Simple text affect.

[SpencerK]

Hello there, great site here.

I'm very new to using photoshop, and it is a challenge to get images the way you want. I have managed to do a moving gif firey background. But I would like to add a front layer of text to my image - as seen in step 9 here;

BioRUST.com :: Tutorials >> Animated Fire

I have tried to do it in Photoshop, but cannot replicate what he has done there. Shameful indeed

Perfect scenerio would be to be able to type some text on a black background, cut that text out of the black background, then transfer the black background ontop of my moving fire.gif.

Thank you very much indeed for your help.

SpencerK

[notjustgraphics]

There are so many ways you can do that... but the easiest is just to create a new layer over top of your fire effect and fill it with black.

Now create a new layer on top of the black layer, and apply the text where you want it. (You may want to hide the black layer to get your text positioned just right)

Now, unhide your black layer if you hid it previously, and make sure it is the active layer. Now hold CTRL and click the layer thumbnail for the text layer. This will create a marquee (a selection) in the shape of the text, but on the black layer. Delete the contents of the selection (CTRL 'X') and hide the text layer... you should now have the effect you were looking for.

You will have to copy this new black layer to all frames of your animated image (I assume it's a gif).

Hope this helps.

Mike.

[SpencerK]

Thankyou very much indeed my friend. I shall give it ago, and let you know how it pans out.

Have a nice day.

Spencerk

[SpencerK]

Hello again, very sorry about this. But when you fill the new layer with black. Do you mean create a rectangle, for instance, and fill that with black. Because it seeems as if thats the only way I can fill the new layer with black. Just checking.

Thank very much for your help.

[tamlin]

Make your new layer, then select Edit > Fill... and choose the colour you want to fill with. This will work in both Photoshop and Imageready.

[SpencerK]

Originally Posted by notjustgraphics

Now, unhide your black layer if you hid it previously, and make sure it is the active layer. Now hold CTRL and click the layer thumbnail for the text layer. This will create a marquee (a selection) in the shape of the text, but on the black layer. Delete the contents of the selection (CTRL 'X') and hide the text layer... you should now have the effect you were looking for.

Mike.

Omg, this has got to be on the most most frustrating image ever. I hate not knowing photoshop. Its a horrible program sometimes for us newbs.

I'm "trying" to follow the steps listed. But are you missing something out? I mean, I select the text layer from the black layer (marquee ) then go to delete the text, but it says "Could not complete your request because the content of the layer is not directly editable."

grrrrr, omg. This is the simplest of things, and I cant get it to work. Do you have to rasterize the text layer. Why can I not just do what you said, select the text (while having the black background active), then delete the text to leave the effect I'm looking for.

Thank you very much for your time and input.

SpenceK

[SpencerK]

Sorry to bump this, but I really need to figure this out. Its sooo annoying.

here is a shot of my error..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...tsy/dfsdfs.jpg

[notjustgraphics]

Ok, i'll try to walk you through it step by step...

Firstly, Photoshop will not work with animation... it will show the first visible layer of the gif only... however, once you have the text layer created as we will go though in a moment, you will be able to paste that layer over top of each frame of the animated gif in image ready. I'll assume since you have the animation completed that you are using image ready.

Start with a new empty image the same size as your fire image... make sure the background is set to "Transparent".

Now that you have a new photoshop image with a transparent background, create a new layer and name it "Black Background".

Fill this layer with black by selecting a foreground color of black and using the paint can to FILL or use EDIT>FIll.

Now, create another new layer... you can call this layer "Text". Select the text tool and place your text where you like. It will be helpful too you, but not necessary to change the fill color to something different than black, so you can see the text (not just the marquee).

Now that your text is placed, clear all selections (CTRL-D) or SELECT>DESELECT

Make your layer named "Black Background" active by clicking on it in the layer panel.

While holding CTRL down left click the thumbnail for the "Text" layer. A marquee should appear in exactly the same shape as the text. Just make sure your "Black Background" layer is selcted and press DEL or use EDIT>CLEAR.

If you've followed these instructions exactly, it will appear as though nothing has happend, until you either delete the layer named "TEXT" or hide it. When you do this, you should now see a black background with a transparent hole where the text was.

Save this using FILE > SAVE FOR WEB and save it has a .GIF with transparency.

You can now use this background with the hole in it to overlay on top of your animation.

I hope this is clear enough for you.

Mike.

[Flipper]

Just wanted to say a huge thanks to Notjustgraphics for your detailed explanation on this topic.

I was up really late last night trying to figure this out myself after having done the 'Animated Flame' tutorial. The tutorial is fantastic but at the very end it shows what can be done with transparent text and this got me started...well 2hrs later I was just as frustrated as SpencerK.

Anyway today's a new day and more time to go searching the threads for an answer... I new it would be hear somewhere. and have just found the answer. I know this post was placed some time ago, but felt a sincere thanks was in order.

How about Mike's post gets added to the end of the 'Animated Flame' tut?

Thanks