Text Quickie - WireFrame 3D Text

by Steve Tolley

This is a quick text effect tutorial on how to make a 3D wireframe effect, I will show you the basic principle of how to get the effect and will then leave you to experiment with the other letters,

What We Are Going To Achieve

Step 1 - New Document

As always create a new document any size thats suitable for you, and fill with a colour that you want (White works better for this effect)

Step 2 - Writing The Letter

First of all pick the text tool and make sure that your foreground/text colour is the same as your background so it is basically invisible, so dont worry that you dont see the letter but make sure that is in the layers tab,

Step 3 - Adding The Stroke (Blending Options)

We need to add a stroke to the letter so there is an outline to the letter, so we need to open up the blending options menu (double click the layer in the layers tab) and add the following stroke option:

Now you need to make the letter invisible but keep the outline so in the layers tab set the fill to 0% this means that the inner part of the letter is made invisible but the stroke it kept as it is:

When these 2 settings have been applied then you will have an outcome like below:

Step 4 - Create the 3D Effect

Now to make the 3D effect you need to make sure that you have the text layer selected and then press CTRL + J to duplicate the layer with the duplicated layer selected then press the down arrow and the right arrow a few times (down, right, down, right etc…) until you have something similar to below:

Now that we have this done we need to move onto the final step of the first letter:

Step 5 - Connecting The Two Layers

In order to make the text look 3D we need to connect all of the corners together, to do this we use the pen tool and make sure the top toolbar looks like this:

And also make sure that you foreground colour is the same as the stroke colour (#DDDDDD) and then create a new layer (CTRL + SHIFT + N) and then draw a line like below:

Top Left:

And then right click and choose “Stroke Path” this will make the path into a straight line:

Press CTRL + SHIFT + H to hide the path so that you have the same as above, now do the same on all of the other corners, you can do it all on one layer all you can make a seperate layer for each new path line so that they can be moved easier after, when you are done connecting all of the lines then you will have something similar to below:

So using these basic principles you can apply them to other letters and create cool words and a abit of difference to your text, using these steps I made the below:

It would be cool to see what you come up with so feel free to upload them to the Photoshop Tutorials Flickr Group and leave me a comment to say when you have uploaded one so people can comment on them,

And as always if you have any problems with this tutorial then don’t hesitate to leave me a comment or email me at: stevie489@googlemail.com and I will help you as much as I can…

Category : Text Effects
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Paint Splodge Text

by Steve Tolley

This is just a quick text effect tutorial, This will show you how to simply create a paint splodge looking text using blending options and the pen tool it will take only around 5 minutes to complete (Depends how much detail you add).

What We Are Going To Achieve

Step 1 - New Document

First of all open up a new document around the size 500 x 500 and fill with a radial gradient from #102f40 to black (#000000) so you are left with something like below:

Step 2 - Add The Text

For this tutorial I am just doing a single letter so I can show you the techniques, but this can be applied to any letter of the alphabet, therefore I am going to use the letter “P” so simply pick the colour that you want the paint to be and write your text in that colour:

Step 3 - Add The Splodge

Now you can draw the paint splodge simply pick up the pen tool and draw what resembles a splodge of paint, not every splodge will look the same so just experiment and play around until you get something you are happy with (make sure it is filled with the same colour as the letter), when done you should have something similar to below (can be used as a reference)

Step 4 - Add Blending Options To Both

We shall add blending options to the text first so double click the layer in the layers tab which will bring up the blending options menu, when this is open use the settings as shown below:

Bevel And Emboss:

With this applied right click on the Text layer and choose “Copy Layer Style” and then right click on the Splodge layer and choose “Paste Layer Style” as shown below:

This will simply copy and paste the blending options to the splodge shape when this is done you will have some text and a splodge that resembles that shown below:

Step 5 - Positioning And Adding Details

Now you need to position the splodge so that it looks like it is part of the text so just simply play around with moving it around until you get something you are happy with:

With it now in position you are nearly finished all you need to do now is add some detail, like some drips of paint and extra splodges on the floor, this is all simple to do but just play around with the pen tool creating cool shapes and then don’t forget to keep pasting the blending options onto each new splodge you do, and have fun experimenting, when you are done you will have something that resembles my finished product:

And as always if you have any problems with this tutorial then don’t hesitate to leave me a comment or email me at: stevie489@googlemail.com and I will help you as much as I can…

Category : Text Effects
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15 Of The All Time Best Text Effects

by Steve Tolley

This article is rammed full of the 15 BEST text effects around at the minute, it has taken me a while to filter out the best text effects from the not so great ones, even though there are alot of fantastic ones out there they can’t quite compete with the quality of these ones, and yes the majority are from sites such as PSDTuts and Tutorial9 as these do produce tutorials of the highest quality so here we go…

1. Super Natural

A fantastic text effect tutorial to start us off with, this tutorial takes advantage of the Wave Distortion filter in Photoshop to give an eerie supernatural text effect.

