Photoshop Tutorial Create a Clean, Glossy Plastic Text Effect

Final Result of Creating Clean Glossy Plastic Text Effect.
Final product image
What You'll Be Creating
Using multiple layer styles can help achieve a more detailed 3D effect. This tutorial will show you how to use layer styles, filters, textures, brushes, and adjustment layers to create a shiny, clean plastic text effect in Adobe Photoshop. Let's get started!


Follow along with us over on our Envato Tuts+ YouTube channel:
Find more awesome Plastic Text Effects on Envato Market. Or try more Photoshop text effect tutorials:
The following assets were used during the production of this tutorial.
  • Intrepid ExtraBold font
  • texture 31 by Sirius-sdz
  • Water Splash Brushes by Serkenil
  • Stars and Flares Brush Set by MysticEmma
  • Free Pack 6000 photoshop gradients by Supertuts007 (load the CHROMES.grd file)
In order to load the contours used, go to Edit > Presets > Preset Manager, and choose Contours from the Preset Type drop‑down menu. Then click the little arrow to the right of the Preset Type drop‑down menu, and click Contours near the bottom of the pop-up menu. 
When the dialog box appears after that, just click Append, and you’ll get the contours. You'll also need to load a default Photoshop gradient set. So go to Edit > Presets > Preset Manager, and choose Gradients from the Preset Type drop‑down menu. Then click the little arrow to the right of the Preset Type drop‑down menu, and click Color Harmonies 1 at the top of the pop-up menu. When the dialog box appears after that, click Append.
Create a new 900 x 675px document. Set the Foreground color to #2c353c and the Background color to #191919. Pick the Gradient Tool, choose the Foreground to Background gradient fill, and click the Linear Gradient icon.
Then, click and drag from the bottom left corner of the document to the top right corner to create the background gradient.
Background Gradient
Place the texture 31 image on top of the Background layer, rename its layer to Background Texture, change its Blend Mode to Multiply, and go to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate.
Background Texture
Create the text in All Caps using the font Intrepid ExtraBold. The color is #e5eaec, the Size is 230 pt, the Kerning is set to Optical, and the Tracking value is set to 100.
Creating the Text
Duplicate the text layer four times. Then, change the last three copy layers' Fill value to 0.
Duplicate the Text Layer
Double-click the original text layer to apply a Stroke effect using the following settings:
  • Size: 10
  • Color: #7e7e7e
Stroke Settings
This will apply an outer stroke to the original text layer.
Outer Stroke
Duplicate the original text layer, rename the copy layer to Stroke 1, right-click it and choose Rasterize Layer Style, and then change its Fill value to 0.
For versions older than CS6, you'll need to group the copy layer (Layer > Group Layers), rename the group to Stroke 1, and then go to Layer > Merge Group and change the Fill value to 0.
Duplicate the Stroke 1 layer, rename the copy to Stroke 2, and drag it below the original text layer.
Creating the Copy Stroke Layers
Double-click the original text layer again to apply some more effects.
Add a Bevel and Emboss with these settings:
  • Style: Stroke Emboss
  • Gloss Contour: Cone - Asymmetrical
  • Check the Anti-aliased box
  • Highlight Mode: Vivid Light
  • Opacity: 100%
Bevel and Emboss
Add a Contour with these settings:
  • Contour: Half Round
  • Check the Anti-aliased box
Contour
This will style the first layer of the stroke.
Styled Main Stroke
Double-click the Stroke 1 layer to apply the following layer style:
Add a Bevel and Emboss with these settings:
  • Size: 2
  • Check the Anti-aliased box
  • Shadow Mode - Color: #676767
Bevel and Emboss
Add a Contour with these settings:
  • Contour: Cone - Inverted
  • Check the Anti-aliased box
Contour
Add a Gradient Overlay with these settings:
  • Blend Mode: Soft Light
  • Opacity: 51%
  • Style: Reflected
  • Use the stove pipe 150 gradient fill
Gradient Overlay
This will style the second layer of the stroke.
Second Layer of Styled Stroke
Double-click the Stroke 2 layer to apply a Drop Shadow effect using the following settings:
  • Distance: 15
  • Size: 7
Drop Shadow
This will add the shadow to the bottom layer of the stroke.
Drop Shadow Effect
Double-click the first copy text layer to apply the following layer style:
Add a Stroke with these settings:
  • Size: 1
  • Fill Type: Gradient
  • Style: Reflected
  • Angle: 90
  • Use the steel pipe 60 gradient fill
Stroke settings
Add an Inner Shadow with these settings:
  • Blend Mode: Normal
  • Color: #2c6c99
  • Opacity: 100%
  • Distance: 0
  • Size: 18
Inner Shadow
Add a Drop Shadow with these settings:
  • Distance: 17
  • Size: 9
Drop Shadow
This will style the first layer of the text with the inner color. You can use any other color you like by changing the Inner Shadow's Color value.
Colored Part of the Text
Double-click the second copy text layer to apply the following layer style:
Add a Bevel and Emboss with these settings:
  • Depth: 297
