Glossy Liquid

[RogueAmerican]

How can I create a glossy liquid like this?

[Chuck Uebele]

That kind of looks like some 3D model of the liquid. Don't know where to get that model, but you could also do something like that with painting and layer styles. Use bevel & emboss to create the shadowing and highlights around the liquid, then use the brush tool to add other shadows and highlights away from the edge. In the attached photo. I also lowered the opacity of the liquid and made a displacement map for the thumb showing through the drop.

[Mylenium]

Have to disagree with Chuck. IMO this looks like it was painted to begin with. It's way too sloppy for a real 3D job - the highlights and reflections are all wrong. If at all 3D, it was pieced together from one of them "splash kits" that you can buy on stock content sites. that said, for such thin drip streaks layer styles work sufficiently - create a rounded splat, apply a big fat rounded bevel, paint some highlights and shadows on top. Larger areas will require a different approach, though or extremely refined painting skills at least...

Mylenium