2. Flaming Meteor Effect

This tutorial takes text effects one step further and makes it look as though your text is truly falling from the sky in a ball of flames, this tutorial was written by Fabio who also owns Abduzeedo which I must say is a fantastic website for similar effects.

3. Transparent Glass

This tutorial shows us how to simply but effectively create a transparent glass effect for our text which finishes up to be a very realistic outcome, what else do you expect from PSDTuts?

4. Smooth Glass

This tutorial is similar to the previous one in the list but then again the end results are very different, but another great tutorial blending together rather simple techniques to bring such a professional and realistic outcome.

5. Using Light And Shade To Bring Text To Life

This tutorial is not as such a text effect but how to bring your text to life by using light and shade and again the outcome is amazingly realistic.

6. Light Burst

This tutorial has been around for quite a while now and has been very popular but is still classed in my eyes as one of the best text effects as the simplicity coupled with the great outcome makes it stand out from the rest.

7. Earth

A fantastic text effect again from PSDTuts this shows us how we can use actual images placed on top of the text to create a fantastic end result, this is also one of my favourite tutorials because of it’s realism.

8. Dramatic Fire

This fire effect makes this stand out from the rest simply for the fact of  how well it is implemented into the text and how an image of fire can be used to make a truly realistic outcome compared to computer generated fire.

9. Snow N’ Ice

Another favourite of mine because of the cartoony effect this gives, I can see this being used in a poster for a wintery cartoon/movie for instance Ice Age and a result that can be gained so simply.

10. 3D Typographic

An effect which has also been around for a while but again still one of the best out there, this combines the use of a 3D program called Xara 3D, this creates letters with realistic lighting and shadow, these letters are  then imported into Photoshop to make them look as good as they do.

11. Ghost

A not so well known tutorial but one that I think results in a fantastically creepy ghost effect which can be implemented into many scary designs/images

12. MoonShine

A relatively new text effect in the tutorial world but one that stands out from the rest simply due to the fact of the professional looking outcome and simple techniques that can be learned from this tutorial.

13. Colourful Glowing Text

Again another new text effect but one that is explained so well, from Tutorial9 which is a fantastic website full of inspiring tutorials and great effects.

14. Grunge

A great effect in this tutorial showing how to create a fantastic grunge style text effect using textures and layer styles from a great website that looks to be going to same way PSDTuts has gone with it’s popularity.

15. Layered Glowing Effect

And to finish another fantastic tutorial from PSDTuts this effect uses multiple layers to create a truly spectacular glowing effect which I can see myself using in future projects.

Summary

To summarise as you can see all of these tutorials are of the highest quality and A LOT can be learned from them which can then be used in your own projects/designs, I would like to say a big thanks to all of those people who have taken their time to create such fantastic inspiring tutorials and hope that my tutorials can one day match the quality and standard of the ones shown in this article.

Category : Articles, Text Effects
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Text Masking An Image

by Steve Tolley

This tutorial shows you how to use the “Horizontal Type Mask Tool” to cut the text out of an image so that you are left with very unique text, this tutorial can be applied to any image to get a really nice effect.

Step 1: First of all you need to get any image that you want and open it up in Photoshop (I used this image for this tutorial)

Step 2: Now click and hold on the text tool until the options appear below, and choose “Horizontal Type Mask Tool”

Step 3: Now just write the text you want as you normally would so it looks like below, when done press the tick button on the top toolbar and you will get a text outline selection:

Step 4: Now simply press CTRL + Shift + I and press delete this will delete everything outside of the written Type mask and just leave you with the finished result as shown below:

This can be used on any image and the result can be implemented into any future designs or projects,

If you have had any problems with this tutorial and would like some help then don’t hesitate to contact me either by leaving a comment below or e-mailing me at: stevie489@googlemail.com

Category : Text Effects
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How To Make 3D Perspective Text

by Steve Tolley

This tutorial shows you some basic techniques using different blending options to get a 3D text that is in perspective, with a nice end result which really stands out.

Step 1: First of all create a new document whatever size you like (for this I have used size 500 x 500)

Step 2: Select the gradient tool from the left hand toolbar and set the gradient to the colours and settings as shown below (or you can use your own colours, whichever suits you more)

Step 3: With the gradient set choose the text tool and write out the text you want, for best results use a thicker text (I used Century Gothic, set to bold) and then resize to whatever size you need.

