Transparent Glass Lettering in Photoshop
Sep 14th in Text Effects by Collis
Step 1:
BACKGROUND LAYER
To begin this tutorial, we'll first give ourselves a nice background gradient. Now while most gradients are two-color, in Photoshop you can actually make much more complex gradients by clicking on the Gradient icon in the top left. You'll get a panel showing the gradient and you can add more colors to it. In this case, I've used three colors to make a gradual change from green to a set of blues.
Multi-color gradients can make for a stunning background. I've used a Radial Gradient and centered it to the bottom right.
The colors I've used are:
Color 1 - #2e5b15
Color 2 - #103533
Color 3 - #090e13
Step 2:
Now we need a letter. I've used the letter Q because it's my favorite, particularly in this serifed style. This is from the font Adobe Caslon Pro which I suspect came with my Photoshop install--although who knows, I have way to many fonts to remember! Give your letter a nice blue- green color. I've used #41a993.
Step 3:
Now after this, I basically went through all the different types of layer styles and just experimented with them all. You can produce some really wicked combinations with a bit of trying out. The main things I did here were:
- Decrease Fill Opacity to 20%. Fill Opacity makes the layer transparent WITHOUT making the styles transparent. Note that this is DIFFERENT to Opacity which just makes everything see-through.
- Another thing I did was to try changing angles around, using different blending modes, and building the layers up slowly.
In any case, you can see all the exact settings by downloading the sample PSD file from the link on the top right. You can then right click that layer and hit Copy Layer Styles if you just want to paste it into your own file.
Step 4:
So here is the result of my layer styles. It's a pretty cool-looking style.
Note that I've made it look as if the light is coming from the bottom. This matches the direction of my gradient and gives a convincing look. I've then also used a fainter set of highlights coming from the other side. This vaguely matches how glass sometimes reflects light about.
Step 5:
Now hold down Ctrl and click on the Q layer to select the shape and add a white to transparent gradient coming from the bottom into a NEW layer.
You can do color to transparent gradients by clicking on the Gradient Tool in the top left and holding it down to see the whole set of gradients (as we did earlier in this tutorial). The second one along is color to transparency. It's SUCH a useful gradient. Great for this sort of glass/plastic effects in particular.
Now fade this back by changing its blend mode to Overlay.
Step 6:
Now again hold Ctrl and select the Q layer. In a new layer, again add a radial white to transparent gradient, this time coming from the top down as shown.
Fade this one out by setting its opacity to 40%.
Step 7:
Now on the same layer as in the last step, draw an ellipse with the Selection Tool and hit Ctrl+Shift+I to select the inverse. Then hit delete to remove some of that gradient that we just drew.
Basically this makes the white suddenly stop and gives us a glassy feel. Try cutting in different ways to see the different sort of effects you can make.
Step 8:
Now glass shines, so lets add some highlights to make it look really shiny. You can do this by choosing the Custom Shape Tool (U) and then in the top left click on Polygon and then on the down arrow to get options as shown. Tick Star and make sure your indent is set to 99% to make some nice little 5 pointed stars.
Now in a new layer with white as your foreground color, just add some highlighted stars liberally about. It's best to place them on the most highlighted parts of the Q to make it look like they are sparkles from those highlights.
Step 9:
And there you have the finished product: a glassy lettering style.
Sample PSD
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User Comments
( ADD YOURS )amo September 15th
You haven’t added the link to the psd file it seems
( )kaka August 1st
you r telling lie
( )z September 15th
i cant find the PSD file!!!!!
( )its not in the “top right”…..
TG October 12th
damn its on the bottom you people.
( )JayJay September 15th
What link on the right? Your psd:s are missing from all tutorials, man.
( )Collis September 15th
Hey guys! Sorry about that, I’ve been busy porting the site over into Wordpress. Almost done now, and the Sample PSD is back in now.. You can see it at the bottom…
Thanks!
( )z September 15th
now you did put the link, but its not the PSD file of THIS tutorial!!
