This is a strong and eye-catching text effect, though relatively simple to create. We'll be using bevel and emboss styles, pattern overlays, and combining different techniques to mock-up the text into a related background. For PLUS Members, the main layer style is ready to copy and paste into your designs as well.
Final Image Preview
Before we get started, let's take a look at the image we'll be creating. Want access to full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join PSDTUTS PLUS for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below or view a larger version here.
Step 1
Copper is a wonderful metal. It's strong and resistant but easy to handle. Besides, copper is great when you're designing grunge and old-style graphics or websites. So here's a simple and quick way to add this particular effect to your text and shapes.
First, create a new black document, 1024 pixels by 768 pixels this time. Then decide where you're going to put your text in. I've found this image of a ruined wall, and after adjusting the Hue/Saturation (Command + U), and Levels (Command + L) using the values of the image below, our background is ready.
Step 2
Since the copper has green tones when it gets old (like the Statue of Liberty in New York, USA). We'll need to add some green details here and there, Create a new layer and set this color (#1A3404) as the foreground, then using a medium size soft brush draw some spots. Next, change the "Green Spots" layer Blending Mode to Color Dodge.
Step 3
Press Command + A to select all, then Command + Option + D to Feather the selection 50px.
Step 4
Fill the selection with black (#000000) into a new layer called "Frame." Then go to Filter > Distort > Wave, and set the Max Wave length to 370.
Step 5
Now create a new layer, name it "Light" and fill it with a White to Black (#FFFFFF to #000000) Reflected Gradient. Then go to Image > Adjustments > Curves (Command + M) and set the curves just like it shows in the image below. Finally, change the "Light" layer Blending mode to Overlay. Keep this layer always above all others in the layers palette.
Step 6
Now begins the fun part! Write your text, I'm using Rockwell typeface, but you can use any other.
Step 7
Now let's look at the creative flow of making a layer style. A good point to start is adding a Gradient Overlay matching the scene lightening. In this case add a five colors gradient (#000000, #160700, #783501, #421F01, and #050505) and an Angle of 140º. Also, add a 5 pixels Gradient Stroke effect using five colors (#803C17, #A44F30, #52230F, #52230F, and #381408) Angle: -95º.
Step 8
Now add the shadows, first an Inner Shadow, then a Drop Shadow, take special care with the Blending Modes of every Style. Both shadows must be in Multiply mode.
Step 9
Next add a Color Overlay effect (#742901), but set the Blend mode to Linear Dodge (Add). Then add a dimmed (Opacity 16%) Satin effect.
Step 10
This Step may be the most important one in this tutorial process. Add a Bevel and Emboss Style, Set the Style to Inner Bevel and Technique to Chisel Hard, this way you'll get a sharpen bevel. Set all the values as shown below. Increase the Depth mode to maybe 715% and notice the changes to both Highlight and Shadow modes.
Once you add the basic Bevel style, mark the Contour checkbox and set a Gaussian Contour with a Range of 50%. Finally, mark the Texture checkbox and then set the "Rusted Metal" texture loading the default Photoshop CS3 Patterns library.
Step 11
Command-click the "Copper" layer to select the text. Go to Select > Modify > Contract and set 4 pixels (the Gradient Stroke size) and hit OK.
Step 12
Create a new layer named "Inner Effects" and fill the selection with black (#000000). Then apply an Inner Glow and a Satin style, using the values shown below. Finally, set the layer's Fill value to 0%.
Step 13
Duplicate the "Copper" layer and name the copy "Text shadow," then delete or hide all the layer styles and go to Layer > Rasterize > Type. Put the copy below the "Copper" layer in the layers palette, then hide the styled text layer for a now. Apply a Filter > Blur > Motion Blur to the "Text shadow" layer. Finally, show the "Copper" layer again, select the "Text shadow" layer and delete all the top and right extra shadows.
Step 14
Let's add some light rays. Using the Rectangle Tool draw four or five parallel rectangles above the "Light" layer. Merge them and Command-click the corners to distort them, as shown below. Next, apply a Gaussian Blur (10px radius). Finally, change the "Light stripes" layer's Blending mode to Overlay and set the layer Opacity to 50%.
Step 15
Command-click the "Light stripes" layer miniature, then select the "Text Shadow" layer and delete the selection.
Step 16
Just to improve the lighting, Command-click the "Copper" layer one more time, but this time fill the selection with a White to Black (#FFFFFF to #000000) Reflected Gradient into a new layer just below the "Light" layer. Finally, change the Blending Mode to Overlay and Opacity to 25%.
Step 17
As a final detail, add a texture layer above everything else, in this case I'm adding this old paper sheet changing its Blending Mode to Multiply and it Opacity to 50%.
