1Y. This effect is going to use black shadows and white highlights as a way to fool the eye (really the brain's interpretation) into believing a 2D image has depth. Since both black and white are being used, we need a medium gray background. While doing this tutorial, keep in mind that to the average eye, dark colors are going away from the viewer, light colors are coming towards the viewer.

2. Open a NEW IMAGE,size 300 x 300 pixels, background color = Foreground color.

2Y. This makes the background color of the image the color we selected in the first step.

3. IMAGE>NOISE>ADD. In the ADD NOISE window, change the settings to: Noise 12%, UNIFORM, then click OK.

3Y. This is a way to fool the eye into thinking the image is a rough surface. You could use PSP's textures and paintbrush or fill tool to create more interesting textures.

4.Click on the TEXT TOOL, and click in the center of the window. In the Text Entry box make certain the Create As box buttons "Selection" and "Anti-alias" are checked, Vector and Floating are not checked.

Please don't forget that "Selection" is a Stored setting and will still be set the next time you enter text!

4Y. Anti-Alias will make the edges appear smoother. Since the text color is to be the same as the textured background we've already created, all we want is the Selection.

5. Enter the text you want, any color, and making sure the text or dingbat font you are adding will fit onto your image. I suggest a Size of 48 to start. Click OK to place the selection.

5Y. Like many other 'Text effects' this one relies upon adding color to the edges of an image. The larger the text, the better the effect. Dingbat fonts are an excellent way of obtaining ready-made clip art in any graphics program. A quick search of the web for 'Dingbat Fonts' should turn up many different objects.

6. If the text is too small or too large, click Edit>Undo to remove it, go back to step 4 and reduce or enlarge the size and enter it again.

6Y. Sometimes text or Dingbats just aren't the size we'd like. The quick way to correct is to undo and recreate at a new size. Incidentally you're not limited to the fixed sizes that PSP shows in the drop-down list. Just click and drag over the Font Size window entry and type in the size you want. In this example, I reduced the font size to 36 and added a 'Enter' between the N and S.

7. To move the selection around the image, click on the Move tool, Right click and drag to move only the selection.

7Y. Trying to move the image after the text selection has been created will also drag the textured background, which we don't want to do. Using the Move Tool & Right click allows a selection move without effecting the background.

8. Go to IMAGE, EFFECTS, DROP SHADOW and apply these settings: Color: WHITE, Opacity: 100, Blur: 3, Vertical 1, Horizontal 1, click OK.

To set the offsets easily, click and drag the setting, but don't try too hard to hit the value, it's difficult to hit an exact value. Note the selection around the Offset you just dragged? You can hit the left and right arrow keyboard keys to step one value per click.

8Y. This puts a white blur along the lower right outside of the selection. This makes the eye think the edge is raised.

Go ahead and finish the tutorial, but the next time you hit this point, experiment with this step. Try making the shadow a dark gray and increasing the Blur size. How does it appear now? Why?

9. Go to IMAGE, EFFECTS, CUTOUT and apply these settings: Fill Interior with color - OFF, Shadow Color - Black, Opacity 100, Blur 6.3, Vertical 1, Horizontal 1, click OK.

9Y. This puts a black blurred line to the upper left inside the selection. The selection hides the uppermost left blur, leaving a sharp line at the selection.

Can't enter 6.3 in the Blur? For some strange reason, dragging the slider or clicking it and using the left and right arrow keys will give fractional values while keying in numbers will only give integer values. I usually click the slider to 'Select it' then watch the image while clicking the arrow keys, so I can watch the results.

10. SELECTIONS, SELECT NONE.

10Y. We're done! Reveal the entire effect without the "marching ants". However, if you even suspect you'll ever want the selection back, be sure to save it into the alpha channel for later use, before deleting it.

11. Experiment by using different backgrounds, and changing the settings above. You won't break anything by changing things around. Here's the same effects applied to a wood background.

By moving the white shadow to -1,-1, and the cutout to -1,-1, the lettering will appear raised.

A strange optical effect applies when you apply the effect to wood. Did you notice it? To some people, both of the above have raised letters, with the light source moved from lower right to upper left. This is due to the way your brain interprets light on wood. You see the white shadow as a reflection on polished wood, making any white area on the wood as raised. Since the wood is darker than the gray background, the white should have been toned down to a gray.

11Y. Shadows aren't always black, sometimes a darker color of the basic background color is even better. Instead of a white drop shadow, you may need to use a compliment of the background color.

Use it as the background color and see what happens when you do this effect. Hint- try different colors for the highligh and shadow to get what you want. Here's the way this tutorial looks on it.

Advanced User? Did you know you can apply all of the above effects, except the textured gray, to a transparent layer, then just swap out backgrounds?

Want to use smaller text? This effect is better on larger text, but will work down to a fairly small text, if you adjust the white shadow to a light gray to make it less obvious and the cutout blur smaller with transparency set higher. If all else fails, create large then re-size smaller. You'll still hit a size where the effect is lost, if you keep shrinking.

12. No images were killed or injured during the creation and use of this tutorial. (unless they needed to be.)

12Y. The world needs more art. Be sure to show yours off, proudly.