( )Walt September 16th
The Sample.zip at the bottom of this post is for the “Glow” example.
Oh, and thanks in advance for your tutorials.
( )Collis September 16th
D’oh! Sorry guys, I’ll fix that, I think I was overwriting the same file “Sample.psd” over and over, and the last one was the glow one. Silly me.
Anyhow I’m not at work today, but I’ll fix it up tomorrow!
( )Mike September 16th
Thanks so much, I absolutely cannot wait (please don’t forget!!)
( )Malcolm September 17th
Great tutorial still trying to get it just right. Thanks
( )muz September 17th
wow dude all of your tuts rock, ive done the glow 1 and the hazardous one and i loved them both!, this 1 is a lil hard for me but its still amazing!
keep up the good work dude!
( )Eric September 17th
Yeah, this is a great tutorial. I’m really anxious for that file!
( )Falco September 17th
Nice tutorial. Im glad this website is up to date and people actually read the comments
( )Frisch September 17th
Test: What timezone may this post have?
( )Great work! Thumbs up.
Wydblog September 17th
Sin palabras!
( )Dooda September 17th
Hello Author!
I downloaded the file, but it is actually the link to the glow one, not this transparent glass lettering. Can you give me the link?
Appreciate that.
( )Best
Daniel September 18th
Another great tutorial, good stuff!
( )z September 18th
love it,thanks!! ive seen a lot of glass text tutorials but this one is the only one that acctually looks like glass
( )Ali September 18th
thank you COLLIS, its a very lovely text style.
( )Ali September 18th
and yeah quite looks like a real glass… nice quality
( )tewoos September 18th
great tutorial. looking realistic…
( )Mj September 19th
Great Tut! Keep It Up!
( )Soumya September 19th
Thanks a lot! This is superb!
( )Marc September 19th
ABSOLUTELY FAB!
Can use it for a project I’m just starting with
( )Thnx Mate!
Yan September 25th
Absolutely Stunning! Great tutorial, i loved it.
( )Jay September 30th
I’ve always wanted to make things like this but am a total beginner. I have PS CS3 Extended and am eager to try things, though i feel these tuts do assume a knowledge of PS to start with. I’m gonna try them out though. Learn by doing eh? !!
( )Froy October 2nd
Its really hard to find a tutorial like this on the internet. Tank you, u have given me a bunch of ideas!!!
( )sekhar dutta gupta October 2nd
very very good tutorial
( )erica October 3rd
Just wondering how you get the radial blur center moved over to the side?
( )NestaVista October 3rd
Buen trabajo! Good Tutorial. Sin duda una web para recomendar!. Thanks.
( )Ponsakthi Anand October 6th
Nice
( )lukka October 8th
Hi! Beautiful effect, easy steps to do, too!
It was a pleasure to follow it! Thanks.
( )shinu October 9th
Ecellent!!
( )Sajid Iqbal October 9th
Hahahhah………….You have added the download link to the Coffee Cup image that you wish to buy. Anyway very nice tutorial.
( )cre8ive pixel October 16th
great stuff as always!
( )Tanisha October 18th
it’s all so wonderful. there is not enough time in my day to have this much fun. thank you so much for sharing your fine tuned knowledge. it is so very appreciated.
( )Jagdeep Kumar October 24th
i need some help i would like to know how do I center the radial gradient to the bottom right im using cs3
( )farshid October 30th
Amazing…, Simply Powerful.
( )THX.
Michael Sync October 31st
nice tutorials… thanks..
( )Mac Dub November 6th
This is an amazing tut. Thanks so much for providing this work and the PSD file. I spent about two hours messing with diferent blend options and finally said f it, I’ll see how he did it. Now it is all so clear.
Unfortunately I’m stuck again. When you say ctrl click I think we may be seeing different options. I have a mac and ctrl click is right click, so… not sure, but I’m not getting the whole gradient within the shape layer thing.
Wait! I just got it. Onward ho.
( )Mac Dub November 6th
No, I didn’t just get it. I’ve added a layer mask within the same layer. Somehow I feel like I’m pissing up the wrong tree.
