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Create A Chromed Out Text Effect In Photoshop

Posted on 25. Jun, 2010 by Shawn Ramsey in Design

Today, I’ve put together a really simple chrome text effect tutorial that just about anyone can throw together. We aren’t breaking down any barriers here, as I’m sure you know, there are probably a million and one metal text effects tutorials scattered throughout the web. The beauty of this tutorial is that, once completed, the layer styles can be added to any plain old text for an immediate chromed out look. Don’t feel like following along? There is a .PSD download at the bottom. Let’s get started!

Step 1

Create a new document, make it 540px by 250px.

Step 2

Fill the background with #d6d6d6. Add some noise to the image by going to Filter > Noise > Add Noise. Keep it around 2%.

Step 3

Lay out some text within the project. Here I’ve used the font, Airstream, at a size of 185pt and an AV of -25 to bring in the lettering a bit. The color of the text is irrelevant at this time.

Step 4

Get into the Layer Styles of the text layer by double clicking on the layer. Click on Gradient Overlay and then click directly on the current gradient to bring up the Gradient Editor. Add color stops similar to the screenshot below. To add a color stop, simply click just below the gradient. Go ahead and stay in the Layer Style palette, we have more styles to add in the following step.

You project should now look something like this:

Step 5

Let’s add two more Layer Styles. First click on Stroke and change the Fill Type to gradient. Click the downward facing arrow next to the current gradient and, within the pop-up window that follows, click the small right facing arrow to access the flyout menu. Choose Metal’s from the options and then click on the Silver Gradient to load it (as shown in the screenshot). Increase the Size to around 7. Don’t click OK yet, still one more layer style to add.

Your project should now look similar to this:

Adding the next Layer Style, click on Bevel and Emboss. Change the Style to Stroke Emboss, the Technique to Chisel Hard and the Depth to around 390% (or whatever looks good with your text). Lower the size to around 4px. Next to where it says Glass Contour, click the downward facing arrow and choose a contour with 2-3 hills. Click OK to apply the Layer Styles.

You should now have something like this:

Step 6

We’re almost done here, but let’s spice it up just a hair first. Copy your text layer and drag it below the current layer. Delete the layer styles on this new layer and then double click to bring up the Layer Styles option (we’re going to add some different styles). Click on Stroke and add a black stroke 9px in size. This will allow the stroke to extend behind and just outside of the original layer. Don’t click OK yet.

You should have this:

Now we’ll add a slight drop shadow to help the whole thing pop. While in your Layer Styles, choose Drop Shadow and change the Distance and Size to around 10px and the Angle to around 120 degrees. Click OK to add the effects.

Here is the completed chrome text effect:

Play around with the options on each step to tweak it to your liking. If you enjoyed the tutorial, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment section. Also, please feel free to share it with others by using one of the share buttons below. Thanks!

Download the .PSD

Download Chrome Text Effect | .zip Format | 66.2 KB

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Tags: Photoshop