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TEXT EFFECTS

How to Create a BrushedMetal Text Effect inAdobe Photoshopby Rose 10 Dec 2014

30 Comments English

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What You'll Be Creating

This tutorial will guide you through creating a brushed metal text effect, usingmultiple layer styles and some textures. You'll get to work a bit with the text itself,and also use a smart object to warp the styled text but keep it editable, so it can bemodified pretty quickly without the need to go over the steps again. Let's get started!

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Tutorial Assets

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

Paragon Black font0986 by ooc-sdzWhitewashed Grunge Textures by WebTreatsETCFree Pack 6000 photoshop gradients by Supertuts007 (load theCHROMES.grd file)

1. Creating the Background

Step 1Create a new 1000 x 600px document. Set the Foreground color to #6b6c81 andthe Background color to #4a4b5f . Pick the Gradient Tool, choose theForeground to Background gradient fill, and click the Radial Gradient icon.

Then, click and drag from the center of the document to one of the corners to createthe background gradient.

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Step 2Duplicate the Background layer and change the copy's Blend Mode to Multiply.

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Step 3Click the Create new fill or adjustment layer icon at the bottom of the Layerspanel and choose Levels.

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Step 4Change the Shadows value to 3 and the Gamma value to 0.91 to darken up thebackground a bit more.

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2. Adding the Background Texture andChanging the Coloring

Step 1Place the 0986 image on top of both Background layers, rename its layer to

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Texture, and change its Blend Mode to Overlay. Then resize it and move it arounduntil you like how it looks.

Step 2Click the Create new fill or adjustment layer icon at the bottom of the Layerspanel and choose Hue/Saturation.

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Step 3Change the Hue value to 152.

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3. Creating and Modifying the Text

Step 1Create the text in All Caps using the font Paragon Black, the Size 200 pt, and thecolor #6c6d82 .

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Step 2Next, we're going to adjust the Kerning (under Window > Character), whichdetermines the space between the individual letters. As you can see, the letters arenot spaced out equally, so what you'll need to do is click to place the mouse cursorbetween each pair of letters, then enter a Kerning value that makes the distancebetween the letters as similar as possible.

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This is important because we're going to add a stroke later on, so if the kerning isnot fixed, the stroke might overlap between some letters, and be too far awaybetween others. You can actually do this step now, or after applying the stroke.

You'll need to try a couple of values until you get the result you like, but the valuesused here are:

T and O: 1O and U: 4U and G: -20G and H: 3

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Step 3You should get neater-looking text now.

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Step 4To increase the space between the letters even more, change the Tracking value to10.

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Step 5Duplicate the text layer three times, and change the third copy layer's Fill value to0.

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4. Styling the Original Text Layer

Double-click the original text layer to apply the following layer style:

Step 1Add a Stroke with these settings:

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Size: 7Fill Type: GradientAngle: 90Use the stove pipe 155b gradient fill.

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Step 2Add a Drop Shadow with these settings:

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Distance: 21Size: 21

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Step 3This will add the stroke and the shadow. If you haven't adjusted the kerning yet, orthink that you need to adjust it a bit more, now would be a good time since thestroke is applied to the text.

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5. Styling the First Copy Text Layer

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

Step 1Add a Bevel and Emboss with these settings:

Style: Stroke EmbossTechnique: Chisel HardSize: 7Gloss Contour: Rounded StepsCheck the Anti-aliased boxHighlight Mode: Vivid Light

This will not have any result until you add a Stroke effect, since the StrokeEmboss is applied only to a Stroke.

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Step 2Add a Contour with these settings:

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Contour: Notched SlopeCheck the Anti-aliased box

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Step 3Add a Stroke with these settings:

Size: 5Fill Type: GradientAngle: 90Use the stove pipe 60 gradient fill.

You can now see the effect of the Stroke Emboss.

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Step 4This will create another layer of shiny stroke, with a more 3D look.

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6. Styling the Second Copy Text Layer

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

Step 1Add a Bevel and Emboss with these settings:

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Technique: Chisel HardSize: 3Check the Anti-aliased box

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Step 2Add a Contour with these settings:

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Contour: Cove - DeepCheck the Anti-aliased box

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Step 3Add an Inner Glow with these settings:

Noise: 9%Color: #f5f4e5Size: 21

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Step 4Add a Gradient Overlay with these settings:

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Use the stove pipe 30 gradient fill.

Step 5

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This will style the text. It looks OK right now, but can use another layer of styled textto add more depth and detailing.

7. Styling the Third Copy Text Layer

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

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Step 1Add a Gradient Overlay with these settings:

Blend Mode: Vivid LightOpacity: 52%Style: ReflectedCheck the Reverse boxUse the stove pipe 70 gradient fill.

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Step 2Add a Pattern Overlay with these settings:

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Blend Mode: MultiplyOpacity: 60%Pattern: Use the pattern shown below from the Whitewashed GrungeTextures pack.

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Step 3This will make the effect look more interesting and realistic.

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8. Brightening Up the Area Behind the Text

Step 1Pick the Brush Tool, make sure that the Foreground color is still set to #6b6c81 ,create a new layer on top of the Texture layer, call it Light, and change its BlendMode to Color Dodge.

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Mode to Color Dodge.

Step 2Use quite a big, soft round tip to brighten up the area behind the text.

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9. Converting the Text Layers into a SmartObject and Warping It

Step 1Select all the text layers you have, then go to Filter > Convert for Smart Filters.

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This will place all the selected text layers in a smart object. You can double-click thesmart object's thumbnail at any time to open the original text layers, and thenmodify them as you like.

