Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended

So you want to know how to make Chrome text in Photoshop? It is easy and I will show you how. First of all make a new image 600X600 with a black background with some white text on it, once you have the text the way you want it rasterize the layer (right click the text layer in the layers palette and choose Rasterize Layer). Then duplicate the text layer so you have two layers with the letters on it.

Control click on one of the layers with the letters to bring up its selection. Then go to your channels menu and save the selection as a new channel. Working on the newly created channel (Alpha 1) with the selection still active do a series of Gaussian blurs starting at 16 then 8,4,2 and finally one.

Now go back to your layers palette, working on the top layer go to your lightening effects (filters/render/lighting effects) I used the settings that you see below.

After the lightening effects your image will look like this. As you can see lighting effects is a great tool in Photoshop, thanks Adobe.

You will notice that after the lightening effects the image looks a little rough. We can fix that, just do a Gaussian blur of 2 pixels over it to smooth it out. You may not notice a difference here but trust me you will when you do it.

Still working on the top layer, we are going to adjust the curves to start to give the image its chrome look. Set your curves to the settings shown below.

After you have adjusted your curves your image will look like the one below. Which looks pretty cool, but I like it better after the last step.

The last thing to do is add the plastic wrap. You can find the plastic wrap filter under filters/artistic/plastic wrap. Set all the levels to their maximum.That is all for this Photoshop tutorial folks. Any questions, comments or feedback fill out the form below.

In this Photoshop tutorial I am going to teach you how to create liquid text. Liquid text created in Photoshop looks super cool and it is surprisingly easy to do. So why don’t we get started?

First of all we need to find an image that we are going to put our liquid text on. You want something with some pattern on it so that the liquid that you create can distort it. I used the wood grain image below (click for a much bigger version).

Liquid Text Step 1
Once you have your background image loaded up switch over to your channels palette and create a new channel. In this newly created channel you need to create your text. I used a font called Tree Frog, try and find something that is kind of liquidy looking. In this channel I also added a few water droplets to spice things up a bit. This is what my finished channel looks like.
Liquid Text Step 2
Now we need to create the displacement map that we are going to use when we run the glass filter in a few steps. Duplicated the channel that you created in the last step. Once you have the channel duplicated we need to blur it a bit. Go to Filters/Blur/Gaussian Blur, I used a value of 7 for the blur. The resulting channel should look like this.
Liquid Text Step 3
The glass filter, which we are about to use, requires a separate image to be used we need to duplicate this channel and save it as a standalone image. To do this click the little arrow on top of the channels window and from the menu that drops down choose “Duplicate Channel”. After you click duplicate channel another window will popup. From this window that pops up from the drop down menu choose new and press ok. The image you created in the channel will now popup in it’s own window. Save the image that pops up as a PSD file, it doesn’t matter where but remember what you called it so that you can find it later. I named mine displacementmap.psd.
Liquid Text Step 4
Switch back to the original image. Go back to your layers palette and duplicate your background image. In your layers palette you should now have a layer called background and one called background copy. Now lets break out the glass filter. The glass filter can be found by going to Filter/Distort/Glass. When you choose glass a new screen will popup, on this screen you need to load your displacementmap.psd as the texture. Press the little arrow next to the drop down menu and choose load and browse to wherever it was that you saved your image in the previous step. Fiddle with the Distortion and smoothness levels to taste. I used a Distortion level of 10 and a Smoothness level of 4, keep scaling at 100%. Your image should now look like this (click for bigger). Rename this layer, which is currently called “background copy” to “Glassy”.
Liquid Text Step 5
Now we need the original, unblurred copy of our text in the layers palette. To do this go back to your channels palette and ctrl-click the unblurred image which has your text and water drops on it to choose its selection. Go back to your layers palette, create a new layer between the background layer and the Glassy layer, and with the selection still active fill the selection with black. Your layers palette should now look like the image below.
Liquid Text Step 6
We need to join the text layer with the glass layer. To do this right click the Glassy layer and choose “Create Clipping Mask”. Your layers palette should now look like this.
Liquid Text Step 7
Now lets have some fun and really make this pop. We are going to be doing a few different layer styles. Select the layer that has your text on it (the middle layer) and open up your layer styles window, lets start with bevel and emboss (Layer/Layer Style/Bevel and Emboss).
For bevel and emboss I used the following settings:
Liquid Text Step 8

Now lets add a drop shadow. I used the following settings, for color, click around your background image until you find a color that you like.
Liquid Text Step 9

Next, lets add a bit of an outer glow to really make things stand out. Once again, here are the settings that I used.
Liquid Text Step 10

And finally lets add a bit of an inner glow.
Liquid Text Step 11

With all of the above layer styles feel free to experiment and try different things, there is no set way to do this, just play with the settings until you achieve a look that you like.

