Hi. This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
I’m going to show you how to create the powerful, metallic, retro logo of RoboCop.
I provided this Photoshop PSD template, so you can follow along.
Its link is in my video's description or project files below.
It includes 3 layers.
A refraction glitch, bare metal texture and a black background.
Hide the top 2 layers and make the bottom layer active.
If your foreground and background colors aren't black and white respectively, press "D" on your keyboard.
Invert the colors by either clicking this icon or by pressing "x" on your keyboard.
Open your Horizontal Type Tool and pick a font.
I'm using "Alex Murphy Solid Regular".
If you'd like to use it, I provided that link, as well.
I'll make the size: 200 points, however, just be aware that if you do choose a different font
and/ or use a different amount of characters in your text, you may want to adjust the setting
amounts in many of the filters we'll be using.
For the purposes of this tutorial, I'll assume you're using this font and will be typing
out the word, "RoboCop".
Make its aliasing, Sharp and Center Alignment.
The color is white.
Click on your document and type out your text.
To increase the size of the "R" and the "C", highlight the "R" and for its size, type in 240 points.
Highlight the "C" to automatically increase its size.
To center the text, open your Move Tool and press Ctrl or Cmd + A to select the canvas.
Click the "Align Horizontal Centers" icon and the "Align Vertical Centers" icon.
Deselect it by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + D. I'd like to slide it up a bit, so I'll press the
UP arrow on my keyboard until I like its position on my document.
Click the "fx" icon and click "Bevel Emboss".
Make the Style: "Outer Bevel", the Technique: Chisel Hard and slide the Depth all the way to the right.
The Direction is Up, The Size is 20 pixels and Soften it 0 pixels.
Global Light is unchecked.
The Angle is – 50 degrees and the Altitude is 30 degrees.
The Highlight Mode is "Linear Burn", the Color is white and the Opacity is 30%.
The Shadow Mode and color are irrelevant because the Opacity is 0.
Then, click OK.
We'll convert it into a Smart Object, so additional filters will affect our entire text including
the bevel, emboss, which you can’t see at this point because its over a solid black background.
Click the icon at the upper right corner of the Layers panel and click "Convert to Smart Object.
Click the "fx" icon and click "Color Overlay".
Make the Blend Mode, "Color".
Click the color box and in the hexadecimal field, type in BBCFEB.
Then, press Enter or Return twice to close both windows.
Make the Bare Metal texture visible and active.
We want to fill our text will this texture.
To do this, we need to clip it to the text.
Press Ctrl + Alt + G on Windows or Cmd + Option + G on a Mac.
To help focus our attention on the middle, we'll darken both ends of our text.
But first, let's convert it into a Smart Object, so we can do this non-destructively.
Go to Filter and Lens Correction.
Click the “Custom” tab and slide the "Vignette" all the way to the left.
Then, click OK.
As I toggle back and forth, you can see the before and after.
Next, we''ll increase the contrast of the metal.
Click the adjustment layer icon and click, "Levels".
Make the Input black level: 82, the Input Midtones: point 71 and the Input highlights: 232.
Next, we'll add a lens flare.
Click the New Layer icon to make a new layer.
We'll fill it with black and since black is our background color, press Ctrl or Cmd + Delete.
Make’s its Blend Mode, “Screen”.
Let's name it, "Lens Flare".
Go to Filter, Render and Lens Flare.
The Brightness is 80% and the Lens Type is "Movie Prime".
Drag the lens flare in the Preview window to a position that approximates the location
of your text on the document.
It doesn't have to be perfect.
In my case, the text is slightly below center.
Click OK.
To reposition it, just drag it.
Scroll to the bottom of your Layer panel and make your black background active.
Delete it by either dragging it to the trash or by pressing the Delete key on your keyboard.
Immediately, you'll notice empty areas along the edges.
To fill in empty areas, scroll back up and make the Lens flare active.
Open your Transform Tool by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + T. Go to a corner and when you see
a diagonal, double-arrow, press and hold Alt or Option + Shift as you drag it out just
past the empty areas.
Then, press Enter or Return.
Next, we'll add some bevels and shadows on the face our text.
Ctrl-click or Cmd-click the New Layer icon to make a new layer below the active layer.
Name it, "Inner Shadow".
Scroll down and Ctrl-click or Cmd-click the thumbnail of your text to make a selection
of its original shape.
Go to Select, Modify and Contract.
Contract it 10 pixels.
Fill the selection with any color.
I'll fill it with black.
Then, deselect it.
Make the Fill: 0%.
This make the layer invisible, but it'll retain the full visibility of the effects that we add to it.
Click the "fx" icon and click "Inner Shadow".
The Blend Mode is Linear Burn, the color is black and the Opacity is 40%.
The Angle is 135 degrees, the Distance is 6 pixels and the Size is 9 pixels.
Then, click OK or press Enter or Return.
Make a copy of the layer by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + J. Double-click "Effects" and uncheck "Inner Shadow".
Click "Bevel Emboss".
Make the Size: 1 pixel, the Angle: 130 degrees and the Altitude: 30 degrees.
The Highlight blend mode is "Linear Dodge and the opacity is 50%.
Click the New Layer icon to make a new layer. Name it, "Red flare".
Open your Brush Tool and Brush Picker.
Make its size: 70 pixels and the Hardness: 0%.
Then, press Enter or Return.
The Opacity and Flow are both 100%.
Click the foreground color and pick a bright red.
Place your brush on the same horizontal axis as the center of the lens flare and press
and hold Shift as you drag your brush across to the opposite end.
Reduce its opacity to 20%.
Ctrl-click or Cmd-click the thumbnail of the red flare to make a selection of its shape.
Make the Lens flare layer active and click the New Layer icon to make a new layer above it.
We'll fill it with white and since white is your background color, press Ctrl or Cmd + Delete.
Then, deselect it.
Change its blend mode to "Overlay" and name the layer, "White flare".
I'd like to fade both ends of the flare.
To do this, I'll make the red flare active and click the Layer Mask icon to make a layer mask next to it.
I'll make my brush size bigger by pressing the right bracket key on my keyboard a few
times and I’ll make sure my CapsLock key isn't on, otherwise the bracket keys won't
change the size of the brush.
I'll reduce the Opacity to 50% and brush once over each end.
Make the Refraction layer visible and active and change its blend mode to Overlay.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
Thanks for watching!