Design a Fragmented Text Effect with Scrap Texture in Photoshop

Posted on January 13th, 2009 in Abstracts,Text Effects.

Tags: abstract, effect, intermediate, layer, text

Learn the expert web designing skills with ccda tutorials. Join cisco training to learn web designing and pass mcp exam on first try.

In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to create this really cool, abstract-style fragmented text effect by applying scrap texture in Photoshop. Sometimes, those scrappy wastes do have their uses :)

Along the way, we will be using some basic selection techniques, image adjustments, layer blending options, and dynamic lighting rendering. It’s a very simple tutorial however the result is good. Have a try!

Here is the preview of my final result for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

The other one with different colour scheme:

PSD File Download

You can download the PSD File for this tutorial via the VIP Members Area for only $6.95/Month (or less)! You will not only get this PSD File, but also 70+ other PSD Files + Extra Goodies + Exclusive Photoshop tutorial there. Signup now and get exclusive :) Find out more about the VIP Members Areas

Step 1

Create a new document sized 1200px * 800px. (In fact the size doesn’t really matter for this tutorial, you may choose any size you’re comfortable with. )

Then fill the background layer with Black colour.

Type some texts onto the background layer using any font you like. I used this font from dafont.com.

Rasterise the text layer, then Position and resize (if necessary) the text as shown below: (To do this, Hit Ctrl + T to bring up the free transform tool, then use the “Distort” and “perspective” option to drag the Top-Right corner the text until reaching desired effect)

The Effect After Free-Transform:

Step 2

On the text layer, apply the following layer blending options:

Inner Shadow

Outer Glow

Inner Glow

Bevel and Emboss

Color Overlay

Gradient Overlay

And the effect so far will look like this:

Step 3

Duplicate the text layer once.

On the duplicated layer, hide the “Outer Glow” blending option and retain all other layer blending options. Add a “Color Overlay” Blending option to the duplicated text layer:

And you will have the following effect:

Step 4

Download a copy of this scrap texture image from CG Texture and load it into Photoshop. Then go back to our document and load the selection of the our text layer (holding down your Ctrl key and left-click on the thumbnail of the text layer in the layer palette):

Then drag your selection onto the loaded scrap texture:

Copy and paste the selection back onto our document, this action will automatically create a new layer, name it as “scrap texture”.

Change the “scrap texture” layer blending mode to “Hard Light” and the effect so far will look like this:

Step 5

Duplicate the “scrap texture” layer once, and apply the following Curve Adjustments (Ctrl + M):

And the effect will look like this:

Step 6

Now we go back to the text layer and load the text selection again, then go to Selection > Modify > Expand and apply the following settings:

Drag the expanded selection onto the loaded scrap texture image:

Then copy and paste the selection back to our document, this action will again form a new layer, name it as “scrap texture outside text”.

Here is the effect after the copy and paste:

Step 7

On the “scrap texture outside text” layer, apply the following Level Adjustments (Ctrl + L):

Then use the Eraser Tool to erase the portion where the texts are located:

Then Duplicate the “scrap texture outside text” layer a couple of times and you will have the following effect:

Step 8

Now we can some lighting effect onto the text. Create a new layer and fill it with black colour. Go to Filter > Render > Lens Flare and apply the following settings:

Then change the layer blending mode to “Soft Light”.

Duplicate this layer a couple of times, and try to move the centre of the light into different portion of the text in each duplicated layer. This will enhance the lighting effect of the text and create some dynamic lighting effect.

You will have the following effect as a result:

OK that’s it for this tutorial! The rest is again left upon your own creativity. You can add some further effect onto text, try some filter effects on the texture and see what result that brings you.

Here is my final image for this tutorial: (Click to enlarge)

The other one with different colour scheme:

Hope you enjoy this tutorial and if you have any questions, just drop me a comment :)

Cheers and have a nice day!

Take a Break