Using Light and Shade to Bring Text to Life

The best book I've ever read on drawing is one called Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. After reading it, I'm still pretty bad at drawing, but I did learn a lot about light and shade. In this tutorial we are going to take some very basic principles of light and shade to make a rather impressive-looking text effect.

Author: Collis

Hello! I started Psdtuts+ because years ago reading Photoshop tutorials was how I got into design. You can find me on Twitter or on my blog theNetsetter.

Light Sources

So before we start the tutorial, here is a little diagram about how light might hit an object. Here we have a square object in the middle with light coming from the top left. You can see that where the light hits the object, a shadow is cast on the other side. Note that the shadow is not a Photoshop drop shadow, which makes the object look like it's hovering above the canvas. Here we want the object to look like it's a three dimensional thing stuck on the canvas, extruding if you like. Now tell me what other Photoshop tutorial site gives you diagrams? It's like being back in school!

Step 1

We begin the tutorial by drawing a subtle Linear Gradient from dark grey to darker grey. Note that because we want our light to come from the top left, that's where the lighter part of the document is.

Step 2

Now we place some text. I've used a very cool font called Agency FB, which has a condensed, hard-edge feel to it. You should make the text a grey-ish blue color - #c2c8d4 to be precise.

Step 3

Next Ctrl-click the text layer and create a new layer above it. In the new layer, with that selection still held, draw a linear gradient of #495a79 to transparent from bottom right to left. So in other words you are darkening the bottom right as shown.

Step 4

Set your foreground color to Black (you can do this by pressing the letter 'D' on your keyboard which restores the defaults).

Now Ctrl-click the text layer again and create a new layer beneath the text layer. Now press the down arrow on your keyboard once and the right arrow on your keyboard once. Then press Alt+Backspace to fill it with black. Then press down and right again one time and fill with black. Each time you will be moving 1px right and 1px down. You should repeat this process about 30 times (which is why it's important to use Alt+Backspace instead of the Fill tool).

Note also that to move the selection but not the fills when you press your arrow keys, you have to have one of the Marquee tools on. If you switch to the Move Tool (V) when you press down and right you will actually move the black fill as well as the selection and will just be filling the same pixels over and over.

Step 5

Here's what you should now have. Now deselect and make sure you are on the shadow layer, then go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur and use values of -45 degrees and a distance of 30px.

Step 6

Set your shadow layer to Multiply and about 40% Opacity and then hold down Shift and press the down arrow and then the right arrow. This will move your object right and down 10px each (Shift tells Photoshop to go 10px at a time instead of 1). Now you may have some of the blurred parts of the shadow sticking out to the top and left of the object. If this is the case, grab a small soft eraser and gently erase away anything which shouldn't be shaded (remember the diagram at the beginning).

Step 7

Next duplicate the shadow layer, hold Shift and move it down and right again. Then run the Motion Blur filter again with a distance of 50px this time and set this layer to Multiply and 20% Opacity. This is just to give our shadows more of a trail off.

Step 8

Now create a new layer above all the other layers, hold down Ctrl and click the main text layer to select its pixels and back on your new layer fill the selection with White. Don't let go of the selection just yet though. Instead press down and right one time to move 1px away and then hit Delete.

Set this thin white line layer to about 80% Opacity.

Step 9

As you can see, the thin white line gives a sort of highlight effect where the light source is hitting the text and gives the impression that the text is more three dimensional.

Step 10

Next we want to create some streams of natural light. Create a new layer above all the others and draw four or five white rectangles approximately similar to those shown (i.e. getting fatter as they go down).

Step 11

Now press Ctrl+T to transform and rotate and enlarge the rectangles as shown. Now normally you'd press Enter when you're finished, but this time don't let go just yet. Instead, right-click and you will get a pop up menu showing you other types of transforms you can do. Choose Perspective. The reason it's important to do this in one step is so that you don't lose your bounding box. So take the top left two points and bring them closer together so that the light appears to be coming from one place and spreading out.

Step 12

Here we have our four strips of "light." Now set the layer to Overlay and 20% Opacity and then go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and give it a blur radius of 6px.

Step 13

You should now have something that looks like this.

Step 14

Now since those thin strips are meant to be light, it would make sense if our highlight layer only showed up where the light was hitting right? So Ctrl-click the light layer and then click on the highlight layer from earlier, then while the selection is still on, click on the Add Layer Mask button (it's the one at the bottom of the layer palette to the right of the 'f' icon). This will create a Mask that only shows the highlight layer where the light overlaps it.

Step 15

So you could stop here; it's already looking pretty good, but we'll finish this effect off by adding some warm lighting.

Step 16

So first of all create a new layer just above the background and fill it with a pinkish color - #9d506c.

