Arched Cutout Type - Page 5
August 16, 2001
This effect combines gradients and Photoshop 6.0's Warp Text
feature to create an effect that is very popular in athletic
logos. We also used a combination of Layer Effects and, in
particular, Photoshop 6.0's ability to apply a gradient as a
stroke.
| HOW TO FIND
THE CHROME GRADIENT When you have the Gradient
tool, the Options Bar immediately displays the Gradient tool
options. If you click on the down-facing triangle immedi-ately to
the right of the gradient sample of your currently selected
gradient, a flyout Gradient Picker will appear with all the
gradient presets you have loaded. Now, how do you know which one
is the Chrome gradient? Well, if you have the Tool Tips
preference turned on (it s on by default) , just hold your cursor
over any gradient swatch and it s name will appear. If you ve
turned off Tool Tips (frankly, they drive me crazy, except for
finding gradients) , then you can choose to view your gradients
by name rather than by thumb-nails. You do that by clicking on
the right-facing triangle in the Gradient Picker to display a
pop-up menu where you can choose Text Only to display the
gradients by name. This makes finding the Chrome gradient a
snap. |
STEP ONE: Open an RGB document and create some type. Go under the
Layer menu, under Layer Style, and choose Inner Shadow (or choose
Inner Shadow from the Layer Style pop-up menu at the bottom of
the Layers palette it s the little icon). We ll use the default
settings, but don t click OK yet. Instead, in the list of Styles
on the left side of the dialog, choose Stroke.
STEP TWO: When the Stroke dialog box appears, change the Fill
Type to Gradient, then click the down-facing triangle next to the
gradient sample to reveal the Gradient Picker. Choose the Chrome
gradient. Don t click OK yet. Instead, in the list of Styles on
the left side of the dialog, choose Drop Shadow. Increase the
Opacity to 100% and click OK.
STEP THREE: Go under the Layer menu, under Type and choose Warp
Text (shortcut: You can also click the Warp Text icon up in the
Options Bar. It s on the right side of the bar; its icon has a
letter T followed by three dots [ T. . . ] with an arched line
below it). When the dialog box appears, choose Arch from the
Style pop-up menu. Decrease the Bend amount to + 20 and click OK.
STEP FOUR: After you click OK in the Warp Text dialog box, the
effect is essentially complete. In the example above, I filled
the background with 70% black just to enhance the effect. TIP:
Another nice thing about this effect is that we never had to
rasterize the type during this technique, which means the type is
still totally editable. To edit it, just use the Type tool to
highlight the text and then type in a new word.
Metal and Chrome Effects: Continued ... Still - Page 4
Photoshop 6 Down and Dirty Tricks
Star Wars Bevel - Page 6
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