How to use Filter Forge and Photoshop to create a glamorous, sparkling, diamond and gold text effect?
The following assets were used during the production of this tutorial.
CORPOREA Font.
Crystal by Anna Klishina.
Gradient-shapes for Photoshop by ilnanny.
Sparklies Photoshop Brushes by redheadstock.
Downloading Filter Forge and the Filters used
First, you need to download Filter Forge from the plugin’s website. Once you download it, run the installation package, and that’s it! It will be added inside Photoshop under the Filter menu. Super easy to install.
To launch the plugin and start adding some filters, go to Filter > Filter Forge > Filter Forge 3. You’ll find a couple of already existing filters under a number of categories. You’ll also find a “Filter Library: Download more filters” link to the top right side of the plugin’s window. Click the link to start downloading filters.
The link will take you to the Filters page on the plugin’s website.
You can search for almost any filter among the amazing 9000+ filters available. Just type the keywords you want to find filters for, and click the Search button.
Once you get your search results, click the filter’s name.
This will open the filter’s page. Click the “Open this filter in Filter Forge” button to install the filter. If you get a message asking you to confirm, just click Yes or OK. The Filter will then be added to the other filters you have.
You can search for the downloaded filters by typing their names or a related keyword in the plugin’s search box.
Make sure to download all the filters in the Tutorial Assets section before you continue with the tutorial.
Loading Contours
You might need to load the Contours used in some of the Layer Styles below. To do so, go to Edit > Preset Manager, and choose Contours from the Preset Type drop down menu.
Click the small arrow in the top right corner, and choose Contours.
Click Append to add the new contours to the existing ones.
Step 1
Create a new 1152 x 864 px document, set the Foreground color to #151515 and the Background color to #070707. Pick the Gradient Tool and click the Radial Gradient icon in the Options bar. Then, click from the center of the document and drag to one of the corners to create the gradient.
Create the text in white using the font Corporea and the font size 315 pt. In the Character panel (Window > Character), set the Tracking value to 75 to increase the space between the letters.
Duplicate the text layer twice, and change the copy’s Fill value to 0 each time. So now you should have three text layers: The original, copy, and copy 2.
Step 2
Create a new 30 x 30 px document.
Pick the Polygon Tool. In the Options bar, choose Shape, set the number of Sides to 6, and make sure that neither the Smooth Corners nor the Star boxes are checked. And set the Foreground color to black.
Create a hexagon inside the document. Make sure that the edges are on the right and left sides of the document (not top and bottom).
Go to Edit > Define Brush Preset, and type “Hexagonal Brush” then click OK.
Save the document if you like, then Close it (File > Close), and go back to the original document. Open the Brush panel (Window > Brush), choose the Hexagonal Brush, and modify its Brush Tip Shape settings as below.
Step 3
Pick the Pen Tool, choose Path and check the Auto Add/Delete box in the Options bar. We’ll start creating work paths inside the curved letters. To add anchor points click once, and to add ones that create a curve click and drag.
Don’t worry about perfecting the work path, just try to capture the main shape. Once you’re done press the Command/Ctrl key then click anywhere outside the path.
Now, you can pick the Direct Selection Tool, click the work path once, then click the anchor points to modify them. Once an anchor point is selected, you can go ahead and move it around. You can also click its Direction Points at the end of the two Direction Handles. Moving the Direction Points around will change the orientation of the curve, while dragging them outwards and inwards will make the curve wider or narrower.
You can also use the Add Anchor Point and Delete Anchor Point tools to add or remove anchor points on the work path.
Step 4
Create a new layer on top of the original text layer and call it “Hexagonal Brush”, then set the Foreground color to #acacac and pick the Direct Selection Tool.
Right click the path and choose Stroke Path.
Choose Brush from the Tool drop down menu and click OK.
This will stroke the path with the Hexagonal Brush. Hit Enter/Return to get rid of the work path.
Step 5
For the straight parts of the letters, use the Brush Tool, click once, and before you release the mouse button, press the Shift key, and drag to fill the line with the brush, then release everything. Remember to click first then press the Shift key, or else, all the lines will get connected together messily.
This works for the horizontal and vertical parts of the letters.
Step 6
As for the diagonal parts, use the Pen Tool to create a work path inside them, and remember to click once for each anchor point without dragging.
Then stroke those paths just like you did before, and hit Enter/Return to get rid of the work path afterwards.
If there are empty spaces left, you can just use the Brush Tool to click and add some hexagons where needed.
Step 7
Continue stroking the inner part of the text using these three methods: Curved paths, straight paths, and clicking and dragging.
Keep in mind that you can always undo and recreate any parts you don’t like.
Step 8
Once you’re done, Command/Ctrl + click a text layer’s thumbnail to create a selection.
Go to Select > Inverse (Shift + Command/Ctrl + I) to invert the selection, then hit the Delete key on the keyboard to get rid of the extra parts of the hexagons.
Go to Select > Deselect (Command/Ctrl + D) to get rid of the selection. Then, duplicate the “Hexagonal Brush” layer, and change the copy’s Fill value to 0.
Step 9
Create a new 500 x 500 px document.
Open Filter Forge (Filter > Filter Forge > Filter Forge 3). Under Stone, choose the Crystal filter, then choose the last preset available in the Presets tab.
In the Settings tab, just check the “Seamless Tiling” box, then click the Apply button to the bottom right corner.
Once you get the texture, go to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate.
After that, go to Edit > Define Pattern, and type the name “Crystal Pattern.” Close this document (save it if you like), then go back to the original one. Next, it’s time to apply some Layer Styles to the layers we have.