Step 17

Now set the pink layer's blending mode to Colour and the opacity to 20%. This gives our background a nice reddish-warmth. Over the top of this we can now mix in some yellows. If we don't put in the reddish cast underneath, the result comes out looking overly yellow and not particularly real.

Step 18

Next we create a layer just above the pink. Fill it completely with white and then go to Filter > Render > Lighting Effects. I don't often use Lighting Effects, but it does have one very cool preset called the Two O'clock Spotlight, which you can select by going to Style at the top and looking through the options. You can pretty much use this as default, but for our purposes it helps to extend the ellipse to make it a little longer (i.e. the spotlight is a little further off).

Step 19

Now we set the lighting layer to Overlay and you have something like shown below. Now duplicate that layer, move it above all the other and set it to 40% Opacity. This makes sure that our warm lighting is also interacting with the text and not just the background.

Conclusion

Finally, we duplicate the top lighting layer one more time and set it to 65% Opacity, then click the Add Layer Mask button on the layers palette again and draw a linear white to black gradient from top left to bottom right. This makes the extra lighting layer fade off as it goes down right.

Keep reading with more great tutorials and articles!

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User Comments

( ADD YOURS )

Devon Lumsden November 6th

This is a real great tutorial I ‘ll have a try and show you what i come up with
( Reply )
PiticStyle November 6th

Beautiful! Thank you!
( Reply )
Jim November 6th

Pretty interesting, now if I could only find a practical design concept… Keep posting guys! These are really helpful!
( Reply )
Jimmy November 6th

Grt Tut.keep up the good work.good to see that you make us see the basics too.:)
Thanks
( Reply )
Colin November 6th

i love render lighting effects! very nice!
( Reply )
mygrads November 6th

wow, this is great!
( Reply )
Livingston Samuel November 6th

Wonderful work! Your site rocks.
( Reply )
rpleh November 6th

Wow! Amazing work as always!
( Reply )
Marko Novak November 6th

Now, that’s a nice tutorial. It’s helpful and can be used for many things. Keep up the good work.
( Reply )
OliMX November 6th

This is good stuff on Back to Basic
( Reply )
Jason Zhong November 6th

It’s great work! I’m very like it. Thank you so much . ^_^
( Reply )
Jeffrey November 6th

very nice
( Reply )
Mark November 6th

Yet again great tut Collis. Easy and simple to follow. Keep up the good work!
( Reply )
CAMBRIDGE WEB DESIGN November 6th

Very nice indeed – Thank you for sharing your technique!
( Reply )
James November 6th

Oooohh… pretty…
( Reply )
Zenor November 6th

Great one,as always.
Thanks.
( Reply )
chandan kumar November 6th

awesome again.
( Reply )
Dane -Touchdreams November 6th

Aw this’s great! Gives me some ideas a lots of new techniques I’ve never done before. I particularly like the way you’ve done the motion blur for the text’s shadow, very nifty trick that
( Reply )
Gregorio November 6th

Amazing! You’re tutorials are really cool, thank you
( Reply )
Dane -Touchdreams November 6th

A trick I love to use, esp in metal-looking text like this, is to make the text seem to be slightly higher at the middle than the top and bottom. To do this I set a gradient layer above the text layer and set it to overlay (must have a mask allowing it to only affect the text). I set the gradient’s top colour to just lighter than 50% gray and the bottom just darker than 50% gray. Works wonderfully with the text you’ve made in this tut!
( Reply )
Zeb November 7th

Very nice tuto ! very good job
( Reply )
Michael November 7th

Again, a very well thought out and constructed tutorial.
I’m wondering though how a comparison between some of the built-in features of Photoshop, with regard to shadows and embossing for edge highlights, and your exemplary work here would pan out. (i just might give that a try… )
As always though, it’s your complimentary/finishing touches that make your ‘pieces’ so pristine.
thanks!
( Reply )
Ryan November 7th

Looks cool,
however I don’t think the shadow of the text works as its perfectly straight where as the light beams have been distorted with perspective.
Would look better if you distorted the text shadow as well (steps 5-7)
( Reply )
Marc November 7th

No way that just rocks. I didn’t know digital shading on text could look so nice. Thank you!
( Reply )
jizi November 7th

awesome tut!a big cup of coffee 4 you
( Reply )
Jeff November 7th

I friggin’ love this site. It’s the little things in these tutorials (like the 1-pixel white highlight trick) that I really love. Keep up the great work.
( Reply )
IhateDesign November 7th

Your tutorials are amazing! thanks for sharing your acknowledgments with us!
Cheers from CHile!
( Reply )
Alen November 7th

Nice as always.
( Reply )
bart November 7th

Best PSD site i have ever see! Go on
( Reply )
Rachelle November 7th

Would you recommend using this type of text treatment for print work?
( Reply )
Ross November 7th

I’ve learned a ton from your site and have started to brag about you to friends. Thank you.
( Reply )
Grace Smith November 7th