Step 4: Right click on the text layer and choose Rasterize Layer which will convert the text to pixels, now click on one of the little boxes that surround the text like below:

Step 5: Now right click on the text and it should bring up a menu like below, from this choose perspective:

Step 6: Click and hold on the bottom right corner and drag downwards as shown below:

Step 7: When done click the tick button on the top toolbar to apply changes and now simply press CTRL + J (this will duplicate the layer) and press the right arrow once, repeat this as many times as you like or until it looks something like below (I did it 12 times), so this is the order…
CTRL + J, ->,
CTRL + J, ->,
etc…

Result:

Step 8: Now get the first layer of text again and drag to the top of all the other layers so it is the top layer, this is where we add some colour to the text, double click on the original layer and this will bring up the “Blending Options Menu” when this appears use the settings as shown below: (alternatively you can use your own colours)

Inner Glow:

Gradient Overlay:

Stroke:

Step 9: Now select all of the other duplicated layers (not the original or the background) and right click and choose “Merge Layers” this will put all of the chosen layers into just one layer, now double click on the merged layer which will again bring up the “Blending Options” now use the settings as below or again you can use your own colours:

Gradient Overlay:

Stroke:

Step 10: To finish this text off simply create a new layer above all of the other layers and choose the “elliptical marquee tool” and make a selection like the one below:

Step 11: Now fill this selection in with white, and now hold CTRL and click in the box next to the layer name on the original layer (this should select the outline of the text) now press CTRL + Shift + I, this will invert the selection and with the new layer still selected press delete this should delete the white that is not wanted and leave you with something similar to below:

Now set the new layer opacity to 35% using the bar on the top of the layers window which says “Opacity” and then you will have your finished text 3D text perspective:

Finished Result:

If you have had any problems with this tutorial and would like some help then don’t hesitate to contact me either by leaving a comment below or e-mailing me at: stevie489@googlemail.com

Category : Text Effects
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3 Comm

Making Text Follow A Path

by Steve Tolley


A very simple 3 step method to make normal Text follow a drawn path, can be used in many situations with good results.

Step 1: First open up a new document (any size you want) and simply choose the pen tool and draw the desired path by clicking the start point and then clicking again where you want the line to bend (to bend click and drag in any direction to the desired size) do this until you are happy with the shape of the line.

Step 2: Now simply choose the Text tool and move the cursor to the start of your line and when the cursor looks like the one shown below click and then start typing, if done right the text should follow the line/path you have drawn.

And there you have it, Text that follows a Path:

Step 3: Now apply this method to any image to get a good effect that really stands out:

If you have had any problems with this tutorial and would like some help then don’t hesitate to contact me either by leaving a comment below or e-mailing me at: stevie489@googlemail.com

Category : The Basics
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3 Comm

A Simple Text Reflection

by Steve Tolley

This tutorial is a simple tutorial that explains how to get a realistic looking reflection when using text or images, simple to follow and easy to understand

Step 1: Open up Photoshop and create a new document with the sizes set to around 500 x 500 and the background should be set to black

Step 2: Choose the text tool and write out whatever the text you want to reflect is, here I have chosen the word “Photoshop” as it is relevant to what I am doing.

Step 3: Now press the tick on the top toolbar when you have finished typing and then press CTRL+J this then duplicates the text layer so that there are now two

Step 4: With the duplicated layer selected go to Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical this will make the text upside down, now drag it below the original text so all the letters line up, and the press the “Add New Layer Mask” button under the layers palette as shown below:

Step 5: With the layer mask selected choose the gradient tool and then click above the “O” and hold Shift and drag downwards to a desired position (the more you drag the weaker the reflection, so it is better if you don’t drag a long way down this allows you to get a more realistic looking reflection)

Step 6: After you have found the gradient that you like best you are done and should end up with something like this image below:

If you have had any problems with this tutorial and would like some help then don’t hesitate to contact me either by leaving a comment below or e-mailing me at: stevie489@googlemail.com

Category : Text Effects
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7 Comm

Creating "Firey" Text In Photoshop

by Steve Tolley

This tutorial will show you how to create a firey text style using very simple techniques took me around 10 minutes to complete.

Step 1: First of all open up a new Photoshop document with the sizes: 600 width and 600 height as shown below:

Step 2: Next fill the background Black using the fill tool (Paint bucket)

Step 3: Now we need to add the text I am going to use the text “Photoshop” but you can use whatever text you want to.

