Does anyone know how to make Glass-Looking tubes?

Ok, perhaps my first post was worded poorly, but my question was as follows:

Does anyone know how to make CURVED plastic and/or glass-looking pipes?

In case I've been unclear, I am referring to those like the ones in the VB Skins Banner above, or those found on the left side of the TeamPhotoshop homepage (not to be confused with the Forum mainpage)

I looked all over google, using tons of keywords, including 3d, glass, plastic, tubes, pipes,curved, and so on.

If anyone has any shortcuts, or can point me in the direction of a good tutorial, it'd be much appreciated.

Help, anyone

Thanks.

Does ANYONE have any feedback?

I need to finish this site ASAP, and I could go another route with it's design, but for future reference, I'd like to know how, if at all, I can make them.

Any Help would be appreciated.

pank (the owner's) little dirty secret. This question has been asked a million times and no one was given a specific answer. Give it up or figure it out yourself. :(

Just aribrush them.

i need the exact same help :|

well, here is a tutorial that was posted in another thread:
tube tutorial

it's really easy for me to make glass ones, cause i bought a book called Adobe Photoshop Elements One Click Wow, and in it is a cd with all kinds of styles. you can make wooden ones, glass ones, plastic, and all sorts of other effects. if you would like, i can link a quick pic with the different tubes and the different styles.

i know you were probably hoping for a free way of doing it, but at least it is a step in the right direction.

I'm looking for a completely transparent glass tube. does anyone know how I coulde make one?????:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

Actually, I've been experimenting with trying to make some curved glass tubes. I am starting to get some good effects with it. After I really pack it down and get it looking really good, I'll make a tutorial on it. But I haven't quite worked everything out with it, but I'll be sure to let you know when it is done. My site is at http://www.m3talc0re.com/ I'll have it in the tutorials section, but the glass tube tut isn't there yet. You wanna talk to me, I am usually in a chat room on msn in the computers section in a room called !~WebDesign~!

It's also important to look at the gradient. A glossy tube may have more layers of highlight than a plastic tube will. So study the effects you like and make note of the actual gradations.

Try playing with Curves in PS, or at least different curve maps in the Layer Effects settings. Most of the settings ar made to do metal and plastic anyway, they just don't include them as presets probably because the want to sell you the 'advanced' photoshop book or something.

Okay, this is what I have so far. Keep in mind this is an early version and I still have some tweaking to do to it.

Edit: Okay, for some reason, the picture isn't showing. Check it here at http://www.killiangrant.com/metal/images/glass_tube_03.jpg