Collis can i just say you are an absolute photoshop genius!
( Reply )
Sandro November 7th

Great tut! I like you little nice touch with the layer mask..
( Reply )
handx November 7th

Collis, may i know what book you always u to get inspiration to do all this tuts??..tell us if u dont mind bro.
Hey, i always here since FSW open in April
( Reply )
handx November 7th

OPss..missing word —- Always used*
( Reply )
Joefrey Mahusay November 7th

Wow! Awesome tut. Great job again !
( Reply )
Yao November 7th

So fine.. thanks
( Reply )
Gregorio November 7th

AMAZING Tut, Thank you so much, I learn a lot from you, Cherss from Venezuela.
This is the one a made:
http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/5708/domigc2.jpg
( Reply )
Kris November 7th

I think if you said what size/res your document was, or your font size, it would be helpful. Sometimes it doesn’t matter, but in this case different values get a very different effect.
Great one!
( Reply )
Andrew G. November 7th

You are amazing, thank you so much for all the knowledge you share. I, personally feel very grateful for everything you show us.
( Reply )
Ali Salem November 7th

I come here everyday to check for new stuff! Wonderful job…Keep it up!
( Reply )
Bakaburra November 7th

I tink this is one of the better tutorialÂ´s blog i have visited. Very clear, organized…elegant….mmmm i love it!
CONTINUE WITH IT, PLEASE!
( Reply )
Vinit November 7th

Yeah its good tutorial ……..site rocks………
( Reply )
Harry November 7th

Hey after following lots of your tuts(GREAT by the way) i want to know why my gradients look so clearly steped, where yours are fluid and clear. Why?
( Reply )
Polo November 7th

Cool work, thanks !
( Reply )
Beawolf November 7th

Hi
Sorry to ask this in the responses (although I still think all your tutorials rock) but how do I get ahold of you. I need to ask you something about the compass tutorial you did awhile ago please.
B
( Reply )
Kluke November 7th

Great tutorial! Thank you so much!
I just used it right now at work, and it’s just save my life:)
( Reply )
clint November 8th

Great tutorial, thanks a lot!
( Reply )
Britney November 8th

Was this tutorial done on a Mac or a PC? Many of the commands such as alt click and hit the up arrow once and the right arrow once, did not work on my mac pro and I am using CS3 Design premium. Maybe I have different settings, I don’t know. I would love to learn how to do this effect without all the keyboard “shortcuts.” Very cool effect that I would really like to use!
( Reply )
Don November 8th

Awesome tutorial. Loving the site.
My outcome:
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q195/Divius/Divius.jpg
( Reply )
xcarpatti November 8th

wow esta exelente el tutorial, ya intente hacer y no me quedo muy bien pero ya lo ire mejorando, gracias!!!!
( Reply )
eduardo November 8th

Muito bom… =)
( Reply )
Mark November 8th

This is awesome…nice work psdtuts.com, great job very cool- its very clean tutorial and discuss step by step.
Thanks and great job again.
( Reply )
jerry November 8th

very nice tut!
There is what I got
Check it out , kinda modified, but still.. shade, huh ?
http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/8974/shadevy2.jpg
( Reply )
Hendrik November 9th

very nice effects again!
best ps tutorial site for sure
see my result here (hope the tags work):
[img]http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/7610/shadeqw2.jpg[/img]
( Reply )
Hauff November 9th

Very very nice tutorial! =)
Now that’s a real Psdtuts.com style!
Thanks!
( Reply )
Tom Goff November 9th

I do a lot of carved signs and would like to be able to show customers what their sign might look like on paper. Do you know of, or have a tutorial that could take lettering and make it appear to be carved?
Thanks,
Tom
( Reply )
Nature Wallpaper November 9th

beautiful and very easy tutorial, I think shading is crucial and adds depth to images and text even for simple documents or designing websites/ advertising material. Also that is a nice font. Thank you again!
( Reply )
psfan November 9th

Thank you, thank you!
( Reply )
Jacob November 9th

Very nice.. Do you know where I can get the font you use (agency fb) ???
( Reply )
Derrick November 9th

Awesome!
( Reply )
Yuji Tomita November 9th

Hey I absolutely love every single tutorial here.
Just though i’d mention that since every other bit of this tutorial is “spoonfed” you might want to add that you not only extend the 2 o clock shadow but rotate it to 10 o clock. Love your stuff.
I’m always excited for the next one..
( Reply )
Omar November 9th

Collin,
You’re great, man!
Really thanks for your great efforts, and for all your tutorials posted here! Very useful and inspiring!
Cheers
( Reply )
Omar November 9th

ps.: and sorry about mistyping your name in my post above
( Reply )
Wasted November 9th

