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Papercraft Text Effect

Wired Magazine introduced on the September 2008 issue a newheadline

designcreated byMario Hugo. This cool headline design struck me with its beauty

and simplicity. So I decided to turn this effect into a Photoshop tutorial. Although the

effect is a bit different, all credit should be given to Mario Hugo.

Since he designed a custom typeface for these headlines, I had to find some similar

typefaces to apply this effect. The first and obvious choice was the popularBaby

Teethfont. Fortunately there area lot of free alternatives, and one of them isDisco

DeckbyIconian Fonts.

As usual, my tutorials are very long. It is not that the effect is difficult to achieve. In

fact it is very easy. It is just because I dont want to leave beginners out in the cold.

Each step, no matter how easy it is, is explained in detail. Of course, I can

unintentionally leave something unexplained, but I expect everybody, with a minimum

Photoshop experience, to be able to follow the tutorial and reach the final result.

Hope you like this effect and if you come up with the same effect using a different

font, please leave a link at the comments section, as usual.

http://www.spd.org/2008/07/mario-hugo-gets-wired.phphttp://www.spd.org/2008/07/mario-hugo-gets-wired.phphttp://www.spd.org/2008/07/mario-hugo-gets-wired.phphttp://www.spd.org/2008/07/mario-hugo-gets-wired.phphttp://www.loveworn.com/http://www.loveworn.com/http://www.loveworn.com/http://www.typophile.com/node/2547http://www.typophile.com/node/2547http://www.typophile.com/node/2547http://www.typophile.com/node/2547http://www.typophile.com/node/38305http://www.typophile.com/node/38305http://www.typophile.com/node/38305http://www.dafont.com/disco-deck.fonthttp://www.dafont.com/disco-deck.fonthttp://www.dafont.com/disco-deck.fonthttp://www.dafont.com/disco-deck.fonthttp://www.iconian.com/http://www.iconian.com/http://www.iconian.com/http://www.iconian.com/http://www.dafont.com/disco-deck.fonthttp://www.dafont.com/disco-deck.fonthttp://www.typophile.com/node/38305http://www.typophile.com/node/2547http://www.typophile.com/node/2547http://www.loveworn.com/http://www.spd.org/2008/07/mario-hugo-gets-wired.phphttp://www.spd.org/2008/07/mario-hugo-gets-wired.php

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Create the Background

Go to FILE > NEW and create a new 600px x 200px document with a white

background. Check the image below if you are unsure about the settings.

Now lets create the gradient for the background. In fact, this is the gradient that we

will be using for the text effect. It simply looked nice as the background too. 1

Select the Gradient tool. 2 Click on the gradient and the gradient editor window will

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open.

1 Create the new gradient using the settings in image

below.

2 Click on the NEW button and give it a recognizable

name.

3 The new gradient will appear on the gradients library.

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Select the gradient tool and then from the gradients pull down menu (1), choose the

gradient weve just created(2). Select theANGLE GRADIENToption (3).

Check the image below to see how to apply the gradient. Place the cross on the top

left corner of the image and drag it to the right.

It is very important to start (point 1) the gradient at the very top left corner of the

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image or even outside the image, but never inside the image, it wont look good.

Since we are using theANGLE GRADIENToption, it doesnt matter where you

release the mouse (point 2) as long as you keep the line horizontal.

You should get a result similar to this one:

Prepare the Text

This stage involves much more than typing a word. You will have to create a layer for

each character of the word. Thats because we will be using Layer Styles. And each

letter will have its own Layer Style assigned to it.

Before starting, download theDisco Deck fontand install it on your system. To install

a font on your system follow these instructions forMACorPC

http://www.dafont.com/disco-deck.fonthttp://www.dafont.com/disco-deck.fonthttp://www.dafont.com/disco-deck.fonthttp://www.dafont.com/faq.php#machttp://www.dafont.com/faq.php#machttp://www.dafont.com/faq.php#machttp://www.dafont.com/faq.php#winhttp://www.dafont.com/faq.php#winhttp://www.dafont.com/faq.php#winhttp://www.dafont.com/faq.php#winhttp://www.dafont.com/faq.php#machttp://www.dafont.com/disco-deck.font

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After installing the font, select the Text tool, set 150px as the font size, and type the

letterC.