Step 10
Double click the original “Hexagonal Brush” layer to apply the following Layer Style:
Bevel and Emboss: Change the Technique to Chisel Hard, the Depth to 500, the Size to 4, check the Anti-aliased box, change the Highlight Mode to Linear Light, and the Shadow Mode color to #656565.
Contour: Just check the Anti-aliased box.
Gradient Overlay: Change the Blend Mode to Multiply, the Style to Reflected, the Angle to 45, and choose the third gradient in the “mbr4d@hotmail.com.grd” file from the gradients pack.
Pattern Overlay: Change the Blend Mode to Soft Light, choose the “Crystal Pattern”, and change the Scale to 25%.
Drop Shadow: Just change the Opacity to 37%.
This will style the first layer of the diamonds.
Step 11
Double click the copy “Hexagonal Brush” layer to apply the following Layer Style:
Bevel and Emboss: Change the Technique to Chisel Soft, the Gloss Contour to Rolling Slope – Descending, check the Anti-aliased box, change the Highlight Mode to Vivid Light and its Opacity to 60%, and change the Shadow Mode color to #656565 and its Opacity to 20%.
Contour: Just check the Anti-aliased box.
Pattern Overlay: Change the Blend Mode to Soft Light, choose the “Crystal Pattern”, and change the Scale to 25%.
This will style the second layer of the diamonds, making them look shinier, glossier, and more realistic.
Step 12
Double click the first copy text layer to apply the following Layer Style:
Bevel and Emboss: Change the Style to Stroke Emboss, which needs the Stroke effect to work, but we’ll add that later. Change the Technique to Chisel Hard, the Size to 23, the Gloss Contour to Ring, check the Anti-aliased box, change the Highlight Mode to Vivid Light and its color to #fffcf4.
Contour: Choose Cove – Shallow, and check the Anti-aliased box.
Stroke: Change the Size to 15 and use the color #a18f53.
Inner Shadow: Change the color to #78614b and the Distance to 3.
Inner Glow: Change the Blend Mode to Multiply and the color to #c1bd84. This will make the glow work as a shadow to intensify the edges a little bit.
This will create the top part of the golden stroke.
Step 13
Double click the second copy text layer to apply the following Layer Style:
Stroke: Change the Size to 15, the Blend Mode to Soft Light, the Fill Type to Gradient, the Angle to 45, the Scale to 150, and choose the “Grey Fan F10 – angled” gradient found in the “DIALS.grd” file in the gradients pack.
Drop Shadow: Change the Distance to 10, the Spread to 40, and the Size to 35.
This will create some diagonal lines that give an illusion of a reflection on the stroke.
Step 14
Double click the original text layer to apply the following Layer Style:
Bevel and Emboss: Change the Style to Stroke Emboss, the Technique to Chisel Hard, the Depth to 200, the Size to 25, the Gloss Contour to Ring – Double, check the Anti-aliased box, change the Highlight Mode to Vivid Light and its color to #fffcf4.
Contour: Choose Cone, check the Anti-aliased box, and change the Range to 100.
Stroke: Change the Size to 17, the Fill Type to Gradient, the Angle to 90, and choose the “Gold Dial Tops X7 – angled” gradient found in the “DIALS.grd” file in the gradients pack.
Pattern Overlay: Choose the “Crystal Pattern”, and change the Scale to 25%.
Drop Shadow: Change the Distance to 10, the Spread to 40, and the Size to 35.
This will create the bottom part of the stroke, and will give the text a 3D look.
Pick the Move Tool, and hit the keyboard’s right arrow key three times to nudge the bottom stroke a tiny bit to the right.
Step 15
Click the ‘Create new fill or adjustment layer’ icon down the Layers panel and choose Gradient Map.
Make sure that the adjustment layer is on top of all layers then change its Blend Mode to Multiply and its Opacity to 20%. Click the gradient box to create the gradient.
The gradient uses two colors: #e6a321 to the left and #efbe39 to the right. This will add a warm layer of color to the final effect.
Step 16
Pick the Brush Tool. Choose one of the sparkle brushes from the Sparkle brush pack, then open the Brush panel to modify some settings.
Brush Tip Shape:
Shape Dynamics:
These settings will give you sparkles in different sizes and angles each time you click to add one.
Create a new layer below the Gradient Map adjustment layer and call it “Sparkles”. Set the Foreground color to #ebebeb, and start clicking to add sparkles over the text. Just a couple here and there, too many sparkles may ruin the design.
Step 17
Select all the layers you have (click the first one, then Shift + click the last one), and drag them to the ‘Create a new layer’ icon down the Layers panel to duplicate them.
With the duplicated layers still selected, go to Layer > Merge Layers (Command/Ctrl + E) to merge them in one layer.
Go to Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical to turn the copy upside down.
Change the merged layer’s Blend Mode to Lighten. This will get rid of the background easily, because it is very dark compared to the text, and it doesn’t contain any details
Pick the Move Tool, and use the down arrow key (you can use the Shift key with it for bigger increments) to move the copy downward, until the edges of the letters no longer overlap.
Step 18
Click the ‘Add layer mask’ icon down the Layers panel to create one.
Pick the Gradient Tool, make sure that the Foreground color is Black, choose the Foreground to Transparent fill, and click the Linear Gradient icon in the Options bar. Then, press and hold the Shift key, and click and drag a straight line from the bottom to the top of the document.
This will cause a gradual decreasing in opacity of the reflected text.
Once again, click and drag a straight line, this time from the bottom of the document to the end of the original text.
One last time, drag a straight line from the bottom of the document to the top of the original text. This will create a simple reflection for the text.
Final Image
And this is the final result. Hope you enjoyed the tutorial and found it useful. Please feel free to leave your comments and suggestions below.
Comments
Post a Comment