Very Cool. I am a Web & Graphic Designer since 2000. But I learned shading againg. Thank you …
( Reply )
ndogh November 9th

woww, thanks for your support design world by guiding us with this
tutorial
( Reply )
blablah November 9th

Wow, great tutorial!
One of the few tutorials which i actually enjoyed doing
Thanks!
( Reply )
Polaris November 10th

It’s a great TUT! I want to ask you if I can use this tutorial for my forum if I credit you and your site!
( Reply )
moosa November 10th

Thank you
It’s very buteful
( Reply )
Malte Hansen November 10th

Seriously, the tutorials on this site really is beautiful!
Alot of tut sites makes tutorials just to make tutorials, but you make tuts because you want to show us how to make something that looks really cool…
Thx alot for THAT !
( Reply )
kaori November 10th

thank you for sharing this tutorial. I will definitely try it. I actually haven’t thought of applying this kind of shade to my designs (actually just I just mess around with drop shadow) again thank you and hope to see more of your tutorials!
( Reply )
YouON November 10th

nice simple things are not really simple to imagine, great tutorial!
( Reply )
zoe November 10th

i like this, great job
( Reply )
Sonny November 11th

ok , i tryd over and over again this … shit happens … could someone please add me and tell me wat im doing wrong … coz i really dont get wat im missing (locaits8@msn.com)
( Reply )
Mac Dub November 11th

Nice one! You make it really easy for a beginner to make some great art. I agree with what Kris said about the canvas and font size tho. It really does make a difference in some of these tuts like the transparent glass effect. In the end it’s the way you get there though, right?
Cheers
( Reply )
eshark November 13th

Brilliant! amazing results.. great tutorial. Bravo!
( Reply )
cchana November 13th

An excellent article. some of the tips are very useful. I will be trying this one out!
( Reply )
Brendon November 14th

This is the greatest tut site of them all. I really like the fact that you give us tutorial-seekers the theory that can make our art great!
( Reply )
Khoa November 14th

well, It’s damn good.
( Reply )
Paz November 14th

No less than 3D, its lovely!! Keep it up.
( Reply )
Mei November 15th

Great tutorial!
It really shows that with some hard work, you can achieve effects far in advance of the default layer styles.
( Reply )
sideshow November 16th

WOW!!! What an awesome tut! Great work!!!
( Reply )
Tommy Day November 16th

Awesome tutorial! It reminds me of the King Kong titles in the remake a couple years ago!
( Reply )
IsmetM November 17th

Beautiful effect and I’ve got several uses for this. Many thanks
( Reply )
Marty November 17th

This is a fantastic tutorial. Much learned…much appreciated.
( Reply )
Free Icons November 18th

Fantastic.
Thanks for sharing!
( Reply )
deezul6 November 18th

I get to step 18 but cannot choose lightning effects as an option. It only gives me the option to choose lens flare and fiber. What am i doing wrong?
( Reply )
Krzycho_666 November 18th

Oh my Godness! The final effect rocks! I can’t find any words to describe how good it realy is!!!
( Reply )
Sangesh November 18th

The effects on are really awesome. Just outstanding.
( Reply )
Brandon - Call Center Consultant November 21st

Amazing! I sent your tutorial to my designer to use for our logo of the site redesign he’s doing.
( Reply )
featherstone November 21st

Thanks form Vietnam!
( Reply )
Vasudeesha November 21st

Good one…
( Reply )
zoel November 21st

amazing!
( Reply )
Muhammed shaheel November 21st

Marvellous ! Genius
( Reply )
swapnil November 24th

the best text tutorial ever
( Reply )
swapnil November 24th

keep posting such great things man.
( Reply )
ptamaro November 25th

Wow, the final result is fantastic — really nice work. Lots of really nice tricks and effects. Thanks!
( Reply )
f0vela November 25th

Really great tutorial, i follow every step and got an amazing result
Keep the great work
( Reply )
lizardboi November 27th

Nice one man. Basic knowledge on lighting is allways usefull, i really like how you put there drawing essencials, not just “push this button twice” tutorial. Keep up!
( Reply )
Lucas (wydblog) November 28th

Thank you very mach, this tutorial is great! spectacular! xD!
( Reply )
Arthur November 29th

Hey,
amazing tuts!!!!
its a great effect to give the writing something else!!!
congrats!!!
( Reply )
omodudu November 29th

Seriously you are make me look brilliant at work.
( Reply )
kgv November 30th

I’m kind of new to ps, I’ve been trying to this tutorial, but it seems this might be a little different using CS3?
( Reply )
Sabaj December 2nd

Great effect… I just wish Adobe PS could do this 3D shadow-effect filter the way you did!… I’ve been asking for years…
Thanks for a great tutorial!…
( Reply )
seÃ¡n mongey December 2nd

Nice Easy to follow tutorial.
Thanks for sharing your expertise.
( Reply )
Dieg December 2nd