Press CTRL + ENTER (on PCs) or COMMAND + RETURN (on MACs) to release the

tool. Click again with the text tool and a new text layer will be created. Type the

letterR and release the tool again by pressing CTRL + ENTER (on PCs) or

COMMAND + RETURN (on MACs). Do the same over and over until you have all the

five letters on a different text layer each:

Now we are going to arrange the letters to get the overlapped look of the final effect.

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That should be fairly easy. Just select the MOVEtool, check theAUTO

SELECToption, and drag each letter closer to the other and overlap them as much

as you want.

Creating and Applying the Papercraft EffectLayer Style

To achieve the shaded paper effect we will create a single Layer Style and will apply

it to each letter. Since each letters shape is different from the other, we will have to

change the shading effect for each one. Go to theLAYERS PALETTEand select the

layer with the letterC in it. Then choose GRADIENT OVERLAYfrom the Layer

Effects popup menu.

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Copy the following settings, and keep the window open. DONT press OKyet.

Remember to use the new gradient we have already created some steps before:

Now click on the DROP SHADOWLayer Effect and use the following settings. Keep

the window open, DONT press OKyet.

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Click on the STYLES option on the top of the window and then click on the NEW

STYLEbutton and give it a name. The newly created style will show last on the list of

styles. Now you can press OK to close the LAYER STYLES window.:

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To apply the new style to each letter you must select a layer(1) and then click on the

new style on located on theSTYLES PALETTE(2).

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Repeat the same for each letter. Dont worry about the results. They will look

incorrect but we will deal with that later. You will end up with something like this:

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Giving the Final Touches to the PapercraftEffect

Although the effect is complete, the simulated paper cuts dont look good. Lets

correct that. Go to the LAYERS PALETTE, select the layer with the letterR and click

on the tiny arrow at the right (1). This will display all the Layer Effects of the text layer.

Double click on the GRADIENT OVERLAYeffect (2). This will open the LAYER

STYLESwindow displaying the Gradient Overlay settings.

Move the LAYER STYLEwindow until you can see the letterR. You should do this

because you can only edit the gradient position of the letterR while the LAYER

STYLEwindow is open.

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First, type -90 in the Angle setting of the Gradient Overlay window or you can also

drag the gradient angle selector until it reads -90 degrees. DONT CLOSE THE

LAYER STYLES WINDOW YET.

You will see how the letterR gradient has changed its rotation and it is vertical

instead of horizontal. In the next step we will move the gradient a little bit to the left tomake it look better.

You should still have the LAYER STYLESwindow open. If not, then open it as

explained a couple of steps above. Now check at the top of the screen and you will

se a message that says Click and drag to reposition the gradient. This means that

while the LAYER STYLES window is open, you will be able to exactly click and drag

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the gradient inside the letterR, and reposition it at will.

When you are done, close the LAYER STYLES window. You image should now look

like this one:

To reach the desired result, you should continue tweaking the rest of the gradients

until they look like the final result. Check the image below to see a diagram of the

changes you should make:

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Giving a Touch of ColorThe effect is finished. Since each letter has its own Layer Style, you can change the

color of the gradient to whatever you want, as long as you keep the sharp paper cut

shading effect. Lets do something simple. Create a new layer at the top of all

layers. 1 Select the last layer (the T layer in this example). 2 Click on

theADJUSTMENT LAYERicon and select SOLID COLOR. 3 A new color fill layer

will be created and the color picker window will open at the same time.

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Choose a color. Any color you want. You will be able to change it later. In this case

we used #FFA200. Click OKand the layer will be filled with that color.

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After that,Go to the LAYERS PALETTEand from the BLENDING MODESpull down

menu (1), select SOFT LIGHT(2).

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Finally! Heres the finished Papercraft Text Effect. Try it with different fonts and with

different colors. Post your results on the comments section at the end of this article.

URL :http://www.photoshoproadmap.com/Photoshop-blog/2008/10/31/papercraft-text-

effect/

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