slicing help?

hey guys,

i am new to photoshop but have figured some stuff out. i made a banner for a website im doing that is a graphic/navigation bar.

i placed text on the graphic (for the navigation), applied some nice effects, then proceeded to individually slice each word so i could make the rollovers.

i go into image ready, try to create rollovers, but i run into problems. my navigation area is 2 rows of text. when i mouse over on a link in the top row, the whole top row goes into the over state. same problem with the bottom row. i dont know how to fix this. also if one could tell me how to change the color of text in a rollover that would be greatly appreciated to. i only am able to change the effects of the text, not the color.

if someone wants me to send them the psd. file to look at, i will gladly do that.

thanks.

When you set a rollover, whatever change you make affects the entire layer, not just the slice you've made. So if all your text is on one layer, and your rollover is supposed to make that text get a drop-shadow, even if your rollover is set for the first word, the entire layer will get that drop-shadow. You need to have every separate rollover piece and rollover state set up as a separate layer. Read up on using sets to help keep all those layers organized -- they're wonderful things.

That will also allow you to change color. Create one layer of the word "Foo" in black; copy the layer and change the color to white. Then you can use your rollover to switch between the two layers by cutting off their visibility.

ok, this is what i've done so far.


i took out all the text, then put each link in one by one. every link was a separate layer, to which i added a layer based slice.

next i went into image ready, where i added an over state to a link. in order to change anything i had to click on the blank style button in the styles panel.

then i tried to change the color of the text in the over state. but it also changes the text of the regular state as well and i cannot figure out how to get past this. i can change the effects in the over state, but the text color i can't change without changing it in the regular state as well.

Okay, it IS possible to still complete the rollovers and have them all on the same layer, it is just a lot harder. Here's is a 3 button menu with the menu options on the same layer. To do this you have to just make a copy of the layer that will be changed. Either way you have to copy layers to edit the change.

I've attached the psd to show you how it is sliced in Image Ready and how the roll-overs are effected in Image Ready (you will see the layers that are visible change depending on what state and slice you choose).



Rollover in ImageReady

Wow, I never knew this. This for this tip -- it'll save a lot of time.

I have to add that I really don't understand why people do not create their rollover buttons in Flash. That is really the fastest and easiest way and it allows for some really great animated buttons.