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As the days get shorter and the weather gets
colder, our designs may need a seasonal touch. (Readers in the
southern hemisphere can bookmark this page and come back in six
months.)
Let’s take a look at adding snow and ice to
text. Start by adding some text to an image. (This font is
Capitals.)
Change the color of the type to a very pale
blue, and then duplicate the layer by dragging it to the New
Layer button at the bottom of the Layers palette.
Duplicating the layer gives us a fall-back in
case something goes horribly wrong. (Not that such a thing would
ever happen….) We’ll hide one copy of the type layer by clicking
on the eyeball icon to the left of the layer’s name in the
Layers palette. Next, we’ll make the other active by clicking on
its name in the Layers palette. The menu command Layer>
Rasterize> Type changes the editable text into a series of
pixels on a regular layer (rather than a type layer.) Notice in
the layers palette that the “T” thumbnail has been replaced by a
thumbnail image of the contents of the layer.
Once the type is rasterized, it can no longer be
edited as type. (That’s the primary reason to make and hide the
copy of the type layer before Rasterizing.) If we need to make a
change to the type, such as correcting spelling or changing the
font, we could delete this rasterized layer, return to the
hidden layer, make the change, and make a new rasterized copy.
With the rasterized type layer still active in
the Layers palette, use the menu command Filter> Noise> Add
Noise.
The monochromatic option gives us a speckled
appearance using only various tints of the existing color. If
the Monochromatic box were unchecked, the filter would add noise
in a variety of colors. Compare the top close-up (monochromatic)
with the lower image:
Likewise, compare the difference between
Gaussian (top) and Uniform (bottom):
Double-click the layer in the Layers palette to
open the huge-and-slow Layer Style dialog box. Click on Bevel
and Emboss and accept the default values. Now change the layer’s
blending mode to Soft Light. To some degree, the image over
which the text sits will determine which blending mode is the
best choice. As usual, it’s not a bad idea to compare several
blending modes.
Drag this frosted text layer to the New Layer
button to duplicate it. With the upper layer active, hold down
the Command key (Mac) or Control key (PC) and click on the
layer’s thumbnail image in the Layers palette. That makes a
selection of all the pixels on that layer.
Press D on the keyboard to set the foreground
color to black and the background color to white. Press X on the
keyboard to swap the two colors, making white the foreground
color. Hold down the Option key (Mac) or the Alt key (PC) and
press Delete (Mac) or Backspace (PC). This fills the selection
with the foreground color (white). Change the layer’s blending
mode to Screen.
Grab the Eraser tool and erase this white layer
in places where snow wouldn’t accumulate on 3D objects in the
shape of these letters. Leave the “snow” on the tops of the
letters and on any horizontal strokes or serifs.
And there you have it, snow-topped icy text!
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