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Super Crisp Font Anti-Aliasing In Photoshop With Sub-Pixel Hinting

06
Jan 2011

Working with font in Adobe Photoshop can be incredibly frustrating at times, especially when working with small font using anti-aliasing. Creating consistent letterforms and crisp characters can be a bit troublesome given the default anti-aliasing options.

To catch some of you up, anti-aliasing is a technique for rendering smooth fonts. This is best illustrated with a simple example:

Aliased font compared to Anti-Aliased font.

By adding semi-transparent pixels to a font, our type loses jagged edges found in aliased font, and create a more accurate representation of the actual letterform. Typically, anti-aliasing is handled by whatever program is displaying the font (ie: your browser and operating system determine how the font in this article is being displayed), but in Photoshop, the user determines how anti-aliasing is used.

Choose how font is anti-aliased in Photoshop.

The Problem

The problem for Photoshop users becomes this: When working with anti-aliased font in Photoshop, especially at small sizes, there simply aren’t enough pixels per character to render super crisp letterforms.

Physically speaking, there are not enough pixels. Since anti-aliasing will alter the opacity of pixels, smaller fonts sometimes won’t have enough room for both the 100% opaque pixels and the semi-transparent pixels. The result is blurry, fuzzy type.

In the example above, the “T” and “j” seem especially out of focus. There are very few 100% opaque pixels in several of the letters since there are not enough physical pixels to render into.

It may seem like your only option is to increase the font size so there are more pixels to use, but what if there was a way to actually add more physical pixels?

Adding More Physical Pixels With Sub-Pixels

Every pixel on your monitor is made up of 3 sub-pixels (some newer display technologies may actually have 4). Ignoring these 4-channel displays, every pixel on your monitor has a Red, Green, and Blue sub-pixel. You’re probably already very familiar with the concept that a pixel takes it’s overall color and brightness by combining the brightness of these 3 sub-pixels (and for some displays, such as plasma, the ability to completely turn off pixels for very deep blacks).

Smashing Magazine has explored this concept, and more regarding anti-aliasing in their post The Ails Of Typographic Anti-Aliasing.

Essentially, sub-pixel rendering allows us to use each sub-pixel of the monitor as a pixel in the letterform. The resulting character may have subtle color fringing, but also more desirable definition.

The difference is often subtle, but definitely perceivable. Unfortunately, there is no sub-pixel rendering anti-aliasing option in Adobe Photoshop.

Using Sub-Pixel Rendering In Photoshop

Photoshop smooths fonts by doing anti-aliasing in greyscale. We want photoshop to anti-alias font by blending different color channels though. To do this, we can manually create 3 separate text layers, each only showing a certain color channel (via advanced blending options), and then manually moving the layers barely to the right and left of each other. That’s awfully complex though.

Instead, Thomas Maier has created a Photoshop Action that will automatically do all of the work for you. The action takes your input type layer, duplicates it 3 times (while setting each layer to blend only a specific channel), and does all of the translating to simulate sub-pixel rendering.

To use the action, download it from Thomas’s website, and load it from Photoshop’s action window (Window → Actions). From the Actions tab, select “Load Actions” from the dropdown menu.

Load the Photoshop Action file that you downloaded from Thomas Maier’s website. Select the type layer you want to apply the action to. From the action tab, select the “subpixel-hinting” action, and click “Play selection“.

Some Notes

This technique is really most useful in creating concepts in Photoshop. When you’re working on a website layout in Photoshop, and want an accurate representation of what a font is going to look like in your content body, this action really will do a fantastic job displaying well defined type. Outside of conceptual design, there aren’t many applications for this.

Also, as Thomas notes, running this action will create 3 separate type layers. This means that whenever you want to edit type that’s been run through this action, you’ll have to edit that type 3 times. This can be simplified by duplicating the layer once, hiding one of the duplicate layers, and then running the action on the other. If you have to change something in the future, simply delete the 3 layers, make changes to the hidden layer, and run the action again.

