In this Awesome★ Photoshop tutorial, you will learn how to create a metal text which is illuminated from above, casting shadow. Basic transformations, some filters and actions will be covered through out this tutorial. Have fun.
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Here’s the Final Image
Before we start lets see the final image we’ll create through out this tutorial. You can download the layered PSD document here.

Create the Text
Before you start, you may want to download the font used in this tutorial here. Create a new document which is 900 pixels wide, 600 pixels high and at a resolution of 300 pixels/inch. Fill the "Background" layer with color #332222. Pick white as your Foreground Color. Get the Type Tool and type "AWESOME". Set font to Caviar Dreams and Font Style to Bold, set Font Size to 36pt.

Metal Look the easy Way
Create a new layer named "Metal" and fill it with 90% grey. Go to Filter > Render > Lens Flare and use these settings: Brightness => 125, Lens Type => 50-300mm Zoom. Then go to Layers Palette and Alt-click on the line between "Awesome" and "Metal" layers to mask the "Metal" layer.

Some Styles
Select the "Awesome" layer in the Layers Palette and apply a Drop Shadow Layer Style with these settings: Blend Mode => Multiply, Opacity => 75%, Angle => 90, Distance => 2px, Size => 8px. Then apply a Bevel and Emboss using these settings: Style => Inner Bevel, Depth => 100%, Direction => Up, Size => 0, Angle => 90, Altitude => 65.

Background Needs Some Light Too
Go to "Background" layer in the Layers Palette, go to Filters > Render > Lens Flare [or you can hit Alt+Commad+F to bring up the last used filter dialog] change Brightness to 100% and apply. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and apply with a Radius of 45 pixels. Then go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation and set Lightness to -20.

Did you Say Shadow?
Command-click the "Awesome" layer thumbnail to load the selection, create a new layer above the "Background" and name it "Shadow". Fill the selection with black.

Make Room For the Shadow!
Now we’ll create the shadow. In order to do it, wel’ll enlarge the canvas, in a few minutes you’ll see why. Go to Image > Canvas Size. Click the middle bottom box, Make sure Relative is Unchecked and set Height to 1600 pixels and hit OK. Select the "Background" layer, drag a Vertical guide [hit Command+R to bring up the rulers if you don't see them] and snap to the center of the document. Then select "Awesome" and "Shadow"layers and horizontally center them to the the guide.

Action!
Now we’ll create an action to drop the shadow in an appropriate way. Go to Window > Actions to bring up the Actions Panel. Open the Action Panel Menu and choose New Set, name the set "Shadow" and hit OK. Now click the New Action button, name the action "Drop" and hit Record to start recording. Recording actions is a good way of doing repetative tasks.

Action!
The first thing we’ll do is to select and duplicate the "Shadow" layer by hitting Command+J. Then hit Command+T to enter Free Transform mode, drag the transform center to the upper edge of the document as shown n the below image. Now set Horizontal and Veritcal Scales at 100,2% and click the Commit Transform button or hit Enter key twice. Finally go to the Actions Panel and hit the Stop button.We’ll we’ve finished recording the action, now it’s time to play it back.

Drop the Shadow – More Action!
Make sure "Shadow copy " layer is selected, go to Actions Panel, first select the Drop Action, then hit Play button 12 times. Then select all Shadow layers in the Layers palette and hit Command+E to merge.

Put Some Blur
Go to Filter > Blur > Radial Blur, move the Blur Center to top, and use these settings: Amount => 3, Blur Method => Zoom, Quality => Best.

Finalize the Shadow
Hit Command+T and drag the transform Center al the way up again,Scale the shadow up, holding down the Alt+Shift keys, as shown in the image and apply. Then go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and apply with a Radius of 2 pixels.

Congratulations
Now get the Crop tool and crop the image back to it’s original dimensions. Well, that’s it. Hope you learned something new and had fun.
























