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While working on a few different effects, I came across
something I thought would be very useful to those of
us into graphics. Now I have seen several attempts
at Neon text on line and in books, but this I believe
is probably the most accurate of how Neon text should
look. If you are lazy and don't want to do it,
you can download
the action by clicking here!
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Lets start off with by creating a new image which is
6 inches wide by 4 inches in height and 72 dpi resolution
with a transparent background. |
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Image 10-1
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What is neon if you can't see it at night? So
the first thing to do is fill the background with black.
Now we need to choose a skinny type to use for the neon.
Make the text about 150 points and choose white as the
color for the text. |
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The
name of your text layer should have turned into the
same name as the text itself. Lets change the
name of this layer to Layer 2. Now right click
on the layer and choose Duplicate Layer. It
has now created a layer called Layer 2 copy.
Hold down the Ctrl key and click on Layer 2 copy to
set as the active layer. Now click Layer>Type>Render
Layer. Click Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur
and use the setting of 2.3 and click ok. Now
lets choose the color for the neon effect. Pick
anything you would consider bright and neon looking.
Click Foreground and choose your color and click ok.
Image
10-2
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Image 10-3
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To use this color we are going to use the Stroke function.
This is why we rendered Layer 2 copy. Make sure
that this layer is the active one and click Edit>Stroke
with the settings of 4 and center. You should
now have an image similar to Image 10-3.
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Image 10-4
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Click Layer>Effects>Outer Glow and use the settings
in Image 10-4. Use a color that closely resembles
the color you used for the Stroke. |
Image
10-5
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Now
we need to render Layer 2. Make Layer 2 the active
layer by clicking it. Click Layer>Type>Render
Text. Now drag this layer over top of the Layer
2 copy layer on the Layers Palette. Lets give
it the real cool neon effect. Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian
Blur and use 1.2 as the setting. Once you have
done this merge this layer with the Layer 2 copy underneath
by clicking beside the layer between the eye icon, you
will now see a link. Click Layer>Merge Down.
You should now have a completed image similar to Image
10-5. |