Amaaazing! Thanks!
( Reply )
MaxHeadshot December 3rd

From where I sit, this is one of the premiere Photoshop tutorial sites out there. Elegant interface, precise instructions, and high end product. I roll in on a regular basis and haven’t been disappointed yet. Keep up the exceptional work.
( Reply )
Filischi December 7th

I don’t like sushi, but i like this tutorial!
( Reply )
carlos December 9th

how do you select transparent for a color?
( Reply )
jar December 9th

amazing tutorial… great work!
( Reply )
shafiu December 9th

nicely done.
( Reply )
Luca December 11th

Cool!
( Reply )
bruice December 11th

FANTASTIC JOB…………….
( Reply )
Victor December 12th

Pure Beauty!
( Reply )
Buttoned-Up.com December 15th

Awesome tutorial. Thanks!
( Reply )
nolawi December 25th

thanks
nice
( Reply )
Rashed December 28th

awesome tut bro. thnx a lot for this. bro i have a lttle prob. i am trying for last 1 hour but am stuch at 1 point. i cant do this step ” Now create a new layer above all the other layers, hold down CTRL and click the main text layer to select its pixels and back on your new layer fill the selection with White. Don’t let go of the selection just yet though, instead press down and right one time to move 1px away and then hit Delete. “.. every time i hit del it deleted the whole white fill and no white small border remains. could you please explain this step a bit elaborately?? i will be really grateful
( Reply )
James January 2nd

awesome! heres my attempt http://img232.imageshack.us/my.php?image=jamesshadowcopyhe2.jpg
( Reply )
Mikael January 8th

Looks great. However I’m stuck at step three. Just can’t seem to figure out how to do the
“CTRL-click the text layer and create a new layer above it. In the new layer, with that selection still held, draw a linear gradient of #495a79 to transparent from bottom right to left”
Anyone care to explain further? Thanks
( Reply )
wewt January 13th

schweeet
( Reply )
LnsazP January 16th

thanksss…
excellent show….
( Reply )
locke January 21st

It’s a simple tutorial but it’s veryyy COOLL
( Reply )
Ali Yilmaz February 8th

Greattttt. Thanks for sharing.
( Reply )
Madiator February 17th

Absolutely mindblowing!
( Reply )
Kev February 18th

maybe im just stupid but i always get lost half way through most tuts lol can anyone help plz!
( Reply )
Sun_Dragon March 18th

Thank you so much for the tutorials, for every person that work and help PSD, Im so glad to have found the site and I have made a lot of these tutorials, and thanks to that I understood a little more of the software. Thankyou and keep up the good work.
( Reply )
bvd March 23rd

ey thanks for your tut
it’s great man
( Reply )
kishoreblog April 2nd

PSDTUTS Rocks. Wonderful. Im visiting frequently for new new stuffs.
http://www.kishoreblog.com
( Reply )
ro April 3rd

Great tut BUT you have one major FLAW. WHen you write a tut you should explain what your doing instead of just listing steps. Many people, myself included, do not have the same hotkey functions as you do so you must explain the manual way or at the very least say what the hotkeys your using do.
( Reply )
jb April 17th

hi, i love your tutorial
but i have a pb at the step #8… “Don’t let go of the selection just yet though, instead press down and right one time to move 1px away and then hit Delete.”
i don’t understand what you mean.. iam french so i have poor english, and i need more explanations please…
You mean delete what? the selection? or the last Layer??
Btw, the shortcut “Ctrl-click” to get the selection don’t works for me… with photoshop cs 3.. i can do that with the menu>select>recover the selection or smthing like that…
thanks for the help and keep the good work..
( Reply )
jb April 17th

Okay, i finally found a solution for the STEP 8… it was because there is an error in the tutorial… :S
When he say move to the right and down… just move to up and left (with arrows) then fill the selection with white….and then set opacity to 80%.
Then, you have to move the last layer (#3) (the new one with the white) under the main layer (number 1)
Sry if you can’t understand me….
Good luck
( Reply )
Rybaxs April 26th

abi nako simple, dli diay.. grabeh… i’ve tut is was simple, but i realize is wasn’t
( Reply )
ferdach April 27th

How do u do step 11 (white stripes) I’m kinda new in PS, btw gj.
( Reply )
Martin April 30th

Use the marquee tool to make a rectangle selection and fill it with white
( Reply )
Oyen May 13th

Omg.it is easy to read but hard to apply but nice tutorial.Tnx
( Reply )
VINAY May 15th

wow… amazing very easy to understand the instruction even a begginer like me can come up with a design like that amazing thx a lot…
( Reply )
Akash Takyar May 19th

This is really amazing tutorial. It would be great if someone can post a link to the final PSD.
( Reply )
Danijel Lazic May 23rd

