Isn't it wonderful when readers want to share their discoveries with everyone else! Kenneth Jernigan has sent along his tricks for creating flaming text. We liked it and have decided to pass it along to you today. Kenneth does: Flaming Text Technique [ SIDEBAR ] Our only addition to the technique is in recommending uniform thickness type faces. if you use a serif face, or one that has thicks and thins, then the wind filter will fool around with the clarity of the flames. Note how Kenneth's type stays very readable. With a delecate or old style serif face readability will suffer. Think of the possibilities... turn the flames from right to left and you've got hot rod flaming type... turn the flames top to bottom and you've got rocket flames taking off! Send us your ideas, modifications and samples! I've got a little Photoshop tip/trick that I discovered a couple of months ago, and I'd like to share it. Step 1: Create a new image that is at least 3 times as tall as the text. Fill the background with black (Edit > Fill) Step 2: Type your text and make sure it is white! Step 3: Size your text down half way. (Edit > Transform > Numeric) Make sure Constrain Proportions is UNCHECKED. I sized my image down 50% vertically (height)... play around with this for different size flames. Step 4: Flatten your image (Layers > Flatten Image) Rotate your canvas 90 degrees Clock Wise (Image > Rotate Canvas > 90-degrees CW)   Step 5: Add your wind (Filter > Stylize > Wind...) Make sure you have Method: Wind & Direction: From the Right   Step 6: Add a 0.5 Gaussian Blur to soften the image (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur)   Step 7: Rotate Canvas 90-degrees Counter Clock Wise (Image > Rotate Canvas > 90-degrees CCW) Resize image. To do this, take the background from the layers palette, and duplicate it. Step 8: Now resize the image (Edit > Transform > Numeric - settings: Constrain Proportions UNCHECKED and height = 200%) height is directly based on amount you sized your image down.   Step 9: Set Image Mode to Indexed Color (Image > Mode > Indexed Color)   Step 10: Add a color table to your image (Image > Mode > Color Table...) Select the color table Black Body (This actually switches your color to white, so while in that dialog...)  Step 11: Go to the Color Table box. (Image > Mode > Color Table...) Select the color table Black Body. Now, before hitting OK, select the last three rows of the color table (click on the farthest right color, hold the mouse button down, and move the mouse to the farthest right color on the last row). Now a color box should pop up. For the first color, select OK without changing anything. For the last color, select the desired background color. (black in my case) Now click OK. Tada, your text is now a flame with custom background color.   Extras: Playing around with the Gaussian blur will make the image either have a smoother, or rougher blend into the black background. __ Add Ripple to make the flame wavy, and the more wind you add, the bigger the flames. (this is an alternative to the image sizing, but you have less control)     Well, this about sums it up.

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