Finally, if you want to learn more about antialiasing, sub-pixel rendering, and pixel hinting, you really should give The Ails of Typographic Anti-Aliasing a read.

Category: Tutorial Tags: AntiAliasing, Crisp, Font, Hinting, Photoshop, SubPixel, Super Leave a Comment

Create a 3D Industrial-style Download Icon in Photoshop

07
Nov 2010

admin

This tutorial teaches you how to create a unique 3D download folder icon with textures. Learn some useful techniques for creating more visually impressive 3D icons.

Materials Needed:

Grunge Texture

Step 1: Setting Up The Document

We’ll start with a canvas size of 512×512 pixel. Keep the background transparent. You can give it any title you want, I chose "Download" since it’s a download folder icon.

Fill (G) the first layer with #e6e6e6 and name it "Background" or "BG".

Icon Resolutions

Icons have standard resolution going in a pattern like so 512×512, 256×256, 128×128… Each time it will be divided or multiplied by 2. OSX can support up to 512×512 but Windows can only support up to 256×256.

Step 2: Laying The Foundation

Let’s start by drawing important sections of the icon to make sure it fills the space well. Create two groups called "Top" and "Bottom", placing "Top" above the other. Create a new layer inside "Top" and draw a rectangle in the bottom two thirds of the canvas using the Marquee Tool (M) and Fill it with #fae129. Name it "Face" for reference later. Center this layer by ctrl+A and clicking on the "Align horizontal center" button on the Tools Options Bar while the Move Tool (V) is active.

Create another layer inside the other group and draw a rectangle below the previous one and Fill it with this color #fbec93. Call this "Front". Create a new layer below and call it "Front Bottom". Draw a smaller rectangle below it with this color #5c5c5c.

Once you’re done, it’s a good practice to place guides at important areas. In this case it would be the edges of the drawing. Enable it by displaying Rulers ctrl+R.

Guides and Marquee Tool

Using guides can help you easily snap your drawings to the same place every time so it becomes more consistent and efficient. Marquee Tool is great for icons because it helps to create crisp edges.

Step 3: Starting From The Top

Go to the "Top" layer and enter Free Transform ctrl+T > Perspective then drag the top corners in. Apply the Layer Styles above.

Step 4: Drawing Stripes

Use the Line Tool (U) at 40px Weight to draw a diagonal line across the canvas. Then Duplicate ctrl+J it and move it evenly to the side so that it forms the following pattern. Try to space them evenly by using shift+arrow key, but it doesn’t matter that much. If you want to be precise, you can create a custom pattern (not covered in this tutorial).

Enter Free Transform and transform it, like below, by scaling and using Perspective. Delete the unwanted part by ctrl+clicking the thumbnail of "Face" and duplicate it ctrl+J, then deleting the previous layers. You can also use other techniques like simply Selecting Inverse ctrl+shift+I of the selection and deleting, or using layer mask. But the one I’m using also removes the part of the images which is not visible on canvas (outside the canvas area). Set the Blending mode to Multiply and Opacity to 80%.

Duplicating and transforming the stripes

Step 5: Adding Grunge

For this step you need the grunge pack I found on Tutorial9. The link is above. We need something a bit rusty and metallic so let’s go for "dirtygrungecement08". Import it to Photoshop and choose a small area, somewhere below the center is my favorite part. Make sure it’s big enough. Copy ctrl+C and paste ctrl+V it into the icon document.

We’ll prepare the texture by Desaturating ctrl+shift+U it then go to Levels ctrl+L and push the sliders inward, like above. This will be our stock texture for later use, so I placed it outside the group and called it "Texture Stock".

Use the selection (ctrl+click thumbnail) of "Face" and Duplicate the texture layer and bring it above that layer. Set Opacity to 10% and Blending mode to Multiply. You can hide the stock texture layer.

Step 6: Adding Details

Create a new layer and get the selection of "Face" then Fill it with white. Nudge it up by 4px the press delete. Nudge the image down by 2px. The reason why the edge needs to be so thick is because the icon is very big, so when scaled down the edge needs to be thick to be visible.

