reply to post by IAmD1
I wonder if maybe I'm doing optical illusions like that when I do web page graphics. I pretty much only do buttons and bars etc, but when I turn
them into "3d" buttons, I use tricks like that.
For example, when I make a splitter between 2 buttons, I use 2 or 3 lines of color. I'll do a white line, and black line. It ends up looking
like the black part is flat, and the white line blends in the the color/gradient of the button and creates and edge with a bit of light on the button
itself. Then sometimes I'll add a 3rd line after the black line if I want to give the black line more depth/space between buttons. It'll be a
light grey. It creates the same edge effect as the white line, but not as bright so it gives the light a "direction" effect.
It doesn't matter what colors I use for the buttons themselves, the effect stays the same. It's really nothing more than the 3 lines, but because
of the "bleeding" illusion, they always blend in perfectly. You don't really see it as a white line, you see it as a lighter color of the
button.
I never even thought of it as being an optical illusion.
[edit on 6/29/2009 by badmedia]