Ice Text

Requirements:
Paint Shop Pro 7
EyeCandy 4000
Basic use of PSP

Start with a new image 300x300 pixels, transparent background, 16.7million colors.

Using the text tool , create your text.
Stroke = Null
Fill = White
Antialias checked
Create as vector
Size = 72

A nice thick serif font works best. Make the text bold if necessary.
I used Times New Roman for this tutorial because everyone should have that font on his or her PC.
Click OK to set your text.

Now we are going to resize and reposition our text.

Grab any of the corner handles and pull the text out and up. Grab another corner handle and adjust more.

There is no set size, just shape it to your liking but leave room under the text as shown in the example.

Tip: If the handles are not showing, highlight your text layer in the layer pallet and click the object selector to make it appear.

Create a selection from the text and save it for later:

On your menu bar, go to Selections / From vector object.
Then Selections / Save to Alpha Channel.
Accept the defaults and click OK twice.
Deselect: Selections / Select none (or use Ctrl+D if you use keyboard shortcuts.)

We started with vector text so that we can have a nice smooth selection to work with, but now we want to start applying effects, so we need our text to be on a raster layer.

Layers / Convert to Raster Layer.

Ready to add the effects now? Here we go!

Noise:
Effects / Noise / Add 50% Random

Sculpture:
Effects / Texture Effects / Sculpture.
Use the settings shown to the right.

Tip: I used the Silver preset and then changed the settings to give it a smooth silver finish, but still allowing the ripples from the noise effect to show somewhat.

Rough Leather:
Effects / Texture Effects / Rough Leather.
Use the settings shown on the right.

Chrome:
Effects / Artistic Effects / Chrome
Flaws = 1
Brightness = 30
Color = White (#FFFFFF)
Use original color = unchecked

Now we'll make it a little crisper by going to Effects / Sharpen / Sharpen.

It should start to resemble some pretty nice icy-looking text now, except for the drab gray color.

Let's give it a nice pale blue color to act as reflection and refraction.

My favorite way to color is to use PSP's photo enhancement tools.
From the menu bar - Effects / Enhance Photo / Manual Color Correction.
Use the picture below as a guide.
Scroll through the color categories and find Water. Then use the drop down arrow in the Preset Colors box to see all of the Water colors. Select the one labeled BlueVLt. Uncheck both boxes under Options. Now place your cursor in the left hand window, left click and hold the mouse button down. Drag a rectangle around the "C" in ICE. When you release the button, the selection will "hug" the letter. The right hand window shows you your preview. Click OK.

Duplicate the layer containing your text. You can use the menu option Layers / Duplicate or right click on the layer in the Layer Pallet and select Duplicate.

Let's make some icicles! With that top layer (the duplicate) highlighted, go to Effects / Plug-in Filters / Eye Candy 4000 / Fur. Use the settings you see here…and play with the Random Seed setting until you get a nice cascade of icicles. Click OK to apply the filter.

Now we need to clean up those hairy letters!

It's time to load that selection we saved. From your menu bar go to Selections / Load from Alpha Channel. Now we'll modify it slightly: Selections / Modify / Contract - number of pixels 3. Hit the delete key to clear out that fur.

Now deselect.

At this point we can merge our ICE layers… Layers / Merge / Merge Visible (we don't want to "flatten"!!) Lets give our image a background color now so we can see it a little better. Add a new layer (Layers / New Raster Layer) and drag it to the bottom below your ICE. White works best with this effect, so grab your flood fill tool and flood fill your bottom layer with white.

You could leave it "as is" at this point and call it finished...or, you can set the letters on the ground and give them a little reflection. Make sure that the ICE layer is the active layer (click on it to highlight it in the Layer pallet) and use your selection tool set to Rectangular, Feather 0, Antialias checked. Draw a rectangular selection starting just at the bottom of the letters as shown.

Use your Retouch Tool set to Smudge.
Try the settings shown here:

Just barely grab the edges of the letters, including the icicles, and smudge them downward. Give them a little side to side wiggle as you drag your brush downwards. Repeat this as often as you like to achieve nice little wiggly streaks.

To soften them up a bit we can apply Motion Blur. Effects / Blur / Motion Blur - Direction 90, Intensity 4. Repeat this using Direction 270, Intensity 4.

Deselect and you are done!

If you want "harder" ice, you can sharpen that lower ice layer before merging. To soften the ice more, reload your selection and once again on the lower ice layer apply Effects / Blur / Soften.

As always, try out different settings, etc. and change the look of the ice to suit you. This is only a guide to show you some possibilities. Happy creating!