how to create a clean glossy effect

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TEXT EFFECTS

How to Create a Clean,Glossy Plastic Text Effectin Adobe Photoshopby Rose 7 Jan 2015 19 Comments

84 166 17


What You'll Be Creating

Using multiple layer styles can help achieve a more detailed and 3D-looking effect.

This tutorial will show you how to use layer styles, filters, textures, brushes, and

adjustment layers to create a shiny, clean plastic text effect in Adobe Photoshop.

Let's get started!

Tutorial Assets


The following assets were used during the production of this tutorial.

Intrepid ExtraBold font

texture 31 by Sirius-sdz

Water Splash Brushes by Serkenil

Stars and Flares Brush Set by MysticEmma

Free Pack 6000 photoshop gradients by Supertuts007 (load the

CHROMES.grd file)

In order to load the contours used, go to Edit > Presets > Preset Manager, and

choose Contours from the Preset Type dropdown menu. Then click the little

arrow to the right of the Preset Type dropdown menu, and click Contours near

the bottom of the pop-up menu.

When the dialog box appears after that, just click Append, and youll get the

contours.You'll also need to load a default Photoshop gradient set. So go to Edit >

Presets > Preset Manager, and choose Gradients from the Preset Type

dropdown menu. Then click the little arrow to the right of the Preset Type

dropdown menu, and click Color Harmonies 1 at the top of the pop-up menu.

When the dialog box appears after that, click Append.


1. Creating the Background

Step 1Create a new 900 x 675px document. Set the Foreground color to #2c353c and

the Background color to #191919 . Pick the Gradient Tool, choose the

Foreground to Background gradient fill, and click the Linear Gradient icon.

Then, click and drag from the bottom left corner of the document to the top right

corner to create the background gradient.


Step 2Place the texture 31 image on top of the Background layer, rename its layer to

Background Texture, change its Blend Mode to Multiply, and go to Image >

Adjustments > Desaturate.


2. Creating the Text Layers


Step 1Create the text in All Caps using the font Intrepid ExtraBold. The color is

#e5eaec , the Size is 230 pt, the Kerning is set to Optical, and the Tracking value

is set to 100.


Step 2Duplicate the text layer four times. Then, change the last three copy layers' Fill

value to 0.

3. Creating the Stroke Layers


Step 1Double-click the original text layer to apply a Stroke effect using the following

settings:

Size: 10

Color: #7e7e7e


Step 2This will apply an outer stroke to the original text layer.


Step 3Duplicate the original text layer, rename the copy layer to Stroke 1, right-click it and

choose Rasterize Layer Style, and then change its Fill value to 0.

For versions older than CS6, you'll need to group the copy layer (Layer > Group

Layers), rename the group to Stroke 1, and then go to Layer > Merge Group and

change the Fill value to 0.


Duplicate the Stroke 1 layer, rename the copy to Stroke 2, and drag it below the

original text layer.

4. Styling the Main Stroke Layer


Double-click the original text layer again to apply some more effects.

Step 1Add a Bevel and Emboss with these settings:

Style: Stroke Emboss

Gloss Contour: Cone - Asymmetrical

Check the Anti-aliased box

Highlight Mode: Vivid Light

Opacity: 100%


Step 2Add a Contour with these settings:


Contour: Half Round



Step 3This will style the first layer of the stroke.

5. Styling the Top Layer of the Stroke


Double-click the Stroke 1 layer to apply the following layer style:


Size: 2


Shadow Mode - Color: #676767


Contour: Cone - Inverted



Step 3Add a Gradient Overlay with these settings:

Blend Mode: Soft Light

Opacity: 51%

Style: Reflected

Use the stove pipe 150 gradient fill


Step 4This will style the second layer of the stroke.


6. Adding the Drop Shadow

Step 1Double-click the Stroke 2 layer to apply a Drop Shadow effect using the following

settings:


Distance: 15

Size: 7


Step 2This will add the shadow to the bottom layer of the stroke.

7. Styling the First Copy Text Layer


Double-click the first copy text layer to apply the following layer style:

Step 1Add a Stroke with these settings:

Size: 1

Fill Type: Gradient

Style: Reflected

Angle: 90

Use the steel pipe 60 gradient fill


Step 2Add an Inner Shadow with these settings:


Blend Mode: Normal

Color: #2c6c99

Opacity: 100%

Distance: 0

Size: 18


Step 3Add a Drop Shadow with these settings:


Distance: 17

Size: 9


Step 4This will style the first layer of the text with the inner color. You can use any other

color you like by changing the Inner Shadow's Color value.

8. Styling the Second Copy Text Layer


Double-click the second copy text layer to apply the following layer style:


Depth: 297

Size: 35

Uncheck the Use Global Light box

Angle: 108

Altitude: 42



Opacity: 64%

Shadow Mode - Opacity: 0%


Click the Gloss Contour: icon to create the contour used below. What you need to

do is click along the line you already have to add points. Then, for each point you

add, you can enter its Input and Output values, and check the Corner box.


The values used for the two points are:

Point - Input - Output

Upper Point - 71 - 72

Lower Point - 42 - 34



Contour: Cove - Deep



Step 3Add a Stroke with these settings:


Size: 1

Fill Type: Gradient

Angle: 90

Use the stove pipe 155b gradient fill


Step 4This will add the first layer of shine/gloss to the effect.


9. Styling the Third Copy Text Layer

Double-click the third copy text layer to apply the following layer style:



Size: 21


Angle: 53

Altitude: 64





Step 2For the Contour, just check the Anti-aliased box.


Step 3This will add another layer of gloss.