The text layers will be opened in a separate document, so after you perform thechanges needed, you'll need to save them (File > Save), then close the smartobject's document (File > Close). The text will be updated in the original documentautomatically. So you won't need to re-create the effect for different text, but youmight want to adjust the Light layer's content.

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Step 2With the smart object layer selected, go to Edit > Transform > Warp.

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Step 3Choose Inflate from the Warp drop down menu in the Options bar, and then clickand drag the control point slightly to modify the shape as you like, and tap theReturn key to accept the changes.

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Step 4You can go back to Edit > Transform > Warp to modify the result again whenneeded.

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Congratulations! You're Done

In this tutorial, we used a radial gradient fill, a texture, and a couple of adjustmentlayers to create a grungy, dark background.

Then we created the text, and adjusted its Kerning and Tracking values to modify

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the spacing between the letters. Once we modified the text, we created three morecopies of its layer.

Each copy of the text layers was then styled with a bunch of different effects andvalues in order to get the brushed metal final result.

We then used a soft brush to brighten up the area behind the text, and placed thetext layers in a smart object, to finally warp the text and give it a more 3D look.

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

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Suggested Tuts+ Course

Related Tutorials

Difficulty:

Beginner

Length:

Short

Categories:

Text Effects Adobe Photoshop

Layer Styles Textures

Translations Available:

Nederlands

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About Rose

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

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30 Comments Tuts+ Hub

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• Reply •

Gosia • 4 months ago

Thank you for the tutorial. Here is my version.Greetings from Poland!

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• Reply •

Rose • 4 months ago> Gosia

Awesome result!Many thanks for the comment and for sharing your work :)

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Jack Nilssen • 3 months ago

Recommend

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• Reply •

Jack Nilssen • 3 months ago

Thanks for the clear instructions. Went with a few different things but the fundamentals were all the same.

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• Reply •

Raja Raj • 4 months ago

Amazing! Here is my work!

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• Reply •

Rose • 3 months ago> Raja Raj

Nice version!Many thanks for the comment :)

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Дмитрий Малашкин • 4 months ago

Rose, thanks from Russia.

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• Reply •

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• Reply •

Rose • 4 months ago> Дмитрий Малашкин

Amazing outcome!Many thanks for the comment and for sharing your work :)

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• Reply •

John • 3 months ago

I learned so much with this tutorial, and I definitely beefed up my Photoshop add-ons to get some of these parts towork. Two thumbs up! Thanks for making this, Rose :)

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• Reply •

Daniele • 4 months ago

Grazie per il tutorial, è scritto in maniera molto chiara. ciao Daniele

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• Reply •

Rose • 3 months ago> Daniele

Glad you enjoyed it :)Wonderful outcome indeed!

Thanks a lot for the comment and for sharing your work. △ ▽

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• Reply •

Rose • 4 months ago> jazzad

You're very welcome :)Thanks for the kind comment.

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• Reply •

luantty2 • a month ago

good tut :) it looks cool

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• Reply •

Vicky28 • a month ago

Can you do this on Photoshop Elements 13? △ ▽

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• Reply •

Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan • 3 months ago

Thank you for the tutorial. It very detailed and the explanation accociated along is useful for a beginner like me. Thankyou.

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• Reply •

Lee Quabak • 3 months ago

Step 5 !! has an error I feel. There must be FOUR times duplicate since Step 7 discuss about a 4th copy. nice tute △ ▽

• Reply •

Rose • 3 months ago> Lee Quabak

You actually need four text layers in total. So you have the original text layer, and three more copies. Each textlayer (including the original one) is then styled starting from Step 4 and ending with Step 7.

So Step 7 styles the fourth text layer, which is also the third copy one.

Hope this clarifies things a bit more ;)

Thanks for the comment :) △ ▽

• Reply •

Guest • 4 months ago

MY VERSION △ ▽

• Reply •

Daniel Thomassin • 4 months ago

Bonjour;Merci beaucoup pour votre tutoriel bien précieux .A bientôt ,

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• Reply •

Rose • 3 months ago> Daniel Thomassin

Great to know you liked it :)Merci beaucoup for the comment ;)

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• Reply •

Mateusz • 4 months ago

Amazing! Here is my work!

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• Reply •

Rose • 4 months ago> Mateusz

Very Nicely done!Thanks a lot for sharing your work :)

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• Reply •

jaferszm • 4 months ago

cool △ ▽

• Reply •

Rose • 4 months ago> jaferszm

Thanks! △ ▽

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• Reply • △ ▽

• Reply •

Francisco • 4 months ago

What am I doing wrong? I created a 1000 x 600px document like the instructions said and when I got to the text at200 pt it was too big to fit the document.

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• Reply •

Rose • 4 months ago> Francisco

When you create the new document, please make sure that the Resolution value (in the set to 72 Pixels/Inch.

Hope this helps :) 1△ ▽

• Reply •

Francisco • 4 months ago> Rose

Thanks! I will try that. △ ▽

• Reply •

Ophilia James • 4 months ago

Sounds innovative defintely I will recommend it to my teammates to get executed. △ ▽

• Reply •

Rose • 4 months ago> Ophilia James

Thank you :) 1△ ▽

Ronald Hoppus • 4 months ago

Nice TUT....Where do I get the "notched slope" Contour? thanks

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• Reply •

Nice TUT....Where do I get the "notched slope" Contour? thanks △ ▽

• Reply •

Rose • 4 months ago> Ronald Hoppus

You need to load its set first. To do so, go to Edit > Presets > Preset Manager, and choose the Preset Type drop down menu. Then, click the little arrow to the right of the Preset Type drop downmenu, and click Patterns near the bottom of the pop-up menu. When the dialog box appears after that, justclick Append, and you’ll get the pattern.

Hope this helps :)

Thanks for the comment. △ ▽

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