How to Create a Gorgeous Glassy Text Effect
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I Worked on this tutorial with a good friend of mine Negreu Andreas. This text will be created using a series of shapes with different transparency and color effects. Let’s get to it!
Final Image Preview
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Step 1
First of all open up a new document and fill it in with black. Then add your text using a font you like and the color #00e5ff.
Step 2
Next duplicate the layer by pressing (Command + J), set the layer Opacity to 65% and move it down and left 1 px each.
Step 3
Next duplicate the text layer in Step 2 four more times. Then move each 1 px down and left as you did before.
Step 4
Next you need to select all the layers except for the background and the first text you created. Now right-click and chose Rasterize Type, then Merge the layers and set the new layer to 47% Opacity.
Step 5
Use the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) and make a selection, as shown below. Next, use the Smudge Tool (R) set to a Master Diameter of 19 px, Hardness of 100%, Strength of 30%, and smudge the right part of the layer so you can cover up that empty part.
Step 6
Repeat the same process with the other letters.
Step 7
For the lower part of the “S” letter, make a selection as shown, but this time simply erase the unwanted part of the letter by pressing Backspace.
Step 8
Erase the upper part of the letters: “d,” “t,” “u,” and “t,” then erase the lower part of the “s.”
Step 9
Next use the Smudge Tool (R) as you did in Step 5. Use the Smudge Tool for the letters “t,” “t” and “s.”
Step 10
Next move the original text layer above the duplicate. Also, set the Opacity of the duplicated layer to 35%. Select the original text layer and double-click on it to enter the Blending Options and then add a stroke.
Step 11
Next select the text layer below and duplicate it. Use the Pen Tool (P) and create a stroke like below and transform it into a selection. Now simply erase over the selection using the Eraser Tool (E) set to 24% Opacity.
Step 12
Next create a new layer above the duplicated text layers. In this layer add some color to the text. To do this you first need to make a selection of the entire text by holding down the Command key and pressing once on the duplicated text layer thumbnail. Now fill the selection with #ff009c. Don’t mind the blue clouds behind the text.
Step 13
Set the layer to Hue and Opacity to 35%.
Step 14
Make a selection of the first text layer and then go into each of the below layers and press backspace to clear the selected areas. As you can see below, the text effect will still be visible, but we need to erase some areas for future adjustments.
Step 15
Create a new layer below the “pink” layer and make a selection as shown below, then fill the selection with white. Also, set the layer to 38% Opacity and the original “text” layer to 68% Opacity.
Step 16
Make a selection of the original “text” layer. Now use a soft brush for the Eraser Tool (E) to clear the corners of the white layer that don’t look good.
Step 17
Make another selection of the original text layer and create a new layer above it. Then select the Lasso Tool (L) and right-click on the screen and choose stroke. Set the stroke to 2 px and color to #00fcff.
Step 18
Duplicate the stroke from Step 17 and move it like below. Now make a selection as shown, and use the Eraser Tool (E) set to 40% Opacity to erase the stroke that is inside the selection. In the end, set the layer to 10% Opacity.
Step 19
Make another selection on the original text and then subtract like below. Create a new layer above the original “text” layer, and apply the same color as you used for the stroke add a simple gradient. Then add another stroke using #c2feff.
Step 20
Duplicate the “white text” layer and brush over it with the color #f1ff12. Then set the layer Opacity to 23% and move it as shown.
Step 21
Make a selection like below by Command-clicking on the original text thumbnail and inverse the selection. Then using the Eraser Tool (E) you need to erase the edges like in Step 16.
Step 22
Now it is time to get back to the “pink” layer. Activate it and set the Opacity back to 100%. Make a selection like below, invert it and erase the excess using the Eraser Tool (E).
Step 23
Move the “pink” layer you just created above the original text layer and set it to Overlay.
Conclusion
You are finished with the text effect but to make this a bit more interesting I will create another element and that is the plus using the same techniques. Also, add the final element, which is an interesting background that I purchased from Graphic River. You can view the final image below or view a larger version here.
