Hi. This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
I'm going to show you how to create colorful glossy, molded plastic text with a reflection
and how to quickly replace the text without having to redo the effects.
This is an update of a tutorial I did quite awhile on an earlier version of Photoshop.
Create a new document by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + N.
Make the Width: 1920 pixels, the Height: 1080 pixels and the Resolution: 150 pixels per inch.
The Color Mode is RGB and 8 bits per channel.
Click the color box and pick black.
Click OK and click "Create" or OK.
Open your "Horizontal Type Tool" and pick a font.
I'm picking "Cooper Black Regular".
If you'd like to use this font, as well, I provided its link in my video's description below.
I'll choose a large point size because I'm only using 4 characters in my text, however,
feel free to adjust this amount based on the font you choose and the amount of characters in your text.
The anti-aliasing is Sharp and Center Text alignment.
Click the color box and pick white, so we can see the text well when we type it out.
Click on your document and type out your text.
To reposition it, open your Move Tool and move it.
Click the Adjustment Layer icon and click "Gradient".
The Style is "Linear" and make the Angle 0 degrees.
I'll click this gradient preset, called "Spectrum".
Feel free to experiment with other gradients if you like.
You can see many others by clicking this gear icon to open a list.
We'll make the gradient adjustment layer into a clipping mask, which will restrict it to just our text.
To do this, you can either go to Layer and "Create Clipping Mask" or use the shortcut,
Ctrl + Alt + G on Windows or Cmd + Option + G on a Mac.
Double-click on an empty area of your text layer to open its Layer Style window.
click “Bevel & Emboss”.
The Style is Inner Bevel, the Technique is Smooth and the Depth is 50%.
The Direction is Up, the Size is 40 pixels and the Soften is 1 pixel.
Make sure "Use Global Light" is checked.
Make the Angle: 130 degrees and the Altitude: 60 degrees.
Open the "Contour Picker" and click the "Ring - Triple" contour.
The Highlight Mode is Screen, its color is white and its opacity is 100%.
The Shadow Mode's blend mode, as well as its color, is irrelevant because we'll make its opacity 0%.
Click "Contour" and open its fly-out list.
Click "Shallow Slope - Valley" and make its Range: 75%.
Click "Inner Glow".
The color is black, the Blend Mode is Multiply and the Opacity is 50%
The Size is 24 pixels. Click "Drop Shadow".
The color is black, the Blend Mode is Color Burn and the Opacity is 50%.
The Angle is 130 degrees, the Distance is 10 pixels and the Size is 5 pixels.
Then, click OK.
Next, we'll create the outer edge of our text.
Ctrl-click or Cmd-click the large "T" of the text layer to make a selection of your text.
Go to Select, Modify and Expand.
I'll expand it 16 pixels, but if your text's point size is much smaller, you may want to expand it less.
Make a new layer below the active layer by Ctrl-clicking or Cmd-clicking the New Layer icon.
Press "G" to open your Gradient Tool and press and hold Shift as you drag it from the left
edge of your document to the right edge.
Holding Shift kept it perfectly horizontal as you dragged it across.
To deselect it, press Ctrl or Cmd + D. Double-click Layer 1 to open its Layer Style Window.
Click "Bevel & Emboss".
Make the Depth: 20% and the Size: 17 pixels.
Click, "Contour" and the open the Contour presets.
Click "Rolling Slope Descending".
Click "Inner Glow".
The Blend Mode is Linear Light and the Opacity is 20%.
Click the color box and pick white.
Then, click OK.
Make the Size: 18 pixels.
Click "Satin".
The color is black, the Blend Mode is Linear Light and the Opacity is 30%.
The Angle is 90 degrees, the Distance is 4 pixels and the Size is 10 pixels.
Open the Contour presets and again, click "Rolling Slope Descending".
Make sure "Invert" is checked.
We'll convert our image into a Smart Object, so we can ultimately replace our text with
another without having to redo most of the effects.
To do this, Shift-click on the gradient adjustment layer to make it and all the other layers
active that comprise our image.
Click the icon at the upper, right corner and click "Convert to Smart Object".
Make a copy of it by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + J. Make the original Smart Object active
and go to Edit, Transform and "Flip Vertical".
Press "v" to open your Move Tool and press and hold Shift as you drag the flipped word
straight down until it's flush with the bottom of the other word.
To center your image over your document, Shift-click the top layer to make it active as well,
and drag it to the center.
Next, we'll blur the flipped word.
Click the flipped word to make it active and go to Filter.
If you're using Photoshop version CS6 or later, click "Blur Gallery" and "Tilt-Shift".
If you're using a version earlier than CS6, click Blur and Gaussian Blur.
Blur it 5 pixels.
For CS6 and later, I did an in-depth tutorial on the Tilt Shift filter.
If you'd like to watch it, I provided its link in my video's description below.
Go to the lower, solid line and drag it slightly up.
Place your cursor in the middle and drag the entire tilt shift up until the lower solid
line is slightly above where your text meets.
Now, we have a smooth blur on the flipped word that becomes blurrier as it gets closer
to the bottom.
To accept it, click OK at the top.
Next, we'll fade out the reflection from the surface.
Click the Layer Mask icon to make a layer mask next to the active layer.
Open your Gradient Tool and click the gradient bar.
Click the "Black, White" gradient. and click OK.
Go to the bottom of the reflection and press and hold Shift as you drag the tool to the
top of the top word and release.
Next, I'll show you how to replace your text with another without having to redo most of the effects.
Double-click any Smart Object to open the layers that comprise it.
Go to the large "T" of your text layer and double-click it to highlight the text.
Type out your new text.
If there are more characters, reduce its point size by double-clicking on the "T" again to
highlight the text and dragging the "T" icon at the top to the left until you're happy
with the size of your text.
Open your Move Tool.
Hide the layer of the outer edge of your text and Ctrl-click or Cmd-click the large "T"
of your new text to make a selection of its shape.
Go to Select, Modify and Expand.
I'll expand it the same amount as the original text, but you may want to adjust this amount
if the point size of your new text is much smaller than the original.
Ctrl-click or Cmd-click the New Layer icon to make a new layer below the active layer.
Press "G" to open your Gradient Tool and click the gradient bar.
Click the same gradient preset that you picked earlier.
Go to the left and press and hold Shift as you drag the tool to the right.
Then, deselect it.
Drag the effects from your outer edge layer up to the thumbnail of your new word's outer edge.
Close the tab of the Smart Object and when you see this message, click "Yes" to save the changes.
Immediately, your Smart Object updated with your new reflection.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
Thanks for watching!