Use the Eraser Tool (E) at 0% Hardness and about 500px in diameter to erase both sides of the edge. Use the tip of the Eraser and keep the edge fully visible. You may need to zoom out and vary the Eraser size.

Edges

Adding edges, black or white, helps to add contrast between different areas and make the image more realistic.

Create a new layer and get the selection of "Face". Use a soft Brush of a varying diameter of 400px to brush around the sides with black and white. Press D to reset the foreground and background color to black and white, pressing X to swap the two colors. Bring down the Opacity to 20%.

Step 7: Styles For The Bottom

Go to "Front" layer in the "Bottom" group and apply the above Layer Styles. Then apply the following Layer Style to the "Front Bottom" layer.

Step 8: More Stripes

Create a new layer. Use the Marquee Tool (M) and draw the stripes with black. Zoom in to make sure the stripes are aligned. Use the selection of "Front " to remove excess stripes. Set Opacity to 60%.

Step 9: Shading and Textures

Create a new layer and Brush within the selection of "Front" at the sides with black. Make the right side darker than the left. Set Blending Mode to Overlay and Opacity to 40%.

Use the process I taught above to create a texture for "Front" with the stock texture. Set Opacity to 20% and Blending Mode to Overlay.

Create a new layer. Get the selection of "Front" and Fill it with black. Nudge the selection down by 2px and delete, then apply a 2px Gaussian Blur, Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Nudge it down by 1px and set Opacity to 20%.

This is a technique used to make edges pop and look more contrasting even though the effect is subtle.

Step 10: Creating The Hole

Create a new group called "Inside". Create a new layer inside and select the Line Tool (U) with 2px Weight and black in color. Draw a Diagonal line from one corner to the other end. When drawing the inside, make the corners intersect with the line.

Create a new layer and draw a rectangle with #b7b7b7 in the center. After this I’ve place two guides above and below the rectangle for convenience. Draw one triangle on the left using the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) and Fill it with #848484. Duplicate that layer and increase the Lightness by 80 ctrl+U. Flip it Horizontally by Free Transform > Flip Horizontal and place it on the right.

Name those layers according to their position i.e. "Left", "Center", "Right".

Copy the following Layer Styles to the three layers.

Apply the following Layer Style to "Center".

Step 11: Shading The Inside

Create a new layer and get the selection of all three previous layers. Do this by holding down Shift while getting a new selection. Use a black soft brush with 30px diameter and brush the two corners of the inside. Set Opacity to 10%.

Step 12: Adding Details

Create a new layer called "Left Corner". Get the selection of "Center" and Fill it with black. Nudge it 2px to the right and press delete. Apply a 2px Gaussian Blur and set Opacity to 30%. Create a new layer called "Right Corner" and do the same thing to get a white line on the right side. But this time use 1px Gaussian Blur and leave Opacity at 100%.

Get the selection of "Left, Center, Right" and Select Inverse ctrl+shift+I. Then use it to delete extra pixels on "Left Corner" and "Right Corner". From now on when I refer to the three layers, I’m referring to "Left, Center, Right".

Create a new layer and get the selection of the three layers then Fill it with white. Go Select > Modify > Contract and key in 3px and hit enter. Press delete and shift the selection down by 3px then delete again. Set Opacity to 50%.

Create a new layer and get the selection of the three layers then Fill it with black. Shift the selection up by 3px and delete. Nudge it down by 1px and set Opacity to 10%.

Create a new layer. Use the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) to draw the shape above and Fill it with black. Use the Blur Tool and brush the area as shown above using 100% Strength. Remove the area outside the three layers using the process we used above then set Opacity to 16%.

Step 13: Giving More Impact

Create a new layer and use the Polygon Tool (U) to draw an upside-down triangle. Resize and position it in the center like show above. Use the selection of the triangle to delete a portion (about 20px above) of the triangle. Duplicate it and move it about 40px away. Merge ctrl+E the layers together and set Opacity to 40%. Use the three layers to remove the area that is outside it.

