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  1. TylerBramer Jun 19th 2008
    The Vista operating system has become popular for its looks. So in this tutorial, learn how to create a transparent, Vista styled, glass effect for text.

    What We're Creating


    This tutorial will show you how to create transparent text that gives off a Vista feel.

    Aeroglass Text

    Font


    This text effect looks better on bolder and heavier text. It does not show well on thin and small text.


    Step 1 - Setup the Background


    In order to show off the transparency of this text effect, lets setup a background with a gradient.

    Radial Gradient

    Create a new document. Then create a Radial Gradient using a light color in the center and a darker color on the outside.

    I used #4f4b85 as the foreground color and black as the background color.

    Background

    Step 2 - Set the Type


    The font I used is called Nevis and can be found here.

    Setting Type

    Step 3 - Creating the Aeroglass Effect


    Before we start editing the blending options of the text, we need to set the Fill to 0%. This will make the text disappear, but the layer effects will still show up. If we set Opacity to 0%, then nothing would show. The reason we do this is because the white text would still show underneath the Gradient Overlay, so it wouldn't be transparent.

    Go into your text layers Blending Options (Right Click Layer > Blending Options) and apply all of the layer effects shown below.

    Drop Shadow


    This effect will add a shadow around your text.

    Drop Shadow

    Gradient Overlay


    This will create the transparent white gradient in place of the text.

    Gradient Overlay
    Gradient Settings

    Stroke


    This will create a 1px White stroke around the text.

    Stroke
    Aeroglass Text

    Vista Style Text


    The Vista Style text shown in the picture is white text set to overlay, with 50% opacity.


    Looks Good on Some Images


    This effect will look good on shapes that have a good vertical balance, but not all shapes.

    Aeroglass Shape