Here is the final result. Make sure you click the image on the right to see the full size version. Pretty nice huh?

This tutorial teaches you how to create nice looking snow effect on your text, you can use the effect on christmas themed graphics..

To start this tutorial, create a new document and fill the background with a dark color, this is so we can see the snow better, we can change the background color at the end.

Then use your type tool to type in your text.

Select the lasso tool.

Then draw your selections on top of your one of your letter. This will be your snow, so make it look runny/dripping from the top down.

Now create the same type of selection for the rest of your text, but do this by “adding” to the selection. To add to selection, in the selections’ menu bar, select the “Add to Selection” button.

This is the most time consuming part for this tutorial, take your time to create some nice dripping selections. If you accidentally make a bad selection, just press CTRL+Z to undo that step.

Switch to your Channels pallette (Windows-Channels) then create a new channel by clicking on the “new channel” icon at the bottom of the pallette.

Press “D” to reset your your colors. then select the Paint bucket tool, and fill in the selection with white.

Press CTRL+D to deselect your selection.

Then go to Filter » Blur » Guassian Blur
Radius: 3px

Now go to Image » Adjustments » Levels
Move your levels sliders so the image is sharp and smooth.

Switch back to your layer’s pallette, create a new layer.

Go to Select » Load Selection, in the load selection pannel, in the channel field, select Alpha 1.

Then fill in the selection (on the new layer) with white. Now you can press CTRL+D to deselect.

Add some shade to the snow, by adding a bevel emboss style to it.

So go ahead and add “Layer » Layer-Style » Bevel Emboss” to the snow layer.

Now, you can just use your own creativity to add layer styles/background color to your image, but if you want to create what i’ve done, apply the following layer styles to the original text layer.
(note: You may need to adjust a few things with the settings because these settings have different effects depending on the size of the text)

Inner Shadow
Bevel and Emboss
Gradient Overlay
Stroke

Now create a new layer in between your text layer and snow layer.

Press D to set your foreground color white, then select your brush tool and set the brush size to about 27, and set it’s hardness to about 70% (Set this in the “Brush” Pallette)

Now just paint underneath your text so it looks like snow ground.

Step 1

Setting the black point. Choose a Levels adjustment layer from the layers palette. We are now going to set the black and white points in the levels settings. In the Levels dialog box double click the Set Black Point tool as shown at left.

Step 2

Black point settings. You will see a color picker. Set everything to solid black and then change the setting under “B” to 5, as shown at left (this sets the black point to 95% black). Click OK.

Step 3

Setting the white point. Double click the Set White Point tool, which is the white eyedropper. In the color picker, set for pure white and then enter 95 into the “B” setting as shown. The white point is now set to 95% white.

Step 4

Finding shadows. We are now ready to perform the image correction. What we are going to do is click the Set Black Point tool in the darkest part of the image and the Set White Point tool in the lightest part. Locate the darkest part of the image. Hold down the Alt (Option on Mac) key and as you move the shadow slider to the right, the image should turn white. As you move the slider you will see some areas start to show through. This is the Black Point threshold, as shown at left. The areas that start to show are the darkest areas of the image.

Step 5

Adjusting the shadows.Take note of where the dark portions of the image are on the threshold and return the slider to the far left. Choose the Set Black Point tool and click on the darkest portion of the image in the main image window as shown at left. The image will be shifted and the area we clicked on will now be set to the 95% black that we selected earlier.

Step 6

Finding highlights. Hold down the Alt (Option on Mac) key and move the right slider to the left to reveal the whitest point of the image. The image will begin as black and the highlight areas will show through as shown in the illustration.

Step 7

Adjusting highlights. Choose the Set White Point Eyedropper tool from the Levels palette. Click on the whitest area of the image as shown at left, the lightness of the image will be adjusted to match.

