This lesson will go the next step in playing with chrome. In short, we're going to vaporize our words and watch them melt.

If you want to save your work in this lesson, I suggest that you save under a different file name; the next chroming page uses the same starting point as this one.

We'll start with the image created in the first chroming lesson. The only change here is in the adjustment layer; red is set to 0, and blue is set to +40.

Using Image -> Duplicate, create a copy of the original. In the copy, make the "text copy" layer active, then link all the layers above it and merge them. Call the new layer "merged text" and drag it into the window of the original. Close the copy window without saving.

Be sure the merged text layer is active. Rotate the layer 90 degrees counterclockwise. Fill with white, with "preserve transparency" set on. Make sure preserve transparency is off, then use the Wind filter to give a "blast" from the left.

Rotate the merged text layer 90 degrees clockwise. Position the merged text layer so that it is below the "text" layer, which is currently not visible. Give "merged text" a Gaussian blur of 4 pixels, and a medium ripple. Make the "text" layer visible, then move the merged text layer so that it is between the text layer and the background. (That "text" layer is there to provide a black background for letters when the layers below are not black; this keeps the chrome coloring constant.)

The next step is to make sure that the color from the adjustment layer is not coloring the smoke. For exporting an image, this needs to be done in a copy, so open a new copy using Image -> Duplicate. In the copy, make the text layer active, then link all layers above it. Merge the linked layers.

This completes the first transformation. After exporting your image, you can close the copy window without saving.

For the last image, we want to make the smoke even bigger. Rotate the merged text layer 90 degrees counterclockwise, give it another blast from the left, and rotate 90 degrees clockwise. Line it up under the chrome text.

This time, to help create a bit more texture in the smoke, we'll give it a medium ripple first, then Gaussian blur by 4 pixels, then another medium ripple.

Make the "text" layer active, and add a layer mask. Select the gradient tool; make sure that the tool settings are "normal," "foreground to background," and "linear." The palette should have white foreground and black background. Add a gradient, as shown.

The result looks like we're going the wrong direction. Be patient.

Now go to the text copy 2 layer, add a layer mask, and do about the same gradient in it. You will probably want to experiment a bit, and may find that you want the top (black) end of the gradient to be just a bit lower than before.

The last step is to make sure that the coloring in the adjustment layer applies only to the lettering. To do this, go to the text layer, then link all layers above it. Merge the linked layers.

We now have smoking, melting chrome.

There's yet another chroming lesson; in that one, we'll start from the same place we started this page, and do the lettering for the tutorial page headers.