Really nice tutorial! Really wonderfull! Amazingly easy to follow and a great result!
Thanks alot!
( Reply )
R.R May 23rd

Cool.
I honestly would not have thought to do it this way….or at all really.
Thanks….simple is always the best.
( Reply )
Leo June 3rd

Did you see the Haze game site – their default video graphic looks a lot like the designer saw this tut!
( Reply )
Shin June 3rd

yeah.. nice on… oh soo savvy..
use to do it all in illustrator then imported to photoshop for the photographic effects.
i heart PSDTUTS
( Reply )
David June 10th

Good job.
I was able to follow along, but I don’t think I was able to get that 1 white pixel line. I did exactly as instructed, but if I turn off that layer I don’t see any difference.
Fyi: you forgot to mention to select the move key before doing step 6. I couldn’t do step 6 unless I selected the move tool first P
( Reply )
Terence June 11th

Like above, I couldn’t do step 6 either.
( Reply )
wil June 13th

really good thanks
it gave me something to do whilst i was bored
( Reply )
Tehri June 16th

Really Good Tutorial and nice use of shadows..
Thankx.
( Reply )
Ancient Wrath June 18th

Oh. My.
Everytime I watch a Tut on this site my jaw hits the ground. Really, REALLY awesome.
Thanks.
( Reply )
Sriteja June 18th

Ok., very nice and very cool story
( Reply )
Mariko July 16th

Thanks for this great tutorial!
I used the photoshop to make a logo for the first time in my life.
Even it’s explained in English i could finish my first work and it looks great ;)
( Reply )
SERPENTEMX July 17th

WoWOw super awesome. here are my results:
http://img152.imageshack.us/my.php?image=shadedyx9.jpg
( Reply )
Oktay Oe. aka kty July 23rd

Beatiful Text Effect…
This is what I got :
http://img29.picoodle.com/img/img29/4/7/22/f_Desktopm_fe337b7.jpg
A cool looking Desktop…
btw.. that Docking Station on the top is calles “ObjectDock”
( Reply )
Brynn August 10th

I’m just a beginner and I takes me like a whole afternoon to follow a tutorial like this and come up with similar results, but I learn a lot from it, thanks a lot I have checked other tuts as well and yours are by far the best and easiest to follow (at least for me).
( Reply )
Adrian August 29th

VERY useful tutorial, AWESOME job! Thanks for the tips
( Reply )
Daniel ( Sweden ) August 29th

Awesome man, keep up the amazing work!! The world Need people like you.
( Reply )
Manu September 11th

Hi all,
I’ve stumble upon this amazing text effect and decided to use it for a logo, but as I’m rather new to photoshop, it seems that there are some basics I do not have yet.
The problem I have is that on step 12 I can not set the layer to overlay because this mode is disabled in the combo box.
Any help for a novice like me will be much appreciated.
Anyway, thank you for this tutorial, the effect is awesome.
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Dorthe September 12th

I get stuck on step 18. I can’t select the filter “Render/Lighting Effect”. Use CS3. What do I do wrong?
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Ramazan September 16th

Beautiful! Thank you!
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Chiefbobo September 19th

Same problem with step 3. When I control + click on the text layer I get the pop-up menu of choices for the layer (i.e. Duplicate layer, rasterize layer, etc.) Does he mean duplicate the layer?? Then he says “with that selection still held draw a linear gradient”, what selection?? At that point in the tut I don’t have anything selected. Does he mean a gradient overlay??
Nice tut but too many steps are what the author was thinking, and not what he wrote. (I think he’s on Windows so some of the keyboard shortcuts don’t match on a Mac. Maybe, I don’t know. I’m confused.) Too bad, I really wanted to learn this one.
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Chiefbobo September 19th

Help for those stuck at step 3. If you are on a Mac use Apple + Click to click on the text layer (Win Control + Click). And make sure you click on the little box with the “T” in the Layers pallet, not just the whole layer. Otherwise you get the contextual menu and not a selection of the text.
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geejayoh September 21st

Wow, great tutorial, got a great wallpaper idea out of this. Thanks.
Finished wallpaper http://www.flickr.com/photos/dasavatara/2875005680/sizes/o/
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Siouxsly September 30th

This was an excellent tutorial. This is one of the very few that I was able to follow to the letter and have the same results. Thank you.
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blackjak October 3rd

Great tutorial! I had some problems with the “shortcuts” especially with “ctrl+click on the layer”. You should have mentioned that people should click on the thumbnail of the layer and then click select pixels…
Anyway, here is what i’ve done. Used a different font, and changed the lighting a little….
http://nsa02.casimages.com/img/2008/10/03/081003035220620070.png
Thanks again!
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r4ge October 7th

GREAT very nice tutorial. i love it thanks for the tut!
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David October 23rd