Do you plan to keep this site updated? I sure hope so… its great!
Hey Kecia,
PsAwesome is now 5 days old :) I’ve been working on the concept, design and the technical issues since January, but the site is announced 5 days ago. Sure it’s going to be updated regularly from now on. Glad you liked PsAwesome.
Thanks.
double thumbs up!!!
Bookmark this site :))
AWESOME THANKS!!!!!
Kick ass tutorial mate
this is simply sweet!!
so im stack on Action…i have everthing i have the duplicate of the shadow but when i click (Ctrl J) it says could not transform because rectangle is empty, but surely its on the shadow duplicate layer…help please??
Hey Galantic,
It seems like you are hitting Ctrl-T on an empty layer. Make sure you have succesfully created and duplicated the “Shadow” layer.
Thanks.
awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
pOst mOre! want mOre! hehehe!
Hi Great webpage and tutes!
Question. how do I fill 90% Gray? I see 50% but not 90%.
Thanks and keep up the great work!!!
hi Paul,
gray tones in the swatches palette are named according to their percentage of gray. Rollover them and wait for a sec.
Thanks.
Hey! this was a fun Tutorial.
Im working on my intake portfolio for my new school. So i could show them im broad oriented with CS, and it was also not difficult to follow since im a Ps Newbie :)
just wanted to thank you for this fun tut!
On step 6 what does “Then go to “Awesome” layer, horizontally center it to the the guide.” mean? cause i get sumthing not right…thanks
if i pull the shadow copy with ctr+t in the action, i get a distorted shadow on my blank upper half, did i miss sumthing?
hey Wahyu,
i guess in step 8, you are dragging layer up, not the transform center. But you should move the transform center up.
Great tutorial! Very well explained, thank you.
ahhh…oke..thanks bro, nice tutorial btw… :)
how u make the word ‘awesome’ ?
Nice tutorial thank you for sharing!
Really nice tutorial, thanks a lot !
Can’t wait to see more !
I messed up only a small amount (too hard to undo by the time I went “OH!”) but it still looks really cool and isn’t too far off. I got messed up on the guide thing like the person above, and now know where to find it to set it manually. (I dragged my ruler instead of the guide lol) Long story short, in the end I understood and will use what I learned here again to be sure. I’ve book marked the page.
This was my first full tutorial done on CS4 after years of using Elements. I learned a lot, thanks!
Hi,
First of all, THANK YOU, this tutorial is just great.
I just tried this and almost got it!
The only thing is that on your pictures, between STEP 8 and STEP 9, the text seems fatter, as in bold, mine didn’t change! I used the exact smae font but it looks really thin.
What part of your tutorial makes that change and that I obviously missed please?
thank you so much!
Hey Thierry,
i had a quick look at it, get the 8 and 9 step images to same scale, it looked like the same. I suppose it is the dark shadow that makes it look that way, and 9 is zoomed in.
But i could not be sure 100%. It really looks 9 is bolder in the tutorial, but i guess it’s not. I’ll see if something really changed between these steps and i’ll tell you if so.
Thank You.
thank you so much
It is an optical illusion not a font difference. The picture being zoomed in closer on the text, and the shadow effect making the letters look raised off the background, made it look wider/bigger. Theirry, did you repeat the shadow 12 times and blur it? That is what makes the lettering look bolder.
Look at 6 and then 11. It is all because of the shadow.
I can’t seem to use Lens Flare on the 2nd step! I have the full version of CS3, what’s the problem?
hey James
First thing comes to mind is the color mode. Make sure it is RGB, not CMYK.
wow
I love the affect
thanks
and can I post it on my blog?
Sure, you can post a link.
Thanks.
i don’t have the command key.
how can i replace the “command-click” thing?
Hey loana,
it’s Cntrl-click for Windows
Great tutorial but I have a question.
When you do the first scale you tell us to enter “100,2″ in horizontal and verticle. 100 (comma)2? photoshop won’t take a comma. Or is that supposed to be “100.(point)2″? Sorry, a little confused on that. -Ken.
Hey Ken,
i can use a comma, but not a point, it might be about the operating system or unit settings. If it doesn’t accept a comma, then probably a point will do the trick.