Poco a poco.
( )Nikhita November 11th
Wow, this effect’s amazing! Really classy.. I took a lot of time to figure it out, and the first 3 steps were my own imitation, but the rest turned out looking great after I got the hang of it!
thanks! (^_^)
( )Tomek November 24th
I don’t like this tut, it is not step-by-step as the tuts should be and lots of the others here are. The sentece at the Step 3 “you can see all the exact settings by downloading the sample” make me feel lost.. I am a newbie so I prefer say-and-show method not this say-and-go-to-next-step-and-you-can-download-this-sample-here-and-copy-the-layers-to-your-psd-if-you-dont-want-to-click-here-and-click-there-twenty-thousand-times-between-the-sample-and-your-file-to-set-the-settings-to-the-same-values.
Few printscreen of the setting of the Step 3 would be welcomed.
And I’m quite dissapointed because I’d love to learn this great glass effect. I love the tuts here and this site, but this one is a big disillusion.
If this post is rude I do apologize, I just feel it like this..
( )RaphaelDDL July 13th
I feel the same. Hate tuts with little explanation
( )hj November 25th
I think this tutorial has been plagiariarised. It can be found at this address:
http://9tutorials.com/2007/07/21/transparent-glass-lettering-in-photoshop.html
( )PY November 25th
Have problems downloading the psd file. Could you check? Thx.
( )Craig Minch November 27th
Great tutorial! I’m teaching a class (introduction to mac & design software) and I walked through this tutorial during the end of class today. It was very smooth and concise. I liked that it was not a step-by-step lesson too. You have to read, think, and visually interpret what’s going on to truly understand and learn from it. Good stuff, kudos Collis.
( )df November 29th
I’m not seeing the Photoshop file to download. Am I missing something? Could someone please, please help?
( )balbanet November 29th
Realmente bueno, muchas gracias.
( )shylendhar December 2nd
really nice effect….
( )Jenny December 22nd
Oh cool. I can use this when I build my new site. Awesome tut.
( )Koen December 25th
Is it true that the PS file to download is empty??
( )B@rmaley.e> December 25th
Cool effect but .psd link is broken((
PS Sorry for my english, I know it bad))
( )Karthik December 26th
Awesome tut .. simply awesome !
( )carolina January 3rd
why my stars are black???
( )Tim January 3rd
I like you tuts, but instead of making people download the psd to get all the layer style settings why not have screen shots, if people want to learn and remember it’s better for them to actually do instead of copy and paste layer style, don’t get me wrong I do like the way that u can copy and paste them, jus for some people I think it would be easier if you did screen shots
( )Sjovn January 4th
Thank you very much for this great tutorial. It was great fun learning how to construct a glass lettering, and I’m glad I managed it! Enjoying your tutorials as always.
Regards!
( )meher January 8th
the gradient thing which you mentioned in the first few steps, im not able to find it..
( )i am not a adobe regular user but i love getting these effects..
help me…
Race X January 10th
An awesome effect dude! Really loved it
( )Mayr January 17th
Beautiful lettering! Well described. A good tutorial. Thanks!
( )Comments by Benny January 18th
So beautiful! Thank you for sharing.
( )any January 24th
you do a great job mate,
i really want you to keep up the good work..
cheers
( )Nightshade January 29th
Looks great but no PSD and I’d really like to see your style settings.
( )bratwurst January 30th
very nice effect. the sparklies are perhaps a bit cliche, but who am i to judge?
( )3õ January 30th
Dude, this effect is Awesome, about the tutorials, you’re missing the explanation in some points and i really looking forward to learn how to apply this cool effect im some typo. BTW link is down!!!
( )Sandrop January 31st
Wicked Tutorial! Easy to follow with room to put your own style in. Thanks!
( )kojie February 8th
not so very cool..
( )but tnx 4 more info/…
WesTwood February 14th
i think i got it
http://octavisanderson.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/glassletter.thumbnail.jpg
( )Bharath February 16th
Thank you very much… It is very useful to me…!!