Create a new layer, get the selection of the three layers and brush the top center with a soft white Brush at 200px diameter. Set Opacity to 20%.

Use the three layers selection to Duplicate the Texture Stock and put it above the previous layers we were working on. Set Blending Mode to Luminosity and Opacity to 5%.

Step 14: Drawing The Board

Create a group called "Board" and a new layer inside called "Board". Draw a Round Rectangle (U) with 10px radius in #f5e14b at the center. Then apply the following Layer Styles to it.

Create a new layer and get the selection of "Board". Select > Contract by 15px then Fill it with black. Contract it again by 10px and delete. Set Opacity to 80%.

Step 15: Refining The Board

Create a new layer and get the selection of the Board. Fill it with white then shift the selection down and right by 2px each. Delete and set Opacity to 60%. Create another layer and get the selection of the Board. Fill it with black then shift the selection up and left by 1px. Set Opacity to 40%.

Create a new layer for the arrow. Use the same process we used earlier to draw the arrows. Center it and set Opacity to 80%. Try to make it big so it will be visible on smaller resolution.

Create a new layer and get the selection of "Board". Use a soft Brush with black and white to paint the edges like above. Set Opacity to 20% and Blending Mode to Pin Light.

Shadings

Even on flat surface, applying a subtle shade can give the subject more interest.

Create a new layer and use the Pen Tool (P) to draw the shape above. Fill it by right-click > Fill Path with white. Then remove the area outside the board and set Opacity to 20% and Blending Mode to Soft Light,

Step 16: Grunge For The Board

Duplicate two Grunge texture from the stock and place one above the other. Set Blending Mode to Hard Light and Opacity to 10% for the bottom layer. Apply Filter > Stylize > Emboss for the second layer with 90 degree, 1px Height and 100% Amount. Set Blending Mode to Overlay and Opacity to 40%.

Nicer Textures

Using Emboss on textures can reduce the flatness of the surface.

Step 17: Drawing Screws

Create a new layer and draw one Ellipse (U) on the left with #d7d7d7. Duplicate and mirror it on the right then Merge ctrl+E the two layers together. Apply the Layer Styles below.

Create a new layer and Zoom (Z) in on one screw. Use either the Marquee Tool or Line Tool to draw the cross of 2px with black. Set the Opacity to 40%. Then create another layer and draw a 1px edge on the bottom right with white. Set Opacity to 80%.

Step 18: Creating The Shadow

Create a new layer. Get the selection of "Face" and Fill it with black. Bring the layer just above the background layer. Convert it to Smart Object and resize it like seen above. Name it "Small Shadow". Create another layer and do the same thing, except without resizing. Nudge it 10px to the right. Call it "Big Shadow".

Smart Objects

Using Smart Objects you can easily experiment with different transformation and filters without destroying the original copy.

Apply a 3px Gaussian Blur to "Small Shadow" and set Opacity to 70%. Apply a 7px Gaussian Blur to "Big Shadow" and set Opacity to 30%. Now you’re done!

Category: Tutorial Tags: Create, Download, Icon, Industrialstyle, Photoshop Leave a Comment

Custom Wood Texture in Adobe Photoshop

08
Sep 2010

admin

In this tutorial, I will show you a simple, yet creative, technique that results in a realistic wood texture. This tutorial was written for anyone with a basic understanding of Photoshop.

The Final Image

This is what we will be creating:

Step 1: Setting Up the Document

Create a new Photoshop Document (File>New) to be 1500 x 1500px.

Step 2: Adding Background Color

Select a dark brown color and Fill the canvas with it. For this image, I used #5a3222.

Step 3: Adding a New Layer

Create a new layer and name it ‘Grain’. Before we do anything to this layer, make sure your colors are reset to black and white.

Step 4: Rendering Clouds

Add some clouds to this layer by going to Filter>Render>Clouds.