Step 8

Setting the Gray point. The tonal qualities of the image will be looking much better now and the color cast will be reduced a bit. Now to totally remove the color cast. Choose the Set Gray Point eyedropper from the Levels dialog box. When we click on the image with this tool it will choose the selected area as the gray point of the image and balance all the color to match. Click on a portion of the image that should be a neutral gray, such as the small tower in the illustration. The colors will shift; if you are not happy, keep experimenting by clicking the Set Gray Point tool in different parts of the image.
When you are happy with the result, click OK to apply the Levels to the image. You have now learned how to use the Levels tool correctly. It may seem like a lot to do, but with some practice you can perform this entire correction in under a minute. The illustration below shows the final corrected image, a vast improvement from the original.

Step 1

Create a new document.

The size here is really important because it will determine the angle of the coil. In this example I used 600×600. Look at the 2 examples at the end of the tutorial, the variation was created on 800×600, notice that the angle is a little wider and less round. Personally I think I prefer the 800×600, but experiment with different sizes and see how you like the results.
Create a new layer and choose filter>sketch>halftone pattern.
Size =2 (use higher for a higher res image)
Push the contrast pretty high

Step 2

Now rotate the pattern by pressing cmd/ctrl+T for free transform and then pulling one of the corners around.
(You may enlarge the pattern to fill more of the page if you wish.)

Step 3

To give a more frayed look add some noise: filter>noise>add noise

Step 4

Make a selection with the rectangular marquee tool.
This will be a strand of rope

Step 5

Press Cmd/ctrl+J to copy the selection to a new layer.
Hide the layer underneath by clicking on the eye icon.
Position the rope near the center of the page

Step 6

Lets make it coil… filter>distort>polar coordinates and choose rectangular to polar.

Step 7

Te contrast between the black and white is too strong, lets tone it down a bit by choosing the levels control. Cmd/ctrl+L
Move the bottom slider (shown) to the right to tone down the shadows.

Step 8

Lets add some depth.
Press the little “f” in the layers palette to open the layer styles.
Choose inner shadow. Use the setting here

Also add a drop shadow as shown.

Step 9

Press ok and you will see a realistic loop of rope.

Duplicate the layer 4 or 5 times and stack them as shown, we now have the coil.

Step 10

Now for the end of the rope:
Show the pattern layer again and make a selection and copy it to a new layer just like we did before. (cmd/ctrl+J)

Step 11

Rotate the rope 90 deg.

Step 12

To make it “wiggle” filter>distort>shear
Click to add points and drag as shown.
Press ok

Step 13

Let’s blend it in.
Add a layer mask by clicking the new layer mask icon in the layers palette.

Step 14

Choose a large soft black brush and paint the very end of the rope and notice it will fade smoothly into the coil.

Step 15

To the left is our final rope with a little hue/saturation added to give it a hint of color.

Step 1

Start with an appropriate font.

Right click on the name on the layers pallett and select “rasterize type”

Step 2

Create a new custom blend similar to this.

Step 3

Ctrl/Cmd click on the layer to select it.

With the gradient tool set to linear draw the blend by dragging the gradient tool from top to bottom.

Step 4

Don’t deselect.

Create a new layer

Edit>stroke

Add a 2 pixel gray stroke to the “outside”

Step 5

Filters>blur>gaussian blur

Add a .08 gassian blur to the new layer with the outline on it.

Step 6

Merge the outline area with the graffiti layer by clicking Ctrl/Cmd+E or select “merge down”

Step 7

Select the layer again. Cmd/Ctrl+Click on the layer thumbnail.

Add another stroke, this time make it black and put it right on the graffiti layer.

Step 8

Looking good! Now for the shadow.
Duplicate the layer by dragging it to the new layer icon on the layers pallette.

Select the new layer and Fill with black.

Step 9

Drag the black layer behind the graffiti layer and move down and to the left a little bit.

Step 1

Create a new RGB Image of you desired size.

In the channels pallete click on new Channel. It will become alpha 1.

Step 2

Press “D” To reset the foreground and background colors. Filter>Render>Clouds

Step 3

This is what you will see in alpha 1. Still in the Channels palette, click on the RGB thumbnail. Switch to the layers pallete.

Step 4

Filter>Render>Lighting effects.

Set light to directional.

Select Alpha 1.

Click ok.

Step 5

Instant rock.

Step 6

Go to Hue/Saturation and add some color if you like.

Step 1

Select the gradient tool by pressing “G” Now set the tool to linear gradient in the Gradients Palette. I chose the copper preset. Take your mouse to the top left and click and drag to the bottom right.

