Pressed and Embossed Text

[Bonaca]

GIMP Version: 2.8.4
Operating System: Windows
OS Version: XP - SP3
GIMP Experience: Beginner Level

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How can I create pressed and embossed text like this http://blog.entheosweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/pressed-and-embossed-styles.jpg

I want these effects on the following golden background.

[Esper]

try this tutorial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsBWCN3u1xA

basically you create another layer in black/white and offset it, then cut the basetext/inverted basetext selection out
you can also use an Inner Shadow as explained in this tutorial:
http://gimpchat.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=6646

to be honest, i dont think this effect will work very well with your background, because its way to rough looking to be believable

[Bonaca]

Esper, I must say - I tried but cannot achieve your result following the given tutorials.
Could you please, write your steps and parameters you used ?

[Esper]

Could you please, write your steps and parameters you used ?

here ya go

EDIT: i used the word 'pressed'...of course its embossed...:\

01. create canvas
02. type text and align
03. alpha select text
04. create new layer under basetext and fill selection with black, then deselect
basically this will be a dropshadow, but with the layer knocking out the shadow
05. blur the layer (i used 8)
06. offset the layer - call up the move tool, activate the dropshadow layer and drag the layer a bit down
or use the arrow keys on your keyboard to do i manually (i used 4 down and 1 to the right)



07. alpha select your basetext, activate your dropshadow layer, then hit delete or Edit -> Clear
when you turn off your basetext, it should look like this:



08. for the highlight, alpha select your basetext and invert the selection
09. create a new layer on top of your basetext
10. fill it with white, then deselect



11. offset the layer, for example 1 pixel to the right and 1 pixel down
12. alpha select your basetext, invert the selection, then hit delete and deselect
11. gaussion blur to the highlight layer - say 2pixels

[Rod]

Use map>bump map

[Esper]

good suggestion Rod, didnt think of that
problem is, it doent look pressed...it looks embossed

and i must admit, i have a hard time making text looking pressed
checked several tutorials yesterday, that all use a technique similar to what i did, just reversed for a pressed effect, but they all dont look very convincing to me, and i dont know what the trick really is

[AnMal]

good suggestion Rod, didnt think of that
problem is, it doent look pressed...it looks embossed

that's funny, because i thought your text looked embossed (of sorts) and not pressed . emnossing gives a high relief, pressing gives a bas relief and in a high relief i would expect a shadow to fall outside the edges of the motif, the way it does in your example, while in a bas relief i would expect a shadow to fall inside the edges of the motif. in theory, that is, reality is always more complex and staring at an embossed surface for some time often makes me start thinking it looks like a pressed surface.

[Esper]

that's funny, because i thought your text looked embossed (of sorts) and not pressed . emnossing gives a high relief, pressing gives a bas relief and in a high relief i would expect a shadow to fall outside the edges of the motif, the way it does in your example, while in a bas relief i would expect a shadow to fall inside the edges of the motif. in theory, that is, reality is always more complex and staring at an embossed surface for some time often makes me start thinking it looks like a pressed surface.

i agree and i said my text looks embossed not pressed

what is the misunderstanding here ?
because i used the word pressed ?
yeah that was a mistake i later admitted

[saulgoode]

In my opinion, the best "pressed" effect is a slightly offset inner shadow. You can almost get away with performing a drop shadow on the inverted selection of the text, but the following approach provides a bit more control.

• Create your text in black.
• Perform "Alpha to Selection"
• Perform "Shrink Selection" by a couple pixels.
• Add a layermask initialized to "Transfer Layer's Alpha Channel" (your text layer should be all black afterward).
• Activate your text layer and then perform an "Edit->Clear".
• Perform a "Mask to Selection".
• Delete your layermask.
• Perform a Gaussian blur of a few pixels.
• Use the Move Tool to move your text layer down and to the right (by half the amount you originally shrunk your selection by).
• Invert your selection.
• "Edit->Clear".
• (optionally) lower the opacity of the text layer.

pressed-text.jpg (139.33 KiB) Viewed 7277 times

[molly]

Very good saul. I really like it.

[Esper]

i also saw some tutorials filling the inside of the text with a gradient from black to transparent, to give the pressed text"bottom" a sort of shadow

[he4rty]

So I've followed the basic of the bump map idea just inverted the colours for the pressed text.
Then added the internal drop shadow for the pressed text and the external shadow for the embossed text.
Finally just to enhance the effect I made the colour of the inside of the text, not the bumped part, slightly darker than the main colour of the image for the pressed text and slightly lightly for the embossed text.



And with the provided texture, did create a grey scale image of text and displace the texture.

[molly]

Love the purples

[ek22]

For a little more realism, you can run a displacement on the texture too, that will make it look like it's hugging the divets and bumps better.

[Rod]

I have another tutorial here you can check out.
http://gimpchat.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=428

[Esper]

awesome he4rty, you nailed it !