( )RAMiN February 26th
You Can Feel “Bob Ross” In The Photoshop Now!
( )Really Now…
RAMiN February 26th
Adobe Phtoshop
It’s Miracle …
( )Dragolux March 16th
Great tutorial! It’s kind of a rip-off, though – you have to buy a membership to get the PSD that’s necessary for the tutorial. Kind of disappointing. Nice outcome, though.
( )cheril March 17th
Thanks so much. This is the first transparent text for dark backgrounds that I have been able to reproduce.
( )Andrew D March 25th
I love this glass effect!
( )BilboStephens March 27th
Nice effect, but not really a tutorial. Try to make something a bit more elaborate than ‘just download that file’. Yeah, nice try.
( )Bryan April 2nd
Yeah I have to agree with Bilbo. I love this site, and this tutorial might have been fine before you went to the Plus format. Now though, its not very usable. Editing it to add some more information about the layer styles used would be really helpful. Otherwise its almost a pay only tutorial.
( )Again, that said, love the site and all you guys have done.
kishoreblog April 4th
This is simple & very coool. Thnaks for the post
http://www.kishoreblog.com
( )rybaxs April 9th
i love it.. i was searching for a glass effect chuvaness tutorials for more than 2 years. now i f0und it. yeah~!
( )Ben April 13th
WOW guys that are asking for the same PSD:
( )1. No one EVER said that the PSD is on the right, so just hold up.
2. Look under Step 9. IT SAYS IT IN BOLD:
Sample PSD
CAN’T YOU READ? god -.-
Luchrita April 16th
Yeah um not to be rude, but I do want to clarify that step 3 says:
“In any case you can see all the exact settings by downloading the sample PSD file from the link on the top right. ”
HOWEVER, if you scroll down the page a little under step nine, a download link is present. So ppl can read Ben, they just are not reading everything. I guess you could call them lazy OR you could say you cant read yourself or both? In any case, I almost didn’t read everything myself so it’s not like anyone is an idiot for that mistake.
( )Jonathan Concepcion April 19th
Lovely!
( )Qbrushes April 24th
Awesome
( )Rybaxs April 26th
i love this…
( )T-Bone May 3rd
Hmmm I followed your directions and it didint work for me.
I even copy and pasted everything, still didint work???
I use photoshop CS on Apples OS X. When I apply the inner glow, its yellow, when I apply the outer glow, its also yellow, when I select “stroke” it appears a thick bold outline to the font/text in bright red. I dont see how/where I change what these colors are for the glows/stroke. Im new to PS CS, up until just a few days ago ive been using PS 4, which has none of these features.
There must be someway for me to change the glow/stroke colors, right?? Can anyone help?
My PS CS layer options section looks identical to the one in the screenshot above except its in OS X window-styles, but all the options are identical in the identical areas. This is very confusing, without being able to change the glow/stroke colors (yellow/red) this wont ever work for me
( )plaubar May 5th
funny work
was helpful for my issue – THANKS
( )Daniel May 11th
Looks HQ…
Daniel
( )Braunson May 12th
Sweet, got the premium membership xD
( )Azeem May 18th
Thx. Gr8 effect and easy 2 make
( )Tutzor May 27th
Best text effect tutorial!
( )ZaFaR June 10th
WOW guys that are asking for the same PSD:
( )1. No one EVER said that the PSD is on the right, so just hold up.
2. Look under Step 9. IT SAYS IT IN BOLD:
Sample PSD
CAN’T YOU READ? god -.-
ZaFaR June 10th
I’ve always wanted to make things like this but am a total beginner. I have PS CS3 Extended and am eager to try things, though i feel these tuts do assume a knowledge of PS to start with. I’m gonna try them out though. Learn by doing eh? !!Thanks so much. This is the first transparent text for dark backgrounds that I have been able to reproduce.
( )ZaFaR June 14th
Oh cool. I can use this when I build my new site. Awesome tut.
