Glassy Text

Requirements: Paint Shop Pro 6 / 7

Note for PSP 6 Users:
The final phase of this tutorial uses
the Colored Foil Effect in PSP 7.
I have included a step for PSP 6 users
to achieve a similar outcome,
but it will not be quite the same.

Basic use of PSP text tool and working with selections.

Start with a new image any size,
transparent background, 16.7 million colors.

Click on your text tool and let's add some text!

Choose a nice heavy font. I am using Advertiser for this example.
Text - Selection - Anitaliased - any color
PSP7 - Fill only, no textures, etc.

Your text is now a selection (the "marching ants").

*Position your text by using the Mover Tool .
Right click inside the selection (or on top of it for something thin like text) and drag to where you want it.
* Thanks to CarolUK for this tip on moving selections.

Save this selection to Alpha Channel:

Selections/Save to Alpha Channel - accept the defaults, and click OK both times.
We will need to load this selection later on in the tutorial.

Let's apply the Drop Shadow Effect to our text selection:

PSP6 - Image/Effects/Drop Shadow
PSP7 - Effects/3D Effects/Drop Shadow

Settings:
Vertical & Horizontal = 2
Opacity = 100
Blur = 5
Color = Black (#000000)

Deselect: Selections/Select None

We now have a shadowed outline of our text.

Let's Bevel it...

PSP6 - Image/Effects/Inner Bevel
PSP7 - Effects/3D Effects/Inner Bevel

Settings:
Presets = Angled
Width = 8
Smoothness = 8
Depth = 8
Ambience = 0
Shininess = 40
Color = White (#FFFFFF)
Angle = 315
Intensity = 50
Elevation = 30

Create a New Layer and make it the Active Layer

There are several ways to add a new layer:
1) Layers/New Raster Layer
2) Alt+L, then L on your keyboard
3) Layer Pallete - Create Layer (pictured here)

Make it the active layer by clicking on it to highlight it.

Now we need to load the selection into Layer 2:
Selections/Load from Alpha Channel, and leave it selected.

To give it some dimension, we will apply the Cutout Effect.

PSP6 - Image/Effects/Cutout
PSP7 - Effects/3D Effects/Cutout
Settings:
Vertical & Horizontal = 1 / Opacity = 80 / Blur = 5 / Shadow Color = White (#FFFFFF) / Uncheck Fill Interior with Color (we don't want any fill)

Deselect: Selections/Select None

Note: I have put a swatch of color in the background so you can see the cutout effect as it doesn't show up very well in the transparent image.

Now to add a bit more highlight to our text...

With Layer 2 still active:

PSP 7:
Effects/Artistic Effects/Colored Foil
Settings:
Blur and Detail = 20 / Color = #FFE1AD / Angle = 180

*Note PSP 6:
Set your color pallette to Background = Black /
Foreground = White
Image/Other/Hot Wax Coating

Now we will merge the layers, but preserve the transparency:

Layers/Merge/Merge Visible

We now have transparent text that will apear nice and glassy on "almost" any background. You may want to set the Layer Blend Mode of your text layer to Hard Light, Luminance or Burn to make the text really stand out on a patterned background.

You may want to zoom in and do some clean up if the type of text you choose to use leaves some unwanted effects.

View/Zoom In by 5

Use your Magic Wand tool to select unwanted areas and press your delete key.