Nine Variations on an EZ Text Effect
Submitted by: Wendy Walsh
The idea for all of these variations came from Green Glowing Metal text, submitted by Indiglo.
The examples were made as follows.
blue:
font= Albert 48 bold
color R=0 G=255 B=255
green:
font= Wide Latin 36 bold
color R=0 G=255 B=0
gold:
font= Merlin 48 bold
color R=255 G=255 B=0
VARIATION ONE:
Step One:
Set your image to 24 million colors.
Step Two:
Set your foreground color to white, your background color to a bright color. Dark colors do not work well. This will be the color of your text.
Step Three:
Set your text with anitalias and floating both checked. Works best with a fairly wide font. DO NOT DESELECT.
Step Four:
When the text is positioned, apply the cutout filter (Image/Special Effects/Cutout) with the settings as follows:
fill interior with color is unchecked
shadow color is the background color
opacity = 255
blur = 36
vertical and horizontal offset both -3
Step Five:
Apply a hot wax coating (Image/Special Effects/Hot Wax Coating).
For all the other variations, follow the same steps as above with only the changes noted below.
VARIATION TWO
After step five, apply the cutout filter one more time with the same settings as above.
VARIATION THREE
At step five, apply the hot wax coating twice.
VARIATION FOUR
At step five, apply the hot wax coating twice.
After step five, apply the cutout filter one more time with the same settings as above.
VARIATION FIVE
At step four apply the cutout filter twice instead of once, with the same settings.
VARIATION SIX
At step four apply the cutout filter twice instead of once, with the same settings.
After step five, apply the cutout filter one more time with the same settings as above.
VARIATION SEVEN
At step four apply the cutout filter twice instead of once, with the same settings.
At step five, apply the hotwax coating twice.
VARIATION EIGHT
At step four apply the cutout filter twice instead of once, with the same settings.
At step five, apply the hotwax coating twice.
After step five, apply the cutout filter one more time with the same settings as above.
VARIATION NINE
Between steps three and four, fill your text with the background color (fill tool, tolerance=200, right mouse button).
At step four, change the settings of the cutout filter as follows:
- fill interior with color is unchecked
- shadow color is WHITE
- opacity = 150
- blur = 36
- vertical and horizontal offset both -3
I'm sure there are many more possible variations on this simple idea. Some things to try out:
- Change the direction of the highlights and shadows by changing the cutout offsets to 3 instead of -3.
- To get a more intense color, apply more than 2 cutouts before and/or after the hot wax.
- For a darker effect, you can try more than 2 coatings of hot wax- but you will have to use a VERY light background color.
- Experiment and have fun!
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