( )ZaFaR July 1st
nice tutorials… thanks..
( )Rajesh July 6th
An excellent tutorial, I have submitted your tutorial to PSLinks
( )Transparent Glass Lettering in Photoshop
MD July 23rd
Looks nice
( )Mansoor July 24th
Thanks for Posting.
( )Great Tut.
Mack Altman III July 31st
I’m not sure why you haven’t displayed all the steps to achieve the tutorial. I know that you say download the PSD, but downloading masses of psd’s is pointless when following directions normally commits them to memory.
( )karakalem July 31st
I downloaded the psd file.
( )Thanks Collins
STAR August 10th
This tutorial has taught me a lot.. and by exploring some of the options I’ve learned more and more tricks. Thank you for posting this!
( )Hnin nu win August 10th
nice tutorials………
( )Joefrey Mahusay August 11th
Nice text effect. I would love to create like this one on my other design project.
( )The Photoshopper August 14th
Simple an easy!! Its good that you left out the details for us to try ourselves!!
http://thephotoshopper.blogspot.com
( )Nathalie September 4th
Hi!,
I really really love your tutorials, but why isn’t the whole tutorial here anymore, i liked that there were whole tutorials for free ’cause I like to photoshop a lot, and I don’t like youtube as a medium ’cause it all goes to fast or it just doesn’t work out, and afterall this is the best photoshopsite i’ve ever seen.
I don’t want to complain or anything ’cause I love this site though =)
Thnx
( )Glass Tuts September 9th
Thanks for sharing such a great tutorial. Your site is really amazing for photoshop lovers!
( )bjp7407 September 11th
thank alot usefulexp
( )Jason September 18th
Thanx for the tutorial.. great effect!!!
( )5ivedance September 18th
thans a lot , -_-
( )Beginer October 11th
great effect
( )Thx alot
Scott Wood October 22nd
Great effect.. its fantastic what you can get out of just the layer styles. Will try this when i get home !
( )Firnas Aliyar October 24th
Oh my god… this is awesome…
( )Good thing is I wanted the letter Q. So it was very easy to get your sample and use.
1000000000 times thanks to you
speedster October 28th
i like this tut..its really great!
am just wondering what i missed.. i can’t have a product like what u did!
it seems am lost along the way…poor me, can’t have it..hehehe need more practice on my part.
thanks…
( )huzz November 27th
thanks a lot for this tut..
( )so very simple n eazy
amu December 10th
AWWWWWWWWESOME can u make an atn file for this please????
( )lolstolen December 23rd
o wow, thats liquisoft’s old logo
( )Liquisoft December 24th
Boy that looks familiar.
( )lolffs January 8th
It should be very nice if you could explain this little more because i dont get it.. nothing happens wherever i press…
Now hold down Ctrl and click on the Q layer to select the shape and add a white to transparent gradient coming from the bottom into a NEW layer.
( )Domi January 12th
I cant find the psd file. where is iT?
( )aidan January 14th
oh someone please help. I can’t figure out this command
Now hold down Ctrl and click on the Q layer to select the shape and add a white to transparent gradient coming from the bottom into a NEW layer.
( )MikeM January 14th
This is a great beginner photoshop tutorial for many of the interns at out chicago website design studio. There are many ways to accomplish the same thing in photoshop weather its a shortcut or just selecting it off the menu. Shortcuts though will make your life a lot easier.
( )Colin January 18th
Awesome tutorial… very nice effect. Reminds me of something…
( )Robin January 22nd
where is the psd file? I can’t find the psd file anywhere? I looked on the hole page and can’t find the psd file anywhere?
( )Kushal Goenka January 25th
Great Job buddy…’ Experimentin’ alwayz payz..’
( )mudha January 25th
good, very good
( )Marcel January 27th
Can somebody help me to download the psd. file?
( )Erin January 31st
You are amazing. Seriously. All of my photoshop stuff I’ve done from your tuts have looked SO professional and good. I’ve loved them
( )insider January 31st
Your tuts a joke and the comments link to attack sites….Class Act Man
( )chandru February 5th
good work plz give the psd link
( )Jef February 17th
Wow…!!! me gusta esta forma!!!…. i like this form!!!
