1. First create a new document by pressing Ctrl+N. I set the dimensions 200 by 150 pixels, and the contents transparent for this tutorial, but feel free to change the dimensions according to your needs.

2. Set the foreground color to light gray. You can use the swatches palette (Window > Show Swatches) for quick color picking. Then press Shift+F5, and click OK to fill the workspace with the foreground color.

3. Change the foreground color to a slightly darker light gray. Select the type tool by pressing T. Click on the workspace and type something.

   Look at the Layers palette. Right click on the T icon displayed on the text layer, and select Render Layer from the pop-up menu to convert this layer into a normal layer. If you are using Photoshop 6.0, the palette will look slightly different: right click on the layer, and choose Rasterize from the pop-up menu to convert it.

   

4. Drag the layer to the new layer icon () found at the bottom of the Layers palette to duplicate the layer. The newly created layer's name should be elevated copy (or 'whatever you wrote' copy). Click on layer elevated (not copy), and then Ctrl+Click on the layer to select the layer transparency. Set the foreground color to a medium shade of gray. Press Shift+F5 to bring up the Fill dialog box, and click on Ok to fill the selection with the foreground color.

   Now press Ctrl+D to deselect the selection, and select Edit > Stroke. Use these settings:

   Width: 5
   Location: Center
   Blending: 100%
   Mode: Normal

   You can increase the value of the width field if your type is big. The value of 5 pixels used here is ideal for a 48 point type at 72 DPI.

5. Select the Move tool by pressing V. Use the cursor keys to move the dark-gray area until it looks like the figure on the left. As you see, the area we have just moved will be the elevation.

6. Select the marquee tool by pressing M. Click on layer elevated copy to select it. Then Ctrl+Click on the layer to select its transparency. Use the cursor keys to move the selection 2 pixels to up-left of its original position (press the left and up cursors keys twice). Now, Ctrl+Alt click on the layer to subtract this selection from the original one. Move back the subtracted selection to its original place. This time use the right and down keys twice. Set the foreground color to white, and press Shift+F5 to bring the Fill dialog; click on OK. Our highlights are done now.

   You can stop at this step, and use the resulting type as is. But if you want to have a more 3-D looking type complete with reflections, continue reading.

7. Ctrl+Click on layer elevated to select its transparency, and use Select > Save Selection to save the selection to a channel. Click on the Channels tab to open up the Channels palette, and click on the newly created Alpha 1 channel to select it. Now press Ctrl+D to deselect the selection, and use Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur with a radius of 2.0 pixels. This channel will be our texture channel in the following step.

8. Click on the Layers tab to go back to the Layers palette, and select layer elevated by clicking on it. Now select Filter > Render > Lighting Effects. Change the light type to Directional, and the Texture Channel to Alpha 1. Set the Height slider to 20. Finally change the angle of light as shown in the figure below. Click on Ok when done.

   

9. Press Ctrl+M to bring up the Curves dialog box, and change the straight line to the curve shown in the figure below. This will create nice reflections on the elevation. Click on Ok when done.
   

10. Duplicate layer elevated as we did before. A new layer named elevated copy 2 will be created. Click on layer elevated which should be located above Layer 1, and Ctrl+Click to select its transparency. Set the foreground color to black, and once again press Shift+F5 to fill the inside of the selection. Now press Ctrl+D to deselect the selection, and use Edit > Stroke with the following settings:
    Width: 2
    Location: Center
    Blending: 100%
    Mode: Normal

    This will create a nice outline that will increase the contrast between the type and the background. You can skip this step if you wish, but the outline usually increases the illusion of depth.

11. Here comes the fun part. Press Ctrl+U to bring up the Hue/Saturation dialog box, check the Colorize checkbox, and play with the sliders to colorize both elevated copy layers. If you wish you can merge these layers first, and assign the same color to both layers.

Here is an example with light, drop shadows, and a background texture. There are a lot of possibilities with this effect, but don't overuse drop shadows; use subtle shadows where possible. Also use dark blue shadows on blue backgrounds, dark green shadows on green backgrounds, etc. to get more realistic results. Other things to try that comes to my mind are cast shadows, and the Spherize filter.

Finally, if you wonder how the background texture on the left was done, see our multi-layer textures tutorial.

Rating: 8.3 (2 votes)  

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