PI6 Greatest Hits CD

This tutorial shows you how to make a cool "CD" that you can decorate with any image you choose. It is adapted with their kind permission from Maa and Allgood of Team-2001's fantastic PhotoShop CD tutorial.

The CD is made of several duplicated round path objects, to which gradient fills and fadeout masks are applied. Why not make your own "Greatest Hits" CD? 

If you have difficulty making the objects, you can download the UFO ZIP kit.

Select the Path Drawing tool. Click Shape and select Circle. Click in the Color box and select black. Mode=2D. Draw a large circle like this one. 

While the object is active, select Continue Draw from the Mode dropdown list. 

Draw a smaller circle roughly in the center of the larger circle.

Now we have to center this smaller path circle. But first, in the Attributes toolbar select 2D from the Mode dropdown list. You'll have a kind of black donut shape.

In the Attributes toolbar, click the Editing icon. The object will be replaced by two path outlines with square red control points. In the Attributes toolbar, click Align, Center.

In the Attributes toolbar, select 2D from the Mode dropdown list. You have made the basic CD shape. Note that the hole in the middle is now perfectly centered.

Right click and Duplicate. While the duplicate is active, right click and choose Properties. When the Object Properties dialog box opens, click the Size and Position tab and edit the size to 97%.

Click OK to close the Object Properties box. Now you have a large circle object, and one that is slightly smaller. Right click, Duplicate. Use the Pick tool to drag this duplicate out into the work space so that it opens in its own window. Save it to use later.

Click on the blue title bar for the CD image to make it active. Click one object, then Shift+Click the other object to to select both objects. Then right click, Align, Center both. 

Hit the space bar to deactivate the objects. With the Pick, click on the smaller object on top to make it active. Choose Effect, Magic Gradient. When the Gradient dialog box opens, click the Edit button to open the Palette Ramp Editor. Select Palette 92 and click OK to return to the Magic Gradient box. Select Mode 7 and click OK to fill the object with the gradient. Note that you could use any gradient you like, but one with strongly contrasting colors creates a shinier surface. Also note that filling with a Magic Gradient turns this Path object into an Image object.

Now you can see the top object. The black object on the bottom makes a dark rim around its edges. 

Select the large black object by clicking on it, or by clicking on its thumbnail in the Layer Manager. Right click, Duplicate. Right click on the duplicate and choose Properties. When the Object Properties dialog box opens, from the Size & Position tab, edit the size to 75%.

Hit Ctrl+Shift+A to select all objects, then right click, Align, Center Both.

Hit the space bar to deactivate the objects. Click on the new object at the top of the stack to select it. Switch to the Path Drawing tool. In the Attributes toolbar, click in the Color box and select white. You won't be able to see the open center of the CD anymore, if you are working on a white canvas, but it's still there.

Right click on the white object and choose Properties. When the Object Properties box opens, from the General tab, edit Transparency to 65%.

With the Pick or Selection tool, click the black object to make it active. Right Click, Duplicate. Right click, Properties. When the Object Properties box opens, from the Size & Position tab, edit the size to 30%. Hit Ctrl+Shift+A to select all objects, then right click, Align, Center Both.

Right click on the transparent white object to make it active, then right click, Duplicate. Right click, Properties. When the Object Properties dialog box opens, from the Size & Position tab, edit the size to 25%. From the General Tab, edit the Transparency to 0. Click OK. Now you have a small, solid white object. Hit Ctrl+Shift+A to select all objects. Right click, Align, Center Both.

Hit the space bar to deactivate all objects. Select the new white object at the top of the stack. Hit Ctrl+H to open the Fadeout dialog box. Select Fadeout and choose options as shown for a radial, two-color gradient fadeout. 

Now you've got a rounded and shaded looking center of the CD, instead of a flat white object.

Now you just have to make one more part, a narrow black ring for the center of the CD. Select the Outline Drawing tool. In the Attributes toolbar, click Shape and select Circle. Click in the Color box and select black. Click Width and select 1, and click Lines and select a solid line. Draw a small black circle to fit the middle of the CD. Hit Ctrl+Shift+A to select all objects, then right click, Align, Center Both. If you haven't been saving your objects as you've been working, this would be a good time to drag them over to the EasyPalette and save them to a Library.  To darken the gradient object, select its thumbnail in the Layer Manager, or click on it with the Pick tool. Choose Format, Style to open the Style dialog box. You can use any of these filters to tint the gradient or darken it. From the Light tab, I've selected Xenon. Select another Style filter if you prefer a different look, then click OK.

Note how the Style filter has changed the colors in the CD. Now it's shades of blue, green and purple, but the contrasts, which create the shine, are still there.

Now it's time to do the fun part -- adding the image to the CD. Open the image that you plan to use on the CD. Copy the image into the Clipboard, or if it's very large, make a selection and copy the selection. 

With the Pick tool, click on the blue title bar of the "spare" black object you created earlier. Click on the object to make it active. Select the Path Drawing tool. In the Attributes toolbar, choose Selection from the Mode dropdown list. This will make the object disappear. It will be replaced by a selection marquee. 

Choose Edit, Paste, Into Selection. The Clipboard contents will appear within the selection. They'll be "stuck" to your mouse until you click, so you can move the image around within the selection until you position it to your satisfaction. You don't want a big hole in the center of someone's face, so move the image so that at least part of a face shows on either side of the CD. 

When you're satisified with the positioning of the image within the selection, click to fix it in place. Copy it into the Clipboard.

Click on the blue title bar of the CD image to make it active, then paste the photo object into it. While this new object is active and on top of the stack, hit Ctrl+Shift+A to select all objects, then right click, Align, Center Both. Hit the space bar to deactivate the objects. Click the photo object with the Pick tool, or select its thumbnail in the Layer Manager. Now right click, Arrange,  Send Backwards, which puts it behind the transparent white object.

Right click and choose Properties. When the Object Properties dialog box opens, from the General tab, edit the Transparency of the photo object. Depending on how light or dark your photo is, compared to the gradient you've selected, you'll want a transparency somewhere between 25-50%. I'm using 35% in this tutorial.

One more object to add, and you're almost done! With the Pick tool, select the gradient object. Copy it into the Clipboard, then Edit, Paste, As Object. Choose Effect, Magic, Gradient to open the Magic Gradient dialog box. Select the radial gradient fill again. Click Edit to open the Palette Ramp Editor. This time select Palette 60 and click OK. When you're returned to the Magic Gradient dialog box, it will look like this:

Ctrl+Shift+A to select all objects, then right click, Align, Center Both. Hit the space bar to deactivate.

Select the new gradient object to make it active. Right click on the new object and choose Properties. From the Object Properties dialog box, General tab, edit the Transparency to 80%. Alternatively, leave the Transparency at 0, and select one of the interesting new Merge methods like Soft Light to blend the top object into the rest of the CD. Now that your CD is finished, right click, Select All Objects, then right click, Merge as Single Object. You can add some curved text using the Object, Wrap, Bend command. In this tutorial, I used the Georgia font, 16 pt, to type Geoffrey's Greatest Hits, and used a "Bending Amount" value of 35 (curves up). For the bottom text, I used a "Bending Amount" of -15 (curves down). I duplicated the text and made the duplicate black, then sent it down one layer so that it was behind the the lighter text. This helps the text to stand out better than shadows, which tend to look muddy on very small text images like this one.

Here's another idea for a "Greatest Hits" CD!

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