( )andrea February 18th
Where are the source files for this tutorial – I can’t find them anywhere!
( )andrea February 18th
Duh! Found the files. BTW, they’re located at the end of the tutorial and not the upper right.
http://collistaeed.com/Sample_Glass.zip
( )Sascho February 21st
Just a perfect TUT.
I love it and made a few pics with it.
THX
( )Lex March 20th
A few people seem to have the same issue as I am, but I don’t see a resolution for it yet, so I thought I’d post it as well.
The step where you “hold Ctrl and click the Q layer” is not clear. Maybe we have a different version, but when I do this a command menu pops up and I’m not sure what to do.
( )Ja-el April 15th
You just need to hold control and click in the “icon” (in the left side of the layers palette) of the Q layer. And thats it.
Great TUtorial!!!! Very nice effect.
( )JUGUETE April 15th
HEY MAN, THIS TUT IS COOL BUT IM JUST A LEARNER AND CANT FIGURE OUT HOW TO SET ALL THE BLENDING OPTIONS TO GET THE FIRST EFFECT, THINK THIS TUT IS VERY SHORTLY DESCRIBED, WERE YOU RUSHING SOMEWHERE?
THANKS ANYWAY
( )CgBaran Tuts April 20th
Nice effect
( )Gyrel Dagooc April 26th
Dude this is cool!!!!
( )noah lieske April 28th
hey. this was a pretty cool technique. thanks for sharing.
( )robert May 3rd
nice..awesome effects..that was cool..
( )Danny May 14th
Nice
( )Liviu June 4th
The link? In not there. So bad.
( )ghgfj June 4th
why must you make part of the tutorial downloadable? it makes no sense just include it in the tutorial i quit because thats just retarded more crap for my computer to keep track of
( )LLw June 25th
haha! the important part of the tutorial and you simply mill over it. i can write a tutorial about how to add colour fills too buddy.
( )so bad
sadhu July 19th
thanks for sharing, look at mine, hehe…
( )http://www.flickr.com/photos/sadhuism/3734903118/
Alguien August 2nd
Realmente increible. Muchísimas gracias.
( )FGL August 8th
Very nice tutorial. Short and to the point, but very well explained.
( )Thanks for including the PSD too as it will give me a comparative
RAJU August 24th
Very nice tutorial. Short and to the point, but very well explained.
( )vauil September 2nd
Very very good looking, well done..!!!
( )N-Designs September 3rd
very good tutorial.. thanks.
( )Rico September 29th
Nice tutorial
( )Mixed with some others and the result was this:
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z29/commander-rico/Franshinytextwallpaper.png
the best innovation here is in my opinion the polygonal lasso tool with 99% indents, perfect for stars
Intel Core 2 Quad Lover September 29th
Really great tutorial!
( )I can’t wait to try it…
I will make some Gaming Clan Glass Words
*Even Though I am bad at CSS template photoshop, etc……*
Chan October 9th
It’s Very Use Full
( )Jaspal Singh October 13th
Really awesome photoshop text effect tutorial
( )Thanks for sharing.
Unknown October 23rd
You might as well make this tut a + member view only..i mean it is VERY hard to do if you cant download the psd and see exactly what you did to the layers..might have been easyer if you made a video because i get stuck at 5, even though my layerstyle looks like crap anyways.
( )Rainy May October 29th
Very nice tutorial. I am currently gathering skills for my website tutorials. But don’t worry! I’ll give you credit
.
)
( )~Rainy May (Haha silly last name, huh? Yeah, i get that allot
ENKEFA HAARIS THE KING October 31st
REALLY IT IS UNBELIVEABLE AND FANTASTIC WEBSITE
( )Shweta pandit November 11th
hi, You have share with us really awesome tutorials but I always find that it never gives us perfect effect as you have given . but I am doing it again and again thank you so much!
( )