Dorthe:
Step 18,
Make sure you’ve filled the new layer with White, otherwise the Lightning Effects won’t work. I made that mistake at first too P
I finished the tutorial and did fine, but step 3 still does puzzle me:
…bottom right to left…
Does he mean from the bottom of the layer or from the selection? and to the left—upper left, bottom left, or diagonally across?
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Gaty November 7th

Excellent, really nice! Thanks
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Just1s November 19th

when I go to step 17 I can’t use blending options, because I get a pop up that says: “Could not complete your request because there is not enough memory(RAM)”. What that means?
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forpetmenot November 19th

Amazing, Thanks!
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DemoGeek November 24th

This is just a great text effect…I really love the font and the shade.
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Yappappeo December 5th

BRAVOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
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amir December 21st

Absolutely nice…
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Raoul December 23rd

awsomw tutorial. shame i will have to go over tons of pictures again to add the affect onto them now to improve them all
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Sukhwinder January 4th

Rocking, It’s really great tutorial
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MUHAMMAD SHAKEEL January 6th

good and thanks
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chico January 15th

good
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Josh Drake January 29th

Absolutely beautiful result! The end text looks really 3D and slick – thanks!
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joyoge designers' bookmark January 29th

Wonderful work! thanks for tutorial
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telefony na raty szczecin February 11th

i read it, i try it, i like it
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lawrence77 February 14th

Collis a genius!
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MirazTutorials February 15th

A nice effective tutorial i would use a slightly different colour scheme however but thats just my taste on this one.
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angga February 19th

thanks!! its s very impresive!
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struky February 20th

thank you!! excellent tutorial.
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edu March 2nd

thank you, it great
I wish you luck
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rediiss March 5th

gotta try this! i’m a total newbie, but this looks like i might be able to do it myself! thanks!!
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Jehzeel Laurente March 6th

Great! I need to digg this post! yay! The lighting and shadow effect was so realistic.
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lunakizz March 10th

Awesome, Thanks!
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Greg March 11th

looks like the script of the pc game “sins of a solar empire”!!! Thanks, looks nice and very awesome; keep on doing Collis, I love your tuts ^^
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sriganesh March 14th

nice one
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Jaysone March 16th

This is awesome
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john March 25th

I love the end product you have made, not easy to follow the tut though so advanced photoshop users only
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1. Armen April 11th
  
  I Love it too
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Blueice March 26th

new to this game.. but step 4 has got me stummped! This is where you Ctrl – click the layer, and move the selection 1px down and right.. however anyone know why i only get ‘Cannot nudge as you must Rasterize the layer first’ what am i doing wrong? PC version btw…
Many thanks to any brave souls that can ease my pain….
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Freezman April 8th

I’ve got a little trouble, and when I look at others members attempt, I see the same thing.
http://freezman42.free.fr/Images/Vrac/screenshot15.png
See ? The shadow is not the same. Right near the letters, in this tutorial, the shadow appears stronger than it is in my (an other members) creation. By following the step 6 and 7, the result is not the same as in the tutorial. I think there should be 3 shadow layer instead of 2, because in the end of this tuts, we can see that there are 3 level of shadow while there are only 2 in mine…
Uh, and sorry for my english, I’m french.
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Khaleel April 15th

Great tutorial!!
Thanx !!
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Lillan April 21st

A really good tut!
Tnx
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adri_ April 29th

another great tutorial ! thanks !
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Duraozinho April 30th

This was an awesome tutorial! Really clear, concise, and straightforward. And super easy to follow along. Thanks!
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Puffy May 3rd

Please help me >:O
@ step 18 – When i add a new layer (blank layer) and go to filt-rend-lighting effect it says that Selected area is empty … And dunno what to do.. fill it with a 0% alpha color or what……
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Puffy May 3rd

Sry im n00b Now i know – have to use a white color and the filter will do all the alpha grandients and stuff. Anyway – great tutorial ! Thanx ! (hint: at the small white layer under the original text layer – add some white glow -just a bit- and youll have a nice shader-like glow
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jian zhang May 8th

Cool ~
thanks for you !
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Me May 8th

Very nice, Awesome, Keep up the good work m8, This is very useful And Thx again
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Sonya May 13th

hI, i’m new too all this, and i couldn’t understand how Step 3 was done. If anyone could explain a bit more, i would really appreciate it.
thnks,
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The XnK May 15th

If u add in the top layer (that last one with the Layer Mask) a Fiber filter with yellow and black that creates a great effect too. Very very nice tut!
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Free HD Wallpapers May 30th

Huh !.
I have searching for a tute like this for months.
finally found.
Thanks.
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Pay Advance June 3rd

Love this tutorial. I am now applying to several of my websites and experimenting with different colors for the lighting. Thanks
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evo_chic June 6th

