How to Create an Animated Text Effect Photoshop Action

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What You’ll Be Creating

In this tutorial, we will create a VHS-style 3D Photoshop effect for text layers using smart filters, gradient fills, and video overlays.

You can find plenty of Photoshop text actions on GraphicRiver, and if you want to create this 3D text effect in just a few simple clicks, then check my Animated VHS Text Effect Action created the same way.

httpsgraphicrivernetitemanimated-vhs-text-effect-action23844478

Tutorial Assets

1. How to Prepare the Document

Step 1

Press Control-N to create a new document and use the following settings: 

  • 1920 x 1080 px
  • 300 dpi
Creating a new document in photoshop

Step 2

Create a new layer using Shift-Control-N and name it “placeholder”.

Creating a new layer

Step 3

Right-Click on the layer and select Convert to Smart Object.

Converting image to smart object

Step 4

After that, Right-Click > Edit Contents on the “placeholder” layer.

opening the smart object

Step 5

Click T to open the Horizontal Type Tool and create any text using the Bebas Neue font with a size of 84 pt. After that, close and save the placeholder.

Creating a text layer

Step 6

Right-Click on the smart object, select Duplicate, and create two duplicates of the layer.

Creating duplicates of the layer

Step 7

Rename the layer to “text” and “glow” and make the first smart object Invisible.

Renaming the layers

Step 8

Select the background layer and Fill it with #141414 color using Shift-F5.

Filling the backgrond with the color

2. How to Create VHS Text Effects

Step 1

Now let’s start to create our text effects. Select the “Text” layer and then go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the Radius to 2 px.

Creating gaussian blur effect

Step 2

After that, go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur and use the following settings: 

  • Angle: 90°
  • Distance: 60 px
Creating motion blur effect

Step 3

Go to Filter > Distortion > Wave and use the following settings: 

  • Number of Generators: 1
  • Wavelength: 1 and 298
  • Amplitude: 1 and 6
  • Type: Sine
Creating Wave Effect

Step 4

Now we need to create layer style effects. Double Click on the Layer and then go to Gradient Overlay.

Creating a gradient overlay

Step 5

Use the following settings for your gradient:  

  • Blend Mode: Normal
  • Opacity: 100%
  • Angle: -180°

Set the following colors for your gradient: #fc3d4f ; #fd7335 ; #f57c21.

Setting up the gradient

Step 6

After that, you need to add Gaussian Blur and Wave Effect with the same parameters to the “glow” layer.

Adding the smart filters to the second layer

Step 7

Double-Click on the layer and add an Outer Glow effect with the same gradient as we use before and the following settings: 

  • Blend Mode: Screen
  • Opacity: 100%
  • Spread: 4%
  • Size: 12 px
Adding the outer glow effect

Step 8

Change the Fill setting of the layer to 0%.

changing the fill setting of the layer

Step 9

Select your smart objects while holding Shift, and then hit the Create a New Group icon and name it “Main Text”.

creating first group of the layer

Step 10

Create two duplicates of the group and name them “Color Shift 01” and “Color Shift 02”.

creating the duplicates of the group of layers

Step 11

Double-Click on the “Color Shift 01” layer and Uncheck the Green and Blue color channels.

Creating the first color shift effect

Step 12

Double-Click on the “Color Shift 02” layer and Uncheck the Red and Green color channels.

Creating the second color shift effect

Step 13

Move the “Color Shift 01” group of layers 4 px to the left while holding Shift.

Moving the group of layers

Step 14

Move the “Color Shift 02” group of layers 8 px to the right while holding Shift.

Moving the second group of layers

3. How to Create Overlaying Elements

Step 1

Now we need to create “TV Lines” overlay textures. Create a new layer using Shift-Control-N and Fill it with #282828 color.

Creating a new layer

Step 2

Go to Filter > Filter Gallery > Sketch and select Halftone Pattern. Use the following settings: 

  • Size: 2
  • Contrast: 50
Adding a halftone effect to the layer

Step 3

Create a duplicate of the layer and then move it 1080 px up while holding Shift.

Creating a duplicate of the layer

Step 4

After that, you need to select both of the layers and move them 1080 px up again.

Moving the layer

Step 5

Create another duplicate of the “layer 1” and then move it 1080 px down.

Moving the last layer

Step 6

Select all three layers and Right Click > Merge Layers. Name it “TV Lines”.

Merging the layers

Step 7

Change the Blending Mode of the layer to Overlay and the Opacity to 25%.

changing the blending mode and opacity of the layer

Step 8

Go to File > Place and then select the MP4 file from the attachment of this tutorial. Resize and rotate it to the borders of the document.

