TeamPhotoshop
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Tutorials

Metal text that looks a bit softer than the usual.

Oct 18th 2005
Making metallic text:
1.
Start out with a new image and type your text out. Use black for this exercise. Once done go to layer/type/render layer. Duplicate this layer and hide it.

 2.
Next Ctrl+Click on the text layer to select it and then create a new layer Once you have created your new layer hit "D" on your keyboard to switch your palette colors to the default black and white. Now on the new layer select the linear gradient tool and fill from the top to the bottom while holding down your shift key to keep the angle straight.

 3.
Now with that layer still selected create another new layer Once you have created the new layer go to select/modify/contract and choose 2 as your value. Then go to select/feather and choose 1 as your value. Now with the selection still active fill this new layer with the linear gradient tool the same as before but this time go from the bottom to the top while holding down your shift key. Then click the move tool on your tool bar and using the arrow keys on your keyboard move this new layer up 2 pixels and to the left 2 pixels.

 4.
Now on the layer we were just working on (should be the top layer) go to filter/noise/add noise and use the settings of 30 for the amount, Uniform, and check the Monochromatic box. Then go to filter/blur/Gaussian blur and use a setting of 0.2 for the amount.
 5.
No go to layer directly beneath the top layer we were just working on and run the filter/noise/add noise and use a value of 15. Now go to the layer beneath that (should be the original text layer we made) and run the filter/blur/Guassian blur and use a value of 1.5 Then using the move tool and your keyboard arrows move that layer down 3 pixels and to the right 1 pixel. Duplicate this layer by dragging it into the create new layer box and then using the move tool and the arrows on your keyboard move it up 2 pixels.
 6.
Now go back to the very top layer and click the "preserve transparency" box for that layer and run the filter/blur/motion blur and choose a setting of 999 (that should be the most you can enter for a value). That is a pretty cool text right there but lets try one more thing.
 7.
Ok let's try this. Ctrl+Click on this layer and it should select your text. With the text selected create a new layer and go to edit/stroke and use a setting of 1 for the value, location=outside, opacity=100, and the mode should be normal (also make sure your foreground color is set to black). Once you have a new stroked outline go back to the layer we were working on and change the "layer mode" to color dodge. Pretty cool hey. We can leave it like this or do one more step.

 8.
If you are happy with the outcome you can stop here or continue for one more step. Ok with the layer we are working on (the layer set to color dodge) go ahead and run the filter/blur/Guassian blur with a setting of 3 for the amount. It looks a little blurred up top so lets clean that area up. Remember that layer we hid in the first step, well go back now and un-hide it and move it up towards the top to give the top area a sharper outline. Then just add a drop shadow to that layer if you desire and you are done =) If you want to change the color of your text just use the image/adjust/Hue/Saturation and check the color box and use the sliders to get your desired color.