Photoshop Elements 3: The Missing Manual

Adding Special Effects

Besides warping your type, you can apply all kinds of Layer styles, filters, and effects to give your text a more elaborate appearance (see Figure 13-8). You can change your text's color, make it look three-dimensional, add brushstrokes for a painted effect, and so on. (There's more about Layer styles, filters, and effects in Chapter 12.)

Figure 13-8. It took only two clicks to go from plain type to the figure shown here. The first click applied a Wow Plastic Layer style (located at the bottom of the Layer Styles palette). The next click applied the Water Reflection effect (located in the Text Effects in the Styles and Effects palette).

Elements gives you lots of different ways to add special effects to your text. The following sections show you three of the most interesting: applying the Text effects, using a gradient to make rainbow-colored type, and using the Liquify filter to warp your text in truly odd ways.

Note

Layer styles must be applied before simplifying, while filters and effects can't be applied without simplifying. You can apply all three kinds of changes to the same text, but you need to keep these restrictions in mind and plan out your order of operations accordingly.

Text Effects

The Styles and Effects palette's pull-down menu contains an entire category dedicated to special Text effects. You can emboss your type into a photo, give it a reflection ...