the outside of your circle.
 

Step 2: Grab your Ellipse Tool once more and create an ellipse in the top part of your circle and fill it with white. You should now have something similar to the image on the right. Copy this layer by dragging it on the 'Create New Layer' icon on the bottom of the layers palette. This way you make sure your copy stays in the same position as your original. If you just copy the shape it usually ends up in a different position.

Make a gradient from top to bottom with white on top and black on the bottom. In the next step we'll work our magic and create the transparent gradient.

Step 3: Select both ellipses you just created by holding CTRL and clicking on the small small circles in the layers palette. If you did it right there will now be two blue squares in you layers palette.
Now go to your Transparency palette and click on the little arrow on the top right and choose Make Opacity Mask.

If you can't find your transparency palette go to Window > Transparency or press Shift+F9.

NB.  If you are using a Mac, replace the CTRL key with OPT.

Step 4: Step 4??? There is no step 4! You're done! And, if you did it right, you should end up with something that resembles my example on the left.

Of course, you can use this with any shape possible but you will have to be more creative with the highlights. The underlying technique will be the same for all of them.

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Quote from Shieldvisor;44790: Great tutorial simple but great.. Thanks...

I just want to thank you, cause i learned something from this.

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I am happy to read this, I do struggle with making orbs smooth and glossy. Thanks for the help.

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Quote from shirazmage;39501: Great tut. I actually did it! I am an Illustrator novice tho I've used Photoshop for eons. I even made one with a frosty appearance using the diffuse glow filter. That one is wicked, especially in purple. The biggest problem I had was getting the gradients to match up properly, but that is something that you have to tweak on your own. Or so it seems. Now, I want to figure out how to soften the edge of the highlight ellipse so the differently shaded sections of the orb look more natural, to me anyway. So, I put each http://www.aftermarketperformanceparts.com/test2.html ellipse on it's own layer. It seemed to work for me fine that way. Is there a reason not to do this? As in, why put the highlight ellipse on the same layer as the orb itself in the first place? Just curious as I always put individual objects and/or groups on their own layers as a way to save myself pain and torture if I mess up something while working. Also lets me completely wipe out a layer without messing up a large chunk of my project. Always have worked this way in Photoshop and tend to do this in Illustrator as well. Is this not the norm? As I said, I am a novice when it comes to Illustrator and completely self-taught, so I am not familiar with the way everyone else does things.

Great tutorial simple but great.. Thanks...

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Great tut. I actually did it! I am an Illustrator novice tho I've used Photoshop for eons. I even made one with a frosty appearance using the diffuse glow filter. That one is wicked, especially in purple.

The biggest problem I had was getting the gradients to match up properly, but that is something that you have to tweak on your own. Or so it seems. Now, I want to figure out how to soften the edge of the highlight ellipse so the differently shaded sections of the orb look more natural, to me anyway.

So, I put each ellipse on it's own layer. It seemed to work for me fine that way. Is there a reason not to do this? As in, why put the highlight ellipse on the same layer as the orb itself in the first place?

Just curious as I always put individual objects and/or groups on their own layers as a way to save myself pain and torture if I mess up something while working. Also lets me completely wipe out a layer without messing up a large chunk of my project. Always have worked this way in Photoshop and tend to do this in Illustrator as well. Is this not the norm? As I said, I am a novice when it comes to Illustrator and completely self-taught, so I am not familiar with the way everyone else does things.

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Hi everyone.
I am new to illustrator but would really like to do this tutorial!
I have the same problem here as every one else.
I cant get the transparency work.
I have read all the comments and I have tried to select ony the inner circles but it will not let me.
I can only select one or the other.
I also wonder what the opacity should be set to?

Artoony

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