Skip wrote:

Could anyone point me in the right direction? I'm trying to make an effect of carved, reverse bevel or sandblast look with text carved in marble. I did it last year but can't remember how. Is there a way to reverse the bevel.
Thanks for any help.

Scott Kelby has a very nice method in his "Photoshop X Down & Dirty Tricks" books. I use it and like it. Let's see if I can give you the short version...

Start with a stone background or something that would look good carved.

Create a text layer with the text you want.

Create a copy of the background and select that layer.

Control (Cmd) Click on the text layer to select the text.

Inverse the selection. Delete. Deselect. Trash or hide text layer. This should leave your background copy with the background in the shape of the text.

Layer Style "Bevel and Emboss" Style = Emboss. Chisel Hard. Depth = 600. Size = 2. Global light = unchecked. Angle = -59. Altitude = 40.

Still in "Bevel and Emboss" click on Highlight Mode Color Swatch. Pick a highlight color from a highlight in the background image. Lower opacity to 60% and shadow to 100%.

Layer Style "Color Overlay" Blend Mode = Overlay. Opacity = 23%. Color = Black.

To darken the shadow effect and sell the depth, move the Levels Output slider to the left to about 210. I often like it less than that or none at all.

This method doesn't bevel the carved effect, but it does really look like it was carved straight down. The edges are nice and sharp though. If you want the edges chipped a bit, do this:

Control (Cmd) click on the type layer to select. (OK, maybe you should have just hidden rather than deleted it earlier.)

Add a Layer Mask.

Filter > Brush Strokes > Splatter. Spray Radius = 10. Smoothness = 10.

Duplicate the layer you've been doing all this to.

Layer Styles "Bevel and Emboss" Style = Stroke Emboss. Depth = 1000.

Layer Styles "Color Overlay" Blend Mode = Multiply. Opacity = 30%.

This will bevel and chip the very edge of the stone carving. It does work better on bigger sized text.

Not all these settings will work the same on all sizes of text. I also works better on fatter fonts. Since they are in layer styles, it's easy to adjust for different sizes.

I hope I'm not violating any copyright laws. Of course, you will go buy one of his books. Actually, I have found some useful information in them.

Clyde

Skip

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