Step 18
A final tip, as this layer effect is ready to copy and paste in the PLUS file, you can use it on different typefaces or shapes. If you want to apply this effect onto a small object, it is better to create a big size text or shape first and convert it into a Smart Object before resizing it. This way you'll preserve the aspect ratio of the effect.
Conclusion
I hope you find this effect useful. Now it's up to you experiment with the layer styles, or download the PSD file from PSDTUTS PLUS and copy the layer effect if you want to save time. You can view the final image below or view a larger version here.
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User Comments
( ADD YOURS )Chachu Clothing November 28th
Awesome Tutorial! Thanks!
( )starlight November 28th
nice effect
( )Digital Revolutions November 28th
Interesting, although I’m not really getting the “copper” feel… looks more like leather to me…
( )Jaybo November 28th
Ok, I guess; though I agree with Digital Revolutions.
( )aMs November 28th
Well, i’m lil’ disappointed. It’s not that it’s a bad tut. Infact the final effect looks very nice, but it kinda brings nothing new. It’s one of those “blending options play-around effect”… and the shadows remind me of Collis’s “Shade” tut.
Sorry, i’m not convinced.
( )_
cheers
insic November 28th
really nice effect. awesome result. i like it.
( )Mahendran April 17th
Hi how are you this mahendran
rvlmahendran@yahoo.co.in
( )That Namelezz Guy November 28th
I love text effect tutorials and hope there would be much more of them.
( )Gotti November 28th
Wow, this is the best text tutorial ever
( )aleso November 28th
this is a nice tutorial.
http://3dand2dmag.wordpress.com/
( )Nikola November 28th
nice tutorial, thanks
( )Ariful Alam Khan November 28th
I like it. Thanks
( )Johnson Koh November 28th
Thanks. I think its pretty cool
( )Keep it up!
roll November 28th
not bad, but not psdtuts worthy, that’s for sure! been a while since i’ve acctualy seen tutorials like the older ones.. that is, realy realy good. don’t lower your standards guys
( )b00m November 28th
I like the result!
( )Tnx for tutorial.
Ben Reid November 28th
@aMs – Yeah it does remind me of that shading technique too. Though seeing it again is never a bad thing!
Nice use of lighting, admitedly it is quiet easy to achieve but the real skill is to achieve the balance in not over doing it while still creating enough light and you’ve nailed it!
Saved the layer style!
( )WoW-Sky November 28th
I had fun time really with this tut
( )thank u ^^
Ernest Ojeh November 28th
Great! We don’t really get much text effect tuts these days. thanks
( )Diogo Duarte November 28th
Well…I like the light with white retangles…
( )Mr Kuzio November 28th
Awesome.
…And nice.
…And great.
I’m lovin’ it! XD
( )Jeroen November 28th
Looks cool
( )Rui November 28th
Very nice! I love this effect. It’s perfect.
( )netsnake November 29th
Hey, cool tut!
Would like to try this, but in CS4, you can’t feather the edges if you have selected the whole image! How can I do this?
Thanks,
( )netsnake
Geoff November 29th
Copper? Looks more like copper at Step 9.
( )anubiz November 29th
very nice tut, thank you !
( )tripdragon November 29th
hmmmm. There a bit to many steps to make that copper. Which in the end is not really copper.
( )Good steps otherwise.
Ole Martin November 29th
The text is lightened from the top right corner, it’s highlighted from the top left corner and its shadow is falling down to the left corner. Something is not right here.
( )Simon June 12th
Hmm… You got a point here.
Anyways, I liked the tut. Thanks a lot!
( )Nestor Otondo November 29th
Very nice tut, beauty efect, very similar to copper. excellent. Congratulations Alvariño
( )gaurav May 30th
i lik u dud tut enjoy this tutorial realy exllentes
( )Rommel November 29th
ya
( )TabbRock November 29th
Cool tut! Where can I get the “ruined wall” image, or one similar?
( )rcbob42 June 1st
For anyone looking for the source files for the metal background and the paper texture here is the URL: http://www.sxc.hu
Sign up for a free account. Be sure to read the terms and conditions. Here are the actual URLs for the two files.
Paper: http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=download&id=1088065
Metal: http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=download&id=883954
Enjoy
( )Samuel Intégrateur November 29th
Love the quality of the final effect, Copper and steel tutorials tend to be cheesy and cheap but this one is really nice and realistic!
( )Thanks for all those tuts
JustiRaziel November 29th
Thats a great Tutorial
I learned a lot
my outcome isn´t that so good but coud you feed back it pls
http://fc96.deviantart.com/fs38/f/2008/333/0/7/Prison_v2_by_JustIRaziel.png
( )Mabuc November 29th
Awesome One, two thumbs up
( )ketbeophi November 30th
Very goood… thanks for share!