Thanks
Hey, I’m stuck at step 5.
I just don’t know how… canvas size works… but only i cant select white as background. and i don’t get what to do after doing the canvas size thing.. Help please? :P
Hey Timo,
The reason why we enlarge the canvas is to be able to drag the transform origin all that way up. And by doing that, we can make the shadow look like the light is coming from above because we’re achieving the shadow by duplicating the “shadow” layer and scaling it up. Because the transform origin is above, the shadow falls down.
The next things to do after enlarging the canvas is to record the action that will cast the shadow in a way that i’ve just described and playing it back multiple times.
And for the canvas size: you’ll see 9 boxes there, if you press the middle bottom one and set the Height to 1600, it will add 1000 white pixels (because the doument is 600 pixels high already and Background Extension color is set to white) to the top of the canvas.
Hope this will help
Thanks.
nice awesome is really awesome
i don’t have the command key.
how can i replace the “command-click” thing?
Amy,
it’s Ctrl-click for Windows
i don’t have the command key.
how can i replace the “command-click” thing?
Hey Ken,
i can use a comma, but not a point, it might be about the operating system or unit settings. If it doesn’t accept a comma, then probably a point will do the trick.
Thanks
You can make a awsome “awsome” with this!
You lost me when you said to centre the awesome layer because the shadow layer is then not aligned to it?? In your picture its not even visible for some reason. When I move the awesome layer you can then see the shadow and then when I transform it as instructed it doesnt look right at all.
darlinks,
you’re totally right. i should have missed it although i double check all the tuts. in that step, i should have centered both “awesome” and “shadow” layers, or should have centered the text before creating the shadow.
sorry and i’ll fix this in a few hours.
Thanks.
awesome works…
awesome tuts,… thanks for sharing ur works! keep going,.. ^^!
hi Eren … THANK U … soso
i need some help from the first step lol. when i download the CaviarDreams how to add them to my photoshop cs4 !!!
and please in your << 3D Layered Text Effect < Align > Vertical Centers, then go to Layer > (((((((( cos its not black to clik it i think u understand me
help me please AND THANK UUUUUUU SOSO
hey Brian,
if you’re using Windows, just copy the .ttf file into your Windows\Fonts folder and you should see it in the font list. If not, try starting Photoshop again.
For MacOS, double click the .ttf file and click install font.
hi …THANKs
for the ttf its working with me yes i have windows7
but in your – Metal Text Under 12 O’clock Spot Light –
i tried repeatedly but I haven’t succeeded in step 9 to hit Command+E to merge. its not working whith me
im use cs4 why PLEASE
Brian hi,
i actually can’t think of any reason.
you get all shadow layers selected and hit Ctrl+E or go to Layer > Merge Layers and it doesn’t work?
it usually happens when one layer in the selection is a clipping mask, and the masked layer is not included in that selection. So any chance you may have selected the “Awesome” text layer?
and please in your << 3D Layered Text Effect < WHEN I SELECT THE LAYER PALETTE I CANT SELECT """ Align""" (((((((( cos its not black to clik it i think u understand me
help me please AND THANK UUUUUUU SOSO
if you’re using any CS version, to align layers you sholud select more than one in the Layers Panel and you can do it selecting the first and then holding down the Command (Ctrl) and selecting the other.
If you’re using any earlier version of Photoshop, then you should select the Background and click the link box of the text layer to select them both.
Hope this will help, please let me know if it doesn’t work.
hi …THANKs
for the ttf its working with me yes i have windows7
but in your – Metal Text Under 12 O’clock Spot Light –
i tried repeatedly but I haven’t succeeded in step 9 to hit Command+E to merge. its not working whith me
why PLEASE
HEY well i finish this tutorial successfully hope u see it and thank u
but now i have problem with my cs in 3d. when i want to use 3d menu in the next tutorial _ layered text eff or in _ How to Create a Super Glossy Orb _ i cant found the 3d. menu in bar menu i have try to found it but … nothing …
i have uninstal my cs and instal it but ….nothing new