Placing the video overlay

Step 9

Change the Blending Mode of the layer to Screen.

Changing the blending mode of the layer

Step 10

Select your overlay layers while holding Shift, and then hit the Create a New Group icon and name it “Video Overlays”.

creating a group of the layers

Step 11

Now we need to create gradient overlays for our video. Go to Layer > New Fill Layer > Gradient and create two gradients. Name them “Light Leaks 01” and “Light Leaks 02”.

creating the gradient fill layers

Step 12

Double-Click on the first gradient fill in the Layers panel and use the following settings: 

  • Style: Linear
  • Angle: -35°
  • Scale: 232%

setting up the first gradient fill

Step 13

After that, Left-Click on the Gradient in the same panel and create a new gradient with the following settings: 

  • Color: #ff7511, Location: 0%; Opacity: 100%
  • Location: 35%; Opacity: 82%
  • Location: 51%; Opacity: 0%
  • Color: #e90f43, Location: 61%;
  • Location: 67%; Opacity: 82%
  • Color: #f3005e, Location: 100%; Opacity: 100%
Setting up the colors of the first gradient

Step 14

Double-Click on the second gradient fill in the layer panel and use the following settings: 

  • Style: Linear
  • Angle: -171°
  • Scale: 232%
setting up the second gradient fill

Step 15

After that, Left-Click on the Gradient in the same panel and create a new gradient with the following settings: 

  • Color: #315934, Location: 0%; Opacity: 100%
  • Color: #ac9102, Location: 100%; Opacity: 100%
Setting up the colors of the second gradient

Step 16

Change the Blending Modes of both gradients to Color Dodge.

Changing the blending modes of the layers

Step 17

Select your overlay layers while holding Shift, and then hit the Create a New Group icon and name it “Light Leaks”.

creating the group of the gradients

4. How to Create the Animation of the Layers

Step 1

Now we are ready to start creating our animation. Go to Window > Timeline and click on the Create Video Timeline icon.

creating a timeline

Step 2

Reduce the duration of the timeline to 05:00 by moving the icon shown below.

changing the duration of the timeline

Step 3

Now you need to create the first keyframe. Select the “Text” layer and click on the Timer icon near Transform to create the first Keyframe.

creating the first keyframe

Step 4

Move the Time Indicator to 0:00:00:10 and then move the layer 15 px up while holding Shift.

creating the second keyframe

Step 5

Move the Time Indicator to 0:00:00:20 and then move the layer 15 px down while holding Shift.

creating the second keyframe

Step 6

Select the keyframes we just created while holding Shift and then Right-Click > Copy.

copying the keyframes

Step 7

Move the Time Indicator to 0:00:01:00 and then hit the Keyframe icon.

creating an empty keyframe

Step 8

After that, Right-Click > Paste on the last keyframe to duplicate the keyframes we created before.

pasting the keyframes

Step 9

Create duplicates of the keyframes until you fill the whole timeline.

create the animation for the first layer

Step 10

Select all the keyframes of the “text” layer and paste them for the “glow” layer.

creating the animation for the second text layer

Step 11

Select the “TV Lines” layer and click on the Timer icon near Position to create the first Keyframe.

creating the first keyframe for the tv lines texture

Step 12

Move the Time Indicator to 0:00:05:00 and move the layer 2160 px down while holding Shift.

creating the last keyframe for the tv lines texture

Step 13

Select the “Light Leaks 01” layer in the timeline panel and reduce the size of the clip to Start: 02:00 and Duration: 02:00.

Reducing the time of the clip

Step 14

Select the “Light Leaks 02” layer in the timeline panel and reduce the size of the clip to Start: 03:00 and Duration: 02:00.

Reducing the time of the clip

Step 15

Click on the Transitions icon and select Fade.

creating the fade effect

Step 16

Drag and drop the Fade transition to the start and the end of the “light leak 01”.

applying the fade effect to the first gradient

Step 17

Right-Click and change the duration of both Fade transitions to 0.97 s.

changing the duration of the fade effect

Step 18

After that, you need to apply the same transition with the same duration to the second “light leaks” layer.

creating the fade transitions for the second light leaks

Step 19

Create a new layer using Shift-Control-N, and then fill it with black color and name it “Fade In/Out”.

Creating a fade inout effect

Step 20

Change the Fill of the layer to 0%.

changing the fill setting of the layer

Step 21

And finally, Drag and drop the Fade With Black transition to the start and the end of the “Fade In/Out” layer.

Creating fade in and out effect

5. How to Render the Animation as a Video

Step 1

Our animation is now ready for rendering. Click on the icon in the upper right corner and select Render