This material creates a very simple, dense glass that can be used to refract an underlying image. It is important to remember that glass requires something to be underneath if it's going to look real. We've provided a source image you can use if you don't have anything available. This basic glass can be used as a basis for a number of transparent effects.

Load up the file 'ringmaskglass.psd'. This file contains the ring from which the selection set to create the material samples was generated. This version of the file contains a small image (the same one used to generate the preset) and a layer containing the ring mask itself.

If you loaded the ringmaskglass file, you can Ctrl/Cmd-Click the layer with the ring to select it. If you didn't, create a new selection for the bevel.

This time, make sure you make the Background layer active before you launch ShapeShifter. In order for the glass to refract anything, you need to be on a layer that has something in it. If you don't want to edit the background, duplicate that layer and select the duplicate. Either way, make sure there is an image on the layer you are editing.

When you launch ShapeShifter, you will be presented with either the default settings or the settings you had loaded last. The image on the layer you selected will appear in the preview. If it does not, leave the filter and make sure you have a layer with an image in it selected. If you wish, you can load in the 'Glassy' preset at this point to see the finished result.

The Environment panel is the most important panel to look at when creating glass effects. It is in this panel that we set up the transparency of the material, and make sure it refracts properly.

The first thing to do is make sure that the glass is not tinted. We want to be able to see the image underneath as it refracts, and the Mix Tinting Color slider can override that.

• Set the Mix Tinting Color slider to 0%. When this is done, it does not matter what the Tint Color thumbnail has selected, because no colour is applied.
• Set the surface type to Metal. If the surface type button indicates Plastic, click it to change it to Metal.

We're using a Metal surface here because Metal tends to keep some of the richness of the underlying colours. If we used a Plastic surface, the material would become white too quickly as we add highlights. This way we get to keep some of the original depth of colour.

Now that we have the Mix Tinting Color slider set to 0% we should have a completely transparent material. It is time to make it look a bit more like dense glass by adding some refraction.

• Set the Glass Refraction slider to 22%.

As you slide the slider, notice how the image shown under the bevel changes. The more you refract, the more distortion there will be. If you take the slider too far, and have only a small border in the layer around the selection you have made, you will find that the image wraps round and you end up refracting from the wrong edge. To solve this, either reduce the amount of refraction or increase the space around the selection you have made so that there is more to refract.

Glass is generally a smooth surface, and although you can create some interesting frosted glass with diffuse lights and colour tinting, we are trying to produce a highly polished look. To do this, we need to make sure that the lights are sharp highlighted, and we provide enough light to the bevel to make it shine.

The first thing to do is delete all of the existing lights.

• Select a light and press the Delete key. This deletes the light.
• When the light is deleted, another one is selected, so keep pressing Delete until they are all gone.
• Make sure the Ambient Glow slider is set to 0%.

The object should now be completely black, and it's time to add some new lights in. First, we'll add a generic light that will apply some light to the entire object. This time however we will boost the amount of light from it slightly by adding a highlight.

• Add a new light using the Add Light button.
• Set the Light Brightness to 82%, Highlight Sheen to 24%, and Highlight Spread to 99%.
• Make sure that the Highlight Type is Diffuse by clicking on the Sharp/Diffuse button.
• Place this light over the centre of the lighting preview.

This light casts light over the entire bevel, and because we have given it a very large diffuse highlight highlights most of the surface to give a boost to the overall brightness. Because the surface is of the Metal type, this brightness will not wash out the colour beneath.

Next, let's add a couple of specific highlight lights.

• Add a new light using the Add Light button.
• Set the Light Brightness to 58%, the Highlight Sheen to 50%, and the Highlight Spread to 93%. This gives us a bright and large highlighting light to create a nice sharp highlight.
• Make sure that the Highlight Type is Sharp by clicking on the Sharp/Diffuse button.
• Move this light to the top left of the lighting preview.
• With this light selected, add a new light using the Add Light button. The new light is a clone of the one that was selected.
• Set the Highlight Sheen to 87%, and the Highlight Spread to 66%.
• Move this light to the bottom right of the lighting preview.

This has given us a set of interesting highlights, a smaller one at the bottom right and a larger one at the top left. These highlights should not be overpowering the colour of the image beneath.

Because we applied this to a layer that already had something in it, we might want to cut it out if it needs to be on its own layer. To do this, make sure that the Shadow panel's Shadow Icon is set to Off (an empty eye) so that the selection set we used does not have a black halo after apply.

Once this is done, Apply the filter and you are returned to Photoshop where you can simply cut (or copy), as the selection set is still active, and paste to a new layer.

This basic glass is a good preset to use when creating transparent objects. By changing the properties of the light and tinting you can create other glassy effects. By adding Bumps to the surface you can break up the refraction of the underlying image and create 'bathroom window' type effects in which the glass creates stronger distortions.