  • Size: 35
  • Uncheck the Use Global Light box
  • Angle: 108
  • Altitude: 42
  • Check the Anti-aliased box
  • Highlight Mode: Vivid Light
  • Opacity: 64%
  • Shadow Mode - Opacity: 0%
Bevel and Emboss
Click the Gloss Contour: icon to create the contour used below. What you need to do is click along the line you already have to add points. Then, for each point you add, you can enter its Input and Output values, and check the Corner box.
The values used for the two points are:
  • Point - Input - Output
  • Upper Point - 71 - 72
  • Lower Point - 42 - 34
Create the Contour
Add a Contour with these settings:
  • Contour: Cove - Deep
  • Check the Anti-aliased box
Contour
Add a Stroke with these settings:
  • Size: 1
  • Fill Type: Gradient
  • Angle: 90
  • Use the stove pipe 155b gradient fill
Stroke
This will add the first layer of shine/gloss to the effect.
First Gloss Layer
Double-click the third copy text layer to apply the following layer style:
Add a Bevel and Emboss with these settings:
  • Size: 21
  • Uncheck the Use Global Light box
  • Angle: 53
  • Altitude: 64
  • Check the Anti-aliased box
  • Highlight Mode: Vivid Light
  • Shadow Mode - Opacity: 24%
Bevel and Emboss
For the Contour, just check the Anti-aliased box.
Contour settings
This will add another layer of gloss.
Second Gloss Layer
Double-click the fourth copy text layer to apply the following layer style:
Add a Bevel and Emboss with these settings:
  • Size: 21
  • Uncheck the Use Global Light box
  • Angle: 108
  • Altitude: 74
  • Check the Anti-aliased box
  • Highlight Mode: Vivid Light
  • Shadow Mode - Opacity: 0%
Bevel and Emboss
Add a Contour with these settings:
  • Contour: Log
  • Check the Anti-aliased box
Contour
This will add the last layer of gloss.
Third Gloss Layer
Set the Foreground and Background colors to Black and White, create a new layer on top of all layers, call it Text Texture, and go to Filter > Render > Clouds.
Render Clouds
Go to Filter > Filter Gallery > Brush Strokes > Accented Edges, then change the Edge Width to 2, the Edge Brightness to 38, and the Smoothness to 5.
Filter Gallery
This will create a simple texture.
Final Texture
Change the Text Texture layer's Blend Mode to Soft Light.
Texture Layers Blend Mode
Command-click a text layer's thumbnail to create a selection.
Create a Selection
With the Text Texture layer still selected, click the Add layer mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to create a mask.
Add Layer Mask
Click the Create new fill or adjustment layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel and choose Hue/Saturation.
HueSaturation Adjustment Layer
Click the Clip to layer icon, check the Colorize box, and change the Hue value to 200.
Colorizing the Texture
Change the adjustment layer's Blend Mode to Soft Light.
Adjustment Layers Blend Mode
Pick the Brush Tool, and choose one of the Water Splash Brushes brush tips. Set the Foreground color to #e8ecef, create a new layer on top of the Background Texture layer and call it Splash, and then resize the brush tip to a size you like and click to add it behind the text.
Add Water Splash Brush
Double-click the Splash layer to apply the following layer style:
Add a Bevel and Emboss with these settings:
  • Gloss Contour: Ring
  • Check the Anti-aliased box
  • Highlight Mode: Vivid Light
Bevel and Emboss
Add a Contour with these settings:
  • Contour: Half Round
  • Check the Anti-aliased box
Contour
Change the Splash layer's Blend Mode to Vivid Light and its Fill value to 35%.
Splash Layers Blend Mode and Fill Value
Create a new layer on top of all layers, call it Sparkles, and change its Blend Mode to Vivid Light. Pick one of the Stars and Flares Brush Set brushes, decrease its Size, and add a couple of sparkles at the edges of some of the letters. You can control the tip's Angle as well under the Brush Tip Shape tab in the Brush panel (Window > Brush).
Adding the Sparkles
Click the Create new fill or adjustment layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel and choose Gradient Map.
Gradient Map
Use the Orange, Blue, Magenta, Yellow gradient fill, and then change the adjustment layer's Blend Mode to Multiply and its Opacity to 3%. The effect is very subtle, but it helps enhance the coloring of the final result.
Gradient Map Settings
In this tutorial, we created a simple background using a linear gradient and a texture. Then we created the text, and duplicated its layer to apply different layer styles.
We added a stroke to some layers and applied the layer styles using different effects and values in order to create layers of shine and gloss that have a 3D appearance.
Once all the text layers were styled, we used simple filters to create a basic texture that makes the effect a bit more dynamic.
Finally, we added a splash brush to the background and styled it, as well as some sparkles to the edges of some of the letters, and a gradient overlay adjustment layer to enhance the coloring of the final result.
Please feel free to leave your comments, suggestions, and outcomes below.

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