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By Constantin Potorac
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Many thanks for this tut, it’s the best dude
Many thanks for this tut, it’s the best dude
thx man, very cool!! *-*
Txh man, very cool.
I think that after step 17 it st arted getting out of hand and too many things were applied. I would have liked it more without the pink and the stroke around it.
Good Job Man! thanks for sharing …
thanks very cool effect
hi…nice tut…but my duplicate layer doesn’t move when i press the down arrow:(
love it love it love it
Really like this effect but would be too tempted just to grab a 3D text render from Illustrator and work on it from there.
Overall though the idea really is that people could put a little more effort into working with typography in design rather than living with defaults!
Thank you for using my background as well! Great to see it in use.
Nice tutorial.
I like the way you added the 3d look by duplicating the layers. I will try this method on the new website I am working on .
Going through this tutorial step-by-step just makes it all so simple.
Thanks
Angela
While the result is great, this tutorial isn’t. There are many steps that seem to be incomplete starting at about step 15. The white layer seems to be moved down and to the left, but this is not mentioned in the text. Step 16 could be achieved simply by selecting the main text, inverting the selection and clearing away the extra white. With an opacity of 10% and so much else going on, steps 17 and 18 hardly seem necessary for the effect.
Step 19 is quite confusing. The subtraction from the text selection looks very similar to the path in step 11, yet it is actually different. Is this a new selection? Is it supposed to line up with the selection from step 11? A simple gradient? Please be far more specific. In the part two of the image for step 19, it looks like you’re trying to show using a soft brush to brush in the gradient along the edge of the selection, but this is not mentioned in the text of the step at all.
Step 20, what do you mean “brush over it?” Am I changing the color entirely, or doing personally stylized brushing? Please be more specific when you say “move as shown”, at 23% opacity it isn’t easy to tell where you moved the layer to.
Step 22 suffers from a similar dilemma as steps 4 and 10. In step 4 and step 13, you changed the opacity of the layer, only to change it again in steps 10 and 22 respectively. The pink layer also didn’t need to be created way back in step 13, it could be just as easily made in step 22 since the shape of the original text hasn’t been moved or modified. The text also says to make a selection like below, yet in the image there’s what appears to be an inverted selection of the main text, but there’s something messed up in the selection in the horizontal middle of the first “S”.
Step 23, why couldn’t you put the pink layer on top of the text layer in step 22? Here again you’re changing the blending mode from Hue, set in step 13, to Overlay?
I’m happy to see that my method of creating 3d text in this tutorial i thought it was obsolete due to many 3d apps available.
it’s really nice but we need detail explanation . because we don’t knoe about
the photoshop. how did i select like this you are done in Step 5.
Thanks,
Looks pretty sweet. I liked the effect you made on the edges of the text.
your tutorial has really helped me, thanks
nice tutorial
how do i select the layers in stage 4 help pleasee !!
Is this much:)
realy perfect been. thanks
I love this effects pretty much…gona try this later…
It looks hard…hope not
Awesome, great tut. Mine didn’t turn out much glossy, but it’s a great tut. Thanks man
cool
How do you move an image 1px? I’m very beginner at this but no matter how hard i search i cant seem to find out how…
The tutorial is nice in general. But I think some steps, for instance step 18 & 19, could have been described better. If this is a pro tutorial, I’ll agree that I’m not capable of accomplishing those steps. But, if it’s not, I’d say the author should have added better descriptions and/or illustrated via pictures in order to make it easier to follow.
I agree with the some fellows that this is not such a great text effect. Yet, it works.
cheers!
wooww this very cool tutorial, any else like this?
Somebody can say where “Smudge tool” is ?
Is this tutorial for photoshop CS4?
tutorialul este super…pasii 15, 16,18 nu sunt destul de expliciti ….in final a iesit
multumesc
This tut is really cool.But there’re some step,like step 11 and 12,they’re hard to understand.
Anyway,thanks for the tut.