( )vote 100 !!! ye.
ketbeophi November 30th
who can share this texture.
( )I cant find it. thanks…
Sean November 30th
Very well done tutorial. It’s neat to me to see the different styles and also the different steps each designer has to get the same outcome. A layer mask on the background texture with a solid black fill on the very bottom and then using a black to transparent gradient on the mask from each side towards the center would give you close to the same feathering you have. Excellent tutorial none the less!
( )Josh Drake November 30th
Looks really nice! Thanks!
( )Nabster November 30th
Very realistic tutorial with good lighting. Great job
( )Nino November 30th
Sorry but I really think this isn’t TUTS quality. It seems like the tutorial was made on the spot really, too many pointless steps.
( )We need to stop having all these inspiration posts and more of the tutorials like it used to be.
bobmeier December 1st
Finally, a tutorial again. Good job, I like the result.
( )Takumi86 December 3rd
Great tips as always from PSDTuts
( )Pfaudere December 4th
Very nice. I wasn’t really feeling the texture in the bevel so I replaced it with a texture level of asphalt and set it to overlay. It looked a bit more realistic to me.
( )P. Nikita December 6th
Great Effect! As for me — very very good!
( )S.B. December 12th
Can someone please help with Step 11, I don’t know how to select each letter individually. I am using Windows
( )james December 13th
wow, ……………
( )teach more
please..?
David December 17th
I am using CS4 and “feather” is not an option after selecting the whole canvas. It’s grayed out. Anyone know how to work around this?
( )David December 18th
I found the solution to CS4 not being able to feather a “select all” selection. If anyone’s interested, the answer is here:
http://photoshoptechniques.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23226
( )LG December 30th
Thanks David for the help with that select problem in CS4! Very nice tut!:D
( )Kuzey January 7th
Woow Süper, effect
( )nicetut.
guillermo January 20th
Excelente trabajo Alvaro, muchas gracias y sincero saludo desde Atlanta.
( )grv January 25th
awesome… gr8 tut
( )Noop@Photoshop February 5th
im a noob at using photoshop and im stuck at step 4:( when i select all and feather the selection and fill it with black it fills the whole picture with black, so i cant get the “frame” on the edges because my pfole picture gets filled with blac. can anyone tell me what am i doing wrong? im using windows, photoshop cs3.
( )Alvaro March 6th
Select all > Feather the selection, and invert it (Ctrl + Shift + I)… then fill the resultant selection with black… I miss that step, my bad
( )lawrence77 February 14th
good one!
( )Guilherme February 26th
wow man very good
( )i am from brazil sorry for bad english ^^
awesome !
Qamraan March 5th
Hello
I’m eager to start the tutorial
buhh cant find the copper background!
have you got a link or sumthink?
thankz
( )rcbob42 May 18th
For anyone looking for the source files for the metal background and the paper texture here is the URL: http://www.sxc.hu
Sign up for a free account. Be sure to read the terms and conditions. Here are the actual URLs for the two files.
Paper: http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=download&id=1088065
Metal: http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=download&id=883954
Enjoy
( )fadi March 14th
thannk u man
( )adri_ March 18th
Thanks Alvaro ! this is a very nice tutorial and I had fun doing it.
( )Ferguson March 22nd
Very nice!
Thanks for this!
( )Razvan March 27th
It looks great. And it really doesn’t matter to me whether it feels like cooper or leather. Congratulations!
( )fretsnkeys March 31st
Beautiful effects, I love it.
( )Rokia April 7th
wonderfull & amazing design . i like it soooooooo much , and you help me a lot thanks 4 show us how to made this design.
( )Mahendran April 17th
hi
( )rcbob42 May 18th
I know there are experienced people that read this tutorial and did not think it was useful. Speaking as a newbie, I found it useful and fun to learn with. Thanks for the effort.
( )adriano May 21st
Very god!!!!!
( )xphunt3r May 29th
i like this one very much
( )Andry Rumuy June 7th
wow cool tutorial, i like it
( )teuingsaha June 8th
2 thumbs Up
Nice work, very awesome
( )I`ll try
teuingsaha June 8th
2 thumbs up
Nice work !! awesome !!
I`ll try it [ in different version ]
( )seed July 2nd
cool tutorial …….thanks
( )hegearon July 2nd
Great tutorial!
( )Olivia August 24th
nice effect! Thanks
( )Jake September 22nd
How do you choose colors based on the numbers provided in the tutorial (like in step 7 when it says, “In this case add a five colors gradient (#000000, #160700, #783501, #421F01, and #050505)”)?
Thanks for the help!
( )Fant October 2nd
Really great tutorial! Good job, I really like how you made use of the layer styles! (: Keep it going!
( )