Your image should resemble the following:

Step 5: Stretching It Out

Transform (Cmd/Ctrl+T) the height of the ‘Grain’ layer by 600%.

Step 6: Blurring It Up

Add a strong Motion Blur (Filter>Blur>Motion Blur) to the ‘Grain’ layer. I used a setting of 236px

Your image should now look like this:

Step 7: Posterizing Magic

This next step is what makes this texture possible. Go to Image>Adjustments>Posterize and set it to 25 Levels. You can see that our image has some good separations that we will use to create wood grain.

Step 8: Making the Grain

To get the wood grain to show, go to Filter>Stylize>Find Edges.

You’ll notice that we have a pattern that resembles wood grain, but it’s not quite there yet. Let’s darken this layer by adjusting its Levels (Ctrl/Cmd+L) :

Step 9: Adding Noise

We want to add some texture to the grain (as well as break it up). To do this, go to Filter>Noise>Add Noise and set the Amount to 65%.

Step 10: Blurring the Lines

Next, go to Filter>Blur>Motion Blur and give it the following settings:

Step 11: Setting Up for Depth

This next step is optional, but if you want to add some depth to the wood grain, then we need to set it up now. Go ahead and make a copy of the ‘Grain’ layer and rename it to ‘Specularity’ (this will become our specularity map). Position the layer as shown below (you can hide this layer since we wont need it just yet):

Specularity:

Those who have used 3D software will recognize this word. It simply refers to a specific kind of highlight—usually a very focused spot of light on an object. A Specularity map is just an image that defines where the specular highlights go.

Step 12: Finishing up the Wood

Set the Blending Mode of the ‘Grain’ layer to Multiply. At this point, you have a finished wood texture. However, we can continue from here and add some depth to the wood grain using the ‘Specularity’ layer.

Step 13: Working with Specularity

Now, let’s start to refine the ‘Specularity’ layer. First, hide the ‘Grain’ layer and make the ‘Specularity’ layer visible

Step 14: Refining the Specularity Map

We need to Invert (Ctrl/Cmd+I) the ‘Specularity’ layer. Once this is done, bring up the Levels (Ctrl/Cmd+L) and adjust them as follows (the result will be our specularity map):

Step 15: Applying the Specularity Map

Change the Blending Mode to ‘Screen’ and set this layer’s Opacity to 10%. Go ahead to unhide the ‘Grain’ layer.

Step 16: The Final Adjustment

To fully get the effect of the specularity map, nudge the ‘Specularity’ layer down and right a few pixels. This effect is subtle, but worth it!

Step 17: Finishing the Texture

If you want, you can add some color variation to your texture by selecting the ‘Background’ layer and using the Dodge and Burn tools as shown:

Your final image should resemble the following:

Feel free to adjust the color of the ‘Background’ layer to acheive the wood coloring of your choice.

Category: Tutorial Tags: Adobe, Custom, Photoshop, Texture, Wood Leave a Comment

Create a Set of Glossy Metallic Icons in Photoshop

29
Jun 2010

admin

This tutorial is going to teach you how to make a stylish, metallic Adobe Icon Set with a glossy finish.

Quick Nav:

Tutorial

Download the PSD (Source Files)

Step 1: Creating a New Document

We are going to create a new document with a standard resolution of 256px. But because our icon is quite short the height will be smaller.

Next, grab the Paint Bucket Tool (G), and fill the document with the following colour #F2F2F2. This is to make viewing easier.

Step 2: Setting The Base

Step 2a

Using the Ellipse Tool (U), draw an oval on a new layer as shown above. Let’s name this "Top".

Shape layers

Using the Shape layers instead of Fill pixels allows you to transform your circle as many times as you want without quality loss. This is great for experimenting.

Step 3: Going 3D

Stpe 3a

Step 3b

Select your Move Tool (V). While holding down the alt key, press the down arrow 20 times. This will determine the height of the icon. Now select the past duplicates and Merge (ctrl+E). Arrange that layer below the "Top" layer. Remember that there should be one extra layer named "Top". We’ll just name this new merged layer "3D" for readability.

