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Metal Beveled Type Effect

This is a type effect made popular by EA Sports in the titles for their video games. It stands alone as just a great beveled metallic effect, but EA Sports takes it one better by combining it with a 3D perspective effect that really makes it unique. Here's how to create a similar effect.

Step ONE. Open a new document in RGB mode (7" x 5" at 200 ppi). Click on the Foreground Color Swatch and choose a grayish blue. Fill the Background layer with this color by pressing Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace). Create a new blank layer. Switch to the Elliptical Marquee tool, hold the Shift key, then drag out a circular selection (like the one shown here). Press “d” then “x' to set your Foreground color to white, then press Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace) to fill your selection with white.
Step TWO. Choose Gradient Overlay from the Add a Layer Style pop-up menu at the bottom of the Layers palette. Click on the down-facing triangle to the right of the current Gradient thumbnail to bring up the Gradient Picker (shown here). From the Picker's pop-down menu, load the Metals set. Click Append when the dialog appears, then choose the “Silver” gradient shown here. Click OK.
Step THREE. You should still have a selection around your circle, so go under the Select menu, under Modify, and choose Contract. When the Contract Selection dialog appears, enter 20 pixels (as shown here) and click OK to shrink your selection by 20 pixels.
Step FOUR. Go to the Layers palette and click on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette to create a new layer. Fill your selection with white by pressing Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace). Deselect by pressing Command-D (PC: Control-D).
Step FIVE. Choose Inner Glow from the Add a Layer Style pop-up menu at the bottom of the Layers palette. When the dialog appears, change the Blend Mode from Screen to Normal and lower the Opacity to 50%. Click on the beige Color Swatch and change your glow color to black in the Color Picker. Increase the Size to 40.
Step SIX. Click OK and a shadow is applied inside the edge of your white circle (as shown here). Now, on to the type effect. Press the letter “t” to switch to the Type tool and the letter “d” to set your Foreground color to black, and then create your type. (For the text shown here I used the font Aurora Condensed from Bitstream. The Horizontal Scaling has been increased to 150% in the Character palette to make the letters look thicker. Also, I didn't have the Italic version of this font installed, so I highlighted the text and chose “Faux Italic” from the Character palette's pop-down menu to create an italic look.)
Step SEVEN. You're going to add a gradient to your type, so choose Gradient Overlay from the Add a Layer Style pop-up menu at the bottom of the Layers palette. Choose the same metal gradient that you used earlier for the circle in Step Two.
Step EIGHT. When you click OK, the metal gradient is applied to your type (as shown here).
Step NINE. Next, you'll need to bevel your type, so choose Bevel and Emboss from the Add a Layer Style pop-up menu. Increase the Depth to 1000 and the Size to 10. In the Shading section, increase the Highlight Opacity to 100%, and lower the Shadow Opacity to 50%.
Step TEN. Click OK and the beveled edge is applied to your text. Hold the Command key (PC: Control key), go to the Layers palette, and click on the Type layer to put a selection around your beveled text. Then, go under the Select menu, under Modify, and choose Contract. When the Contract Selection dialog appears, enter 6 pixels, and click OK (as shown).
Step ELEVEN. Create a new blank layer by clicking on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette. Press “d” to set your Foreground color to black, then fill your contracted selection with black by pressing Option-Delete (PC: Alt- Backspace). Deselect by pressing Command-D (PC: Control-D) and the effect is complete. However, if you want to make the logo look 3D, continue to the next step.
Step TWELVE. In the Layers palette, hide your Background layer from view by clicking on the Eye icon in the first column beside it. Then, click on the right-facing triangle in the top-right corner of the Layers palette and choose Merge Visible from the palette's pop-down menu to merge all your logo layers into one layer. Press Command-T (PC: Control-T) to bring up Free Transform. Hold Shift-Option-Command (PC: Shift-Alt-Control), grab the bottom-right control point, and drag upward to create a perspective effect.
Step THIRTEEN. With the modifier keys still pressed, grab the bottom-left corner point and drag downward to increase the effect. This perspective effect usually makes the logo look stretched, so release all the keys, grab the right center point and drag to the left until the logo doesn't look stretched. Press Return (PC: Enter) to lock in your transformation, and complete the effect (as shown here).

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