Step 4: Now you need to duplicate the layer with the text on it (Ctrl + J) when this is done we need to hide the copied layer as we do not need it at the minute to do this click the “eye” next to the layer which will hide it for now.

Step 5: Now rasterize the original text layer to do this right click the layer and click on “rasterize type” this will change it to pixels instead of text.

Step 6: Next select both the background layer and the original text layer and right click and press “Merge visible” as shown below:

Step 7: Now we need to rotate the canvas in order to successfully the next filter, to do this click, Image > Rotate Canvas > 90 CW and this should rotate the canvas to the right.

Step 8: Now we need to add the wind effect to do this click Filter > Stylize > Wind when the menu pops up choose from the left and press ok, when it applies it press Ctrl + F twice this will repeat the process twice and give you bigger flames:

Step 8: When the wind has been applied then rotate the canvas back to normal to do this simply go to Image > Rotate Canvas > 90 CWW which should rotate it back to the original way:

Step 9: Next we need to add a gaussian blur to do this go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set it to blur 2 pixels which should be ideal for the amount we need:

Step 10: Now go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation this will change the colour of the flames so they look firey, set it to the settings as shown below (make sure colorize is ticked) and then press ok:

Step 11: Now duplicate this layer again by pressing Ctrl + J and then set it to Color Dodge as shown below and then right click on the new layer and click “merge down”:

Step 12: Now with the original layer still chosen go Filter > Liquify here is where we make the flames of the fire, simply set the brush size to whatever you want and make the flames by clicking and dragging slightly left to right all the way up on each flame so that you get the result you want, this is where you can customize the size of the flames you want, as mine is shown below:

Step 13: Now unhide the copied text layer from earlier and right click and choose “blending options” this will open up a box and when this opens use the settings as shown below, when done click ok:

Step 14: And there you go a completed firey text effect:

If you had any problems with this tutorial then please dont hesitate to contact me by either leaving me a comment or send me an email to stevie489@googlemail.com

Category : Text Effects
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Creating 3D Text in Photoshop

by Steve Tolley

This tutorial is a simple but effective way to create 3D text using only Photoshop. Easy to follow tutorial with alot of detail, outcome is good and cathces the eye well!

Step 1: First of all open up a new Photoshop document with the sizes: 600 width and 600 height as shown below:

Step 2: Next fill the background Black using the fill tool (Paint bucket)

Step 3: Now we need to add the text I am going to use the text “Photoshop” but you can use whatever text you want to.

Step 4: Next we need to “Bulge” the text using the “Text Warp” tool as highlighted below:

Step 5: We then select bulge from the menu that appears and use the below settings:

And we should get the result as shown below:

Step 6: Next we need to duplicate the text layer so that we have two layers of text, but we need to hide the copied layer because we do not need to use that at the moment (so click the “eye” next to the layer which will hide it) now we need to group the visible layers so that the original text layer and the background layer are on one layer, to do this you need to go to Layer > Merge Visible alternatively you can press “Ctrl+Shift+E” which will do the same job. So that you are left with something that looks like the image below:

Step 7: With the Original layer (Background layer) selected go to Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates and use the settings below:

Then click OK which will give you something that looks like the below image:

Step 8: Now go to Image > Rotate Canvas > 90 CW this will then rotate the canvas, then you need to go to Filter > Stylize > Wind and use the settings as shown in the below image:

After you press ok press Ctrl+F ten times which will repeat the wind filter ten times to give you something which looks like this:

Step 9: Now you need to rotate the canvas back to how it was before so go to Image > Rotate Canvas > 90 CCW which will give make the canvas rotate to its original position and now we need to reverse the Polar Coordinates so that it is how it was, so go to Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates and choose Rectangular To Polar which will reverse the one that you did before, and you should end up with something like the below image (if not then check back to make sure that you have done everything ok up to now)

Step 10: Now comes the stage where we need to unhide the copied text layer so click where the eye was and it should reappear (but if you did the text in white you won’t be able to see it, so just change the colour of the text by highlighting it and changing the colour) and you should now see it like below:

Step 11: Now all we need to do to finish is add a few “Blending Options” to access them either double click on the layer itself or go to Layer > Layer Style > Blending Options once the window opens up use the below setting as shown and you should get the final outcome (I chose red but you can use any colour that you want to)

If you do all of this correctly then you should get something that looks like the image below:

Thank you for reading and I hope that this tutorial has helped you, if you have any problems with this then don’t hesitate to contact me, either leave a comment or send me an email to stevie489@googlemail.com and I will respond ASAP.

Category : Text Effects
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