In his latest Photoshop tutorial, Scotty shows you 11 steps to create chrome gold toned text effects that will stun your surfers, and add a high degree of professionalism to your next project - Check it out!
Step 01: Create New Layer
First thing's first, lets start out by creating a new image. Either click File from the menu, then New; Or use the shortcut CTRL+N.
Step 02: Create New Layer
In my example I've created a 250x250, on white image.
Step 03: Create Text
Use the type tool and type in some text, I used the font 'Cubic 12' at size 80, if you don't have this font, try something similar. Expirement with different types of fonts, hard bulky fonts seem to work the best. CTRL+CLICK
the layer it's self on the layer tablet to select its contents:
Step 04: Save Selection
We're going to Save the selection for later use, click Select > Save Selection, click OK. Deselect your selection, Press CTRL+D.
Step 05: Channel Gaussian Blur
Ok now on the layer tablet, click the 'Channels' tab, then select 'Alpha 1' (should be at the bottom of the list like example below). Gaussian Blur, click Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, enter
1.1 as the value, click OK. (for higher res use a higher value, something like 3-4), click image above right to enlarge gaussian blur window.
Step 06: Hide Text Layer
Click back to 'Layers' on the Layer tablet. On your 'Text'
layer, click the 'Visibility Icon' (looks like an Eye). This will hide your 'Text' layer. Select the 'Background' layer and continue...
Step 07: Lighting Effects
Add Lighting Effects, Filter > Render > Lighting Effects, on the bottom of the window that appears, Change Texture Channel to 'Alpha 1'. Click OK
Step 08: Set Curve
Now we're going to make the chrome effect of the gold text. Adjust Curves, click Image > Adjustments > Curves. Download this curve (GoldCurve.acv) by Clicking Here, now go back to photoshop and load the file you just downloaded via the Load Button in the 'Curves' window.
Step 09: Pull Out Text
Now we're going to pull the text out of the background then expand it, do the following... Select the 'Background' layer. Load Selection, click Select > Load Selection, choose 'Alpha 1' from the 'Channel' drop-down.
Expand the selection since it's too small as you can see, Select > Modify > Expand, set the value somewhere between 1 - 4 depending on your text (we're using 3 in this example), what we're attempting to do is select just about the entire chrome text, if your selection is too big or too small after expanding you can press CTRL+Z to Undo, then just repeat this step until you get the adjustment that works.
Make sure you're still on the background layer, we're going to move your selection to a new layer, click Layer > New > Layer via Cut, or press CTRL+SHIFT+J.
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Step 10: Clear Background
Select the Background layer from the Layer Tablet once again, this time Select All by hitting CTRL+A, then follow by pressing BACKSPACE to Clear the background layer.
Step 11: Gold Overlay
On the Layer tablet, select your layer with the text you pulled from the background in Step 9. Select Layer Styles (looks like an italic f in a circle). Select Color Overlay, change Blend Mode to 'Overlay'
and set the Color to #FFCC00.
There it is: 11 steps to create chrome gold that will stun your surfers! Enjoy! -Scotty