Hi, this was a great tutorial, although mine looked brighter for some reason. Can’t figure out why. Anyways, I still learned something.. thanks!
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Bobby D June 8th

it would be gd if you could actually explain how to do things. We’re not all photoshop nerds. I’m stuck on step 3! Are u supposed keep the Ctrl key held down? How do create a gradient with transparency??!!
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Katy Simmons June 9th

nice tutorial. I’m a beginner and I’m stuck on step 6 – how do you set your shadow layer to Multiply? wot does this mean?
Any help?
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IoooI June 13th

I can’t do for step result 4. Please help to show step by step. I’m Newbie.
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Sameer June 30th

This is very good.
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Stody July 16th

Great Tutorial!
I will try to get some results out of this. I like it very much!
Greetz,
Stody
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Jai July 29th

Hi I only found this site last week and already my PS is improving from the great tut’s. Thanks!
I got all the way through this one, with my own text, but I’ve just fallen at the last hurdle.
Can anyone help please?
At step 18, I’ve made my white fill layer above the pink, but when I go to Filter > Render > Lighting Effects. I can’t click on /lighting Effects, it’s highlighted out. I can choose the other options above it though.
I’d really like to tweak and apply this method for a forum sig I’m making,. but can’t quite get the finishing touch.
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Giallo July 31st

Bravo you’re the best one so far!!!!
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Tyler Maslen August 5th

just got all the way to step 18 and got stuck, once i create a new layer and fill it white and make sure its on top of the pink layer, I go to filter > render> and then the lighting effects is grey’d out, anyone know why? would much appriciate the help because this is a really cool effect.
Thanks
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1. Jai August 12th
  
  As I commented 2 above here, same problem for me.
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  1. Jai August 12th
    
    Wow, I just got lucky!
    Tyler I solved the problem. I presume you made the document as 16 bit colour or greater?
    Go to Image > Mode and change it to 8 bit colour. The filter options that where previously greyed out can now be used.
    Thanks to nodster in the comments at another tut > http://psd.tutsplus.com/tutorials/tutorials-effects/advanced-glow-effects/#comment-151862 for posting the solution.
Carlos Ley August 11th

Great Tut, Simple & Great!
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tutorialslounge August 29th

i really enjoy your tips and tricks which you using in this beautiful tutorial.
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Peter September 20th

Nice Nice Nice:) Really nice tut:D imo its a bit hard but so much fun
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NSRDesign October 6th

Incredibly clear, quick and one of the most crucial tutorials I’ve ever followed. Congrats from me.
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Richard October 8th

I can’t get through step 4.. i think you should give clearer instructions…
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Colin October 10th

Hi Great tutorial! Although when you attempt this step-by-step it is very difficult to get past steps 4,5. Are there any further instructions to get through these steps? I really want to finish this technique! Thank you, Colin
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JBeck October 15th

What settings did you use to open the new file? I used 200 pixels/inch, and the resulting font is pixellated around its edges. HELP?!
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agon October 20th

LIKE IT …NICE TUT BRO …KEEP IT UP
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Stefan Klingler November 4th

Thanks a lot…
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rozy November 8th

thank you its briliant
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ALDO AMILKAR November 10th

Excelente!!!
Gracias por la aportación y por la paciencia para describir todos los pasos
Saludos desde México
———————
Excellent!!!
Thanks for the contribution and the patience to describe step by step
Greetings from Mexico
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asdf November 18th

first: its a great tut
further: STEP 4 can be done more easier by transforming the letters and than use the function of step and repeat
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Mani November 20th

its really amazing thx to developer…
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spam December 8th

Step 4 could be done faster by using actions
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b13 December 13th

awesome tuturaial. great REALLY
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Rev December 13th

GoOoOoOoD One
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nick December 19th

great tut, but, i have one question
step 14, what kind of overlay? and where do i find it? i’ve got 3 fricking options, and its in german, and im getting quite annoyed checking translations, i know where to change it to overly, but its not there. nothing says just ‘overlay’. i got color overlay, gradient overlay, and pattern overlay. WTF.
now im gonna have to wait ages for someone to answer this….
thanks.
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ajimon January 9th

nice work, beautiful ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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chicago web design January 15th

great work. shading is a big thing ppl overlook.
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will January 16th

very nice. .. great example of designing..
truly professional web designing
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plooshon January 22nd

definitely useful. thx!
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jeprie February 2nd

you’re damn good collis. simple but powerfull. i also love those details you explain.
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Seb February 3rd

In this step: Next Ctrl-click the text layer and create a new layer above it. In the new layer, with that selection still held, draw a linear gradient of #495a79 to transparent from bottom right to left.
I’m not sure what ctrl+click is supposed to do. And what do you mean with the selection still held? What selection? Can you simplify this for me as I don’t have a clue what I should be looking at.
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Cho Ha Jun February 8th

Thx By : CHO HA JUN (SMAN 4 BANDUNG) (Kls XI-IPS)
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