Step 2

This has now created a gradient fill

Step 3

Filter>Add Noise your image should look grainy like this. Select Monocromatic so that strange colors are not added.

Step 4

Almost done, now go to filter>blur>motion blur. Set angle for 0 and distance to taste.

Step 5

A finished peice of brushed metal

Step 6

To change the color: Hue/Saturation, Ctrl/Cmd +U. Slide the Hue slider to get differant colors.
This is the method used to produce the trendy Brushed metal that is used on Apples branding.

Step 1

Start with the background. This is one I made using a couple of gradients.

Step 2

Add a new layer with your type on it.

Step 3

Duplicate your background layer. Press Ctrl/Cmd+J
Ctrl/Cmd click on your type layer to start the “marching ants”
Make sure your top background layer is active.
Press delete, you won’t see any difference, but you just cut a hole in your layer.
Click the eye icon next tothe type layer to hide it.

Step 4

click the “f” at the bottom od the layers pallette to add a layer style.

Go to bevel and emboss and fool around until you get a similar result. See your type appear just like magic.

Keep the layer style box open.

Step 5

Now go to drop shadow and add a similar setting.

Click ok to apply your effect.

Step 6

Now lets darken the background a bit for some added realism.

Select the bottom background layer.

Press Ctrl/Cmd+L to open the levels box

Drag the left most slider in a bit and the middle one to the right a bit to darken things up a tad.

Step 1

Create a new Document

• 50 x 50 Pixels
• RBG mode
• White background

Select the entire image area: Select>all

Choose Edit>Stroke

Enter a setting of 2 – inside

2

Choose the Line tool (Under the custom shape in the toolbar)

• 4 Pixels
• Black
• Choose the fill pixels option from the options bar
• Turn anti-aliasing OFF

Draw a horizontal line through the middle

Add another vertical line through the middle on the top half only (as shown)

With the marquee tool select the outside border at the top left and delete it (press the delete key)

Repeat for the right top as shown

3

We have now created a pattern for our bricks

Select>All

Edit Define Pattern and then name the pattern bricks

You can now close the bricks document, we dont need it anymore

Create a new Document – This is where we will use our pattern to create a wall

• 400 x 300 Pixels (You can use any size)
• RBG mode
• White background

Choose the channels palette and create a new alpha channel

4

Choose edit>Fill

Select pattern and find our bricks pattern

5

Here is the basic brick pattern applied to the channel.

Can you believe this is where some tutorials end? Not this one, lets make some texture and depth

6

We are going to round the corners of the bricks

Choose Filter>Blur>Gausian Blur

7

Now choose Image>Adjustments>Levels

Move the sliders closer to gether to create the hard edges, rounded corners

The shape is now complete – Depth time

8

Choose Filter>Gaussian blur

Blur it so that the edges are still visable but the bricks are kind of gray. This is going to nake the bricks look rounded in 3D space

Click OK and then DONT TOUCH ANYTHING!

9

Choose Edit>Fade (If you touched anything since the last step this is not avaliable)

Choose 80% and Linear Burn

Notice the blur will blend into the shape of the bricks

10

Fianl part of the texture preperation

Choose Filter>Noise>Add Noise

Use 12% or less, we just want a hint

11

Choose the layers palette and click on the background to return to the normal display thumbnail

Select 50% gray for the foreground and white for the background colors

Choose the linear gradient tool

Drag the gradient tool from the bottom to the top of the image to create a gradient

12

Choose Filter>Render>Lighting effects (Enter the settings shown)

Choose the Alpha 1 from texture channel to load our bricks texture

Select a spotlight and choose a brick red color from the top color picker

Click ok

13

We now have a pretty good brick texture, but lets take it futher…

Open the channels palette

Hold down the ctrl/Cmd key and click on the alpha 1 thumbnail – You should see a selection around the shapes of the bricks

14

Return to the layers palette

Make sure the Background is active by clicking on the thumbnail

With the selection (Bricks outline) still active Press Ctrl/Cmd + J -This will copy the bricks to a new layer

Choose the background and select Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation

Move the saturation slider to the left to reduce the color of the mortar to a nice gray

15

As a final touch add a drop shadow to the top layer

Choose the eraser tool and make the brush one of the “splatter” presets

Dab the edges of the bricks to erode them a little bit.

There you have your realistic bricks!!!!