Photoshop Elements 4: 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 3-D, 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 three 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). Then a double-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.

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 as shown in Figure 13-8, make it look like wood or brushed metal, and on and on. You apply Text effects just the way you would apply any other effect—make the type layer active and double-click the effect you want.

If you already have Layer styles on your text, it's hard to predict ...