Step 4: Layer Styles

Now we are going to apply some Layer Styles to the "Top" layer (the non-3D one). You can do this by double clicking on the layer.

You should end up with this:

Step 5: 3D Layer Styles

Now select the "3D" layer and apply the following Layer Styles.

Once you are done you should have this:

Step 6: Creating The Shadow

Create a new layer below the previous two layers and name it "Shadow". Get the selection of the "Top" layer by ctrl+clicking on the layer icon. Fill the selection with Black and Deselect (ctrl+D) it. Go to Filters>Blur>Gaussian Blur and use 5px. Set the Opacity to 75%. Using the Move Tool (V), shift the shadow down just below the body of the icon.

Step 7: Adding Polish

Create new layer right at the top. Get a White Brush with a Hardness of 0% and Master Diameter of 125px. Get the selection of the "3D" layer and Brush once at the corner. Set the Opacity to 85%.

Create another layer and get a Black Brush with a Hardness of 0% and a Master Diameter of 20px and Brush it downwards while holding Shift. Use Gaussian Blur with 8px. Now ctrl+click on the "3D" layer icon then ctrl+alt+click on the "Top" layer mask icon. Finally invert your selection with ctrl+shift+I and Delete the selection. Repeat the same process with a white Brush with 25px Master Diameter and set the Opacity to 70%.

Foreground & Background Colour

You can easily switch your background and foreground colour by pressing D. You can swap colours between the two by pressing X.

Step 8: Adding Glow

Create a new layer and name it "Glow". Get the selection of the "3D" layer and move it up by 7px. Fill the selection with the following colour: #6ab2f6. Before deselecting, shift the selection up by another 3px and press Delete. Bring down the Fill to 70%.

Now give it the following Layer Styles.

Get the selection of the current layer and create a new layer. Get a White Brush with 0% Hardness and 300px Diameter and and click once right in the center of the selection. Bring down the Opacity to 70%. Set the Blending Mode to Overlay.

Brush cursor

you can easily find the center of the Brush cursor by pressing Caps Lock. Or you can go to Edit>Preferences>Cursors and enable "Show Crosshair in Brush Tip".

Step 9: Adding Definition

Create a new layer and get the selection of the "3D" layer. Fill the selection with any colour you want. I chose black for easier reference. Bring the Fill to 0% and add the following Layer Styles.

Create another layer and get the selection of the “Top” layer. Shift it down by 4px and Fill it with black. Move the selection up by 2px and press Delete. Apply a 1px Gaussian Blur to it and set the Opacity to 10%.

Step 10: Making it Shine

Create a new layer with the Opacity of 75%. Get the selection of the “Top” layer and get a white Brush with 0% Hardness and 250px Diameter. Click once right at the edge of the selection.

Now create a new layer and get a Pen Tool (P). Draw it as seen below and right-click>Make Selection. Fill it with White. Set Opacity to 25% and Fill to 50%. Get the selection of "Top" layer and Invert Selection (ctrl+shift+I) then press Delete. Apply the following Layer Styles.

Repeat the same process except with a different Layer Style so that it looks like so.

Create a new layer with 80% Opacity. Click once with a White Brush on the edge of the selection of "Top" layer. It has 0% Hardness, 200px Diameter. Create another layer. With the same selection and same Brush with 70px Diameter, click once at the same spot.

With a new layer, get a selection of the "Top" layer and shift it down by 1px. Fill it with White and shift the selection up by 1px then press Delete. Apply Gaussian Blur with 1px.

Step 11: Creating The Face

Duplicate (ctrl+J) the "Top" layer, place it right at the top and rename it to "Inner". Transform (ctrl+T), and while pressing alt+shift, and shrink it as shown below. Then add the following Layer Styles.