10. Styling the Fourth Copy Text Layer

Double-click the fourth copy text layer to apply the following layer style:



Size: 21


Angle: 108

Altitude: 74





Contour: Log



Step 3This will add the last layer of gloss.

11. Creating the Text Texture


Step 1Set the Foreground and Background colors to Black and White , create a new

layer on top of all layers, call it Text Texture, and go to Filter > Render > Clouds.

Step 2Go to Filter > Filter Gallery > Brush Strokes > Accented Edges, then change the


Edge Width to 2, the Edge Brightness to 38, and the Smoothness to 5.

Step 3This will create a simple texture.


Step 4Change the Text Texture layer's Blend Mode to Soft Light.


Step 5Command-click a text layer's thumbnail to create a selection.


Step 6With the Text Texture layer still selected, click the Add layer mask icon at the

bottom of the Layers panel to create a mask.


12. Changing the Texture's Color

Step 1Click the Create new fill or adjustment layer icon at the bottom of the Layers

panel and choose Hue/Saturation.


Step 2Click the Clip to layer icon, check the Colorize box, and change the Hue value

to 200.


Step 3Change the adjustment layer's Blend Mode to Soft Light.


13. Adding the Water Splash Brush to theBackground

Step 1Pick the Brush Tool, and choose one of the Water Splash Brushes brush tips. Set


the Foreground color to #e8ecef , create a new layer on top of the Background

Texture layer and call it Splash, and then resize the brush tip to a size you like and

click to add it behind the text.

Step 2Double-click the Splash layer to apply the following layer style:


Add a Bevel and Emboss with these settings:

Gloss Contour: Ring




Contour: Half Round



Step 4Change the Splash layer's Blend Mode to Vivid Light and its Fill value to 35%.

14. Adding the Sparkles and Adjusting theColoring


Step 1Create a new layer on top of all layers, call it Sparkles, and change its Blend Mode

to Vivid Light. Pick one of the Stars and Flares Brush Set brushes, decrease its

Size, and add a couple of sparkles at the edges of some of the letters. You can

control the tip's Angle as well under the Brush Tip Shape tab in the Brush panel

(Window > Brush).


Step 2Click the Create new fill or adjustment layer icon at the bottom of the Layers

panel and choose Gradient Map.


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Step 3Use the Orange, Blue, Magenta, Yellow gradient fill, and then change the

adjustment layer's Blend Mode to Multiply and its Opacity to 3%. The effect is very

subtle, but it helps enhance the coloring of the final result.


Congratulations! You're Done

In this tutorial, we created a simple backround using a linear gradient and a texture.

Then we created the text, and duplicated its layer to apply different layer styles.

We added a stroke to some layers, and applied the layer styles using different


effects and values in order to create layers of shine and gloss that have a 3D

appearance.

Once all the text layers were styled, we used simple filters to create a basic texture

that makes the effect a bit more dynamic.

Finally, we added a splash brush to the background and styled it, as well as some

sparkles to the edges of some of the letters, and a gradient overlay adjustment

layer to enhance a coloring of the final result.

Please feel free to leave your comments, suggestions, and outcomes below.


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Difficulty:

Beginner

Length:

Medium

Categories:

Text Effects Layer Styles

Adobe Photoshop Gloss 3D

Translations Available:

Tuts+ tutorials are translated by our communitymembers. If you'd like to translate this post intoanother language, let us know!

About Rose

Rose is a Graphic Designer who has beenusing Photoshop since 2007. Rosecurrently runs Textuts.com.

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19 Comments Tuts+ Hub

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Trc H 2 months ago

Really thanks for your sharing. My result:

1

Mary Winkler 2 months agoMod > Trc HFantastic result. :) This will be featured in a community round-up here on Tuts+ this February.

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Rose 2 months ago> Trc HVery well done!Thanks a lot for sharing your work :)

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Michael 2 months ago

Nice tut. :) Greetings from Czech. My result:

1

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Rose 2 months ago> MichaelNice outcome!Thanks a lot for sharing your work and for the comment :)

Ashish 15 days ago

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Its amazing

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ParasUniversal a month ago

Haven't done a tut in ages but this one really inspired mehttps://www.facebook.com/paras...

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Iana a month ago

That was one perfect lesson!!! Thanks for sharing with us!

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umar 2 months ago

my result!

Rose 2 months ago> umarVery nice variation. Nice choice of font and color.

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Thanks a lot for sharing your work :)

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ParasUniversal 2 months ago

That is actually the cleanest glossy effect I've seen.

Reply

Rose 2 months ago> ParasUniversalThank you!

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Daniele 2 months ago

Fantastico come sempre, grazie Rose.

Reply

Rose 2 months ago> DanieleLooks great!Many thanks for sharing it and for the kind words :)

Krex 2 months ago

Pretty good, but mine isn't so glossy. Don't know why. Maybe I should use different setting for different font? Ahh

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doesn't matter :P

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Rose 2 months ago> KrexThe font and font size used are definitely important for getting the same result. Thinner fonts or smaller fontsizes might mess up the effect, but you just need to scale the layer styles down, or decrease the values usedfor the effects.

Hope this helps.

Thank you for the comment :)

This comment was deleted.

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Rose 2 months ago> GuestYou're very welcome, and thanks for the comment ;)

Sunday 2 months ago

Really thanks for your sharing!!, and here s my result. however there s only one problem for me. I cannot worksuccessfully to the step of finding properties.

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Rose 2 months ago> SundayWhat step is that please? What problems do you face when trying to follow it?Great outcome nonetheless! Thanks a lot for sharing your work :)

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how to create a clean glossy effect

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