SO PLEASE HELP ….
Hey Brian,
i guess you must have CS4 Extended to see “3D” in the Menu bar. You won’t need 3D for the “3D Layered Text Effect” tough.
Good to hear that you’ve finished the tut, i would like to see the result, it would be nice if you can share it in the awesome Flickr group.
Thank you for the tutorials. They are awesome! God bless you!
hey Eren
i guess you should explain me more please to complete the others tut.
that require “3d” PLEASE THANKS
Incidentally EREN name man or for a woman SORRY !!!
hi Brian,
3D tools are available in “Photoshop CS4 Extended” and i guess you have “Photoshop CS4″ that’s why you can’t see the 3D menu. There are only two tutorials in this site that requires 3D capabilities and they are “3D Donut” and “Super Glossy Orb” and in order to complete them you must have CS4 Extended version.
i’m a dude by the way.
hi thanks dude Eren lol.
well , i want to try Super Glossy Orb but my problem with my cs is : the 3d option was in (cs) but it seems i delete it im sure cos im not
Professional u know … Is there a solution SO HELP PLEASE
BRIAN
Brian,
if you’re sure that your version of Photoshop had the 3D options, but you can’t see them anymore, i can only suggest you to install Photoshop again.
Hope it works.
no eren i told u i did but nothing new …Not only me hwo suffer from this problem i encountered others like me i noknow why .. You can ask an expert for me please thank u Eren .
oh. yeah its for this one tut. here : ” How to Create the Aura Text Effect
Hi,
At the last step where i need to use the Crop tool it dont works,
When i go to Image > Crop i cant click it . help me plz
Hi Tİm,
you can use the Rectangular Marquee Tool, make a selection and then go to Image > Crop, or just get the Crop Tool, make a selection with that tool and double click inside.
Hope this will help.
really awesome! thanx for the download link!
As usual….AWESOME!
I am from Chinese and I am not good at English,even I can not understand 10% of the word. Fortunately,I know the PS step.I love this site!
Hey gasol,
i understand that people who doesn’t speak English will understand nothing about the tutorials. And i would like everyone to be able to read and understand them.
But i hope you will agree that copying a content and translating it into another language without giving credit to the original author or link to the original post and without permission is not acceptable.
Your English looks pretty good actually by the way.
Thanks.
Hi Eren, really an interesting text effect.
i’m stuck at step 11:
“……..Scale the shadow up, holding down the Alt+Shift keys, as shown in the image and apply.
Please tell me what it means? i’m trying to doing that but what i got is the shadow is getting bigger, it doesnt look like as shown in the example on step 11.
Hey Janu,
you should drag the Transform Center (it looks like a target icon) all the way up to the top of the canvas before scaling it up.
Hope this will help.
Thanks.
Hi,
its awesom tutorial but where the projects file i mean to say .psd file
if u have plz send it to me through email which i provided u…thanks
Hey Hassan, the download link is provided above, anyway here it is;
http://www.psawesome.com/tuts/metaleasy/psawesome_metaltext.psd
Hey mate gr8 tutes, getting me back into what i love most.
almost got to the finish line but when i hit ‘play’ on my ‘drop’ action the shadow moves outwards, solutions?
thanks again
Hey Darwin,
i guess you should check step 8, make sure you move the transform center up.
Thanks.
that was great. as i was look at your work, im amaze. thanks a lot
“Command-click the “Awesome” layer to load the selection, create a new layer above the “Background” and name it “Shadow”. Fill the selection with black.”
which selection?? when i select awesome layer and create a new layer it creates above the awesome not under. i think smthg missing in this step.
eren dostum kafayı yicem herkes anladı ben mi malım anlamıyorum diye:D:D
Hey Soner,
Command-click the “Awesome” layer T h u m b n a i l to load the selection. Then you can create a new layer while the Background layer is selected, it will be below “Awesome” layer then.
Selamlar.
yeah the THUMBNAIL is missing :D thanks a lot
i actually didn’t notice it was missing.
i fixed it, thanks.
Thank you for the tutorials. They are awesome!
Thanks from Spain……awesome!!
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