Create a new layer and get the selection of "Inner" layer. Using a White Brush click once at the center, bottom edge of the selection. Set the Opacity to 40%.

Step 12: Creating Depth & Detail

Duplicate the "Inner" layer and place it right at the top. Clear the Layer Style by right-clicking on the layer then "Clear Layer Style". Apply the following Layer Styles to it.

Create a new layer and get the Gradient Tool. You can select this by first selecting the Fill Tool (G) then pressing Shift+G. Set the colours to Default (D). Select the Radial Gradient option. Get the selection of "Inner" layer and Fill it as shown, then set the Opacity to 20% and Blending Mode to Screen.

Step 12g

Create a new layer. Get the selection of "Inner" and nudge it down and right once each. Fill it with White then nudge it back to it’s original position and press Delete. Set the Opacity to 80%.

Create a new layer and while using the same selection, nudge it down by 4px. Fill it with White and nudgeit down another 1px then press Delete. Set the Opacity to 30%.

Now create a new layer and and grab the Pen Tool and draw the following shape. Notice the point of contact between the shining areas. Also apply the following Layer Styles with 15% Opacity and 50% Fill.

Step 13: Adding Alphabets

Create a new layer and select the Type Tool (T) with any colour. Use Arial as the font and set it to Bold and 98px. Any font is fine actually. Now type in "Ps" and place it in the center of the icon. Right-click on the layer and click Rasterize Type. Transform it and shorten it slightly. Right-click the bounding box and click Perspective. Squeeze the top in to make it look 3D. Later add the following Layer Styles with 0% Fill.

Step 14: Final Details

Create a new layer. Get the selection of the "Ps" layer and nudge it up and right once each. Fill it with White then shift the selection back and press Delete. Set the Opacity to 30%.

Finally create the last layer and get the selection of the "3D" layer. Fill it with White and apply Filter>Noise>Add Noise with Gaussian and Monochromatic enabled. Set the Blending Mode to Multiply and Opacity to 30%.

Now you are DONE! You can hide or delete the background if you want to export it as an icon. But it’s not over if you want to make a set. For now your icon should look something like this.

Step 15: Creating a Set

You can save this document and duplicate it. Open the new one and find for the layer called "Glow". Temporarily hide the layer right above it. Now go Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation or (ctrl+U) for layer "Glow" and adjust the Hue to whatever you like. Once you’re done, go to the Layer Style>Outer Glow and adjust the colour to whatever you like. Now you can un-hide your above layer.

Navigate to your font layer. Delete it and repeat the process I taught you to create another alphabet you want. Remember to change the above layer which is the edge shine. Repeat this step for as many other icons you want.

Download the PSD and Icon Set

Download the Icon Set

Category: Tutorial Tags: Create, Glossy, Icons, Metallic, Photoshop Leave a Comment

Elegant 3D Text Effect in Photoshop

08
Jun 2010

admin

In this tutorial you’ll learn how to create an elegant 3D Text effect using simple the shape tool, layer styles and paths.

Step 1: Setting Size

Make a new document. I’m choosing a standard desktop resolution of 1280×1024 so this can be used as a wallpaper.

Step 2:

Now press "U" and select the rectangle tool. Create a rectangle that is the size of the document. Name this rectangle layer "Gradient". Now apply a layer style with a gradient overlay using these colors #af1854, #f0d6c0 and #ffffff. Be sure the gradient is set to Radial.

Important

Make sure to turn on the "Shape Layer" instead of the default path layer when using the Rectangle Shape Tool.

Step 3:

Now transform the rectangle named "gradient" and increase it’s size from all sides. The gradient will stretch along with rectangle and the background will look like this:

Step 4:

Now click on type tool and write "Think" on a new layer. Name this layer "Think". I used Helvetica Neue 75 bold. Apply an inner glow with these settings:

Blend Mode: Multiply
Color – black
Opacity – 8%
Size – 13 px
Note: These values may change depending on the size of your font. Use the image below for reference.

The text will look like this:

Step 5: Creating 3D Text

Duplicate the text layer and position it behind "Think" layer. Name this layer "3D". To give it a 3D look, we need to extract all the highlighted 3D faces of text . Let’s start with letter "T".

Press "U" and create a rectangle of equal width above the letter "T". Don’t forget to turn on "shape layer". Fill this rectangle with any color and give opacity 20%.

Press "A" and select the direct selection tool. Select the upper two anchor points and align them by pressing the right arrow to give the top of your "T" a 3D look. Name this shape "T1".

Create other faces shown below using the same process. Name these T2 and T3.

Step 6: Giving Shadows

Select the face T1 and change it’s color to white. Hold Ctrl and click on layer T1 to get selection of layer. Create a new layer and name it "T1shadow". Select a brush, and using the color black, hardness 0% and size 50 px. Drag from left to right to give it depth.

Step 7:

Repeat step 5 & 6 to the rest of the characters. Give shadows to other letters carefully. If everything is done correctly, the result will look like this.

You may decide to apply your shadows differently. I’ve applied shadows that gives the text a bit of a soft glossy feel.

Step 8:

Select all layers except the background layer, group them and name the group "Think". Copy the group and merge all the layers of this group copy. This layer will be automatically named as "Think". Duplicate the Think layer and change the blending mode to multiply with 50% opacity.

Step 9:

To create a perfect shadow we need to establish a perspective viewport. Create a new document of size 900 x 600 px. Press ctrl + " to show the grid. Press print screen to copy the entire desktop. Open new document, paste the image and remove the area without the grid.

Copy this grid and paste it in our work document. Change it’s blending mode to multiply to see through it. Transform it to create a plane on which the shadow will fall.

Step 10: Shadowing

Duplicate the Think layer and fill it with black. Transform it to make it fall onto our grid.

Fill in empty spaces where we added extra faces on our characters with black and merge them with the think shadow layer. Now our shadow will look like this:

Step 11:

Apply a Gaussain Blur to our shadow layer "think shadow" and change it’s blending mode to multiply. Now add a layer mask to the “think shadow” layer to fade out the shadow using a gradient (or use a soft eraser).

Step 12:

Looking pretty good! Now let’s add some lighting effects. Press P to select the pen tool and create a Path like this.

Now select a brush of size of 5px with 100% hardness. Select White as your foreground color. Select the pen tool again—the path you drew before should still be there. Right click and select "stroke path" tool. Select Brush from drop down menu and turn on "stimulate pressure". You will get stroke like this:

Step 13:

Name the this stroke layer as "Wave 1" and duplicate the layer. Go to filter > Distort > Wave and apply filter with these settings:

This will give an extra wavy look to the stroke.

Step 14:

Create some more waves by following the steps 12 & 13 and arrange them around the text. Apply a light gussian blur to some waves to give them a sense of depth. If everything is done correctly then it will look like this:

Step 15:

As an optional step, we can add some stars to our text. Press "U" to select the custom shape tool and select 5 point star.

Make a new document of size 100 x 100 px and make a star with the 5 point star shape. Fill it with black and then ctrl + click the same layer to get selection of star. Go to Edit > Define Brush Preset, create the brush and name it star brush.

Step 16:

Press F5 to access the brush panel and apply these settings:

Brush tip shape – spacing 30%
Shape Dynemics – size jitter & angle jitter 100%
Scattering – 578% on both axis
Other Dynemics – opacity 100%.

Step 17:

Select this star brush and keep its size to 15 px. Set foreground color to "#ff62ad". Create another path with the pen tool, right click to select "stroke path". Turn on stimulate pressure and create a wave of stars. Name this new layer something like “Star Wave”.

Step 18:

Now we just need to hide this star wave layer from some places to make it seem as if it is passing through layers. I prefer to use a mask, and manually filling in the areas I want to hide.

Download the PSD (or source files)

Download the PSD

Category: Tutorial Tags: Effect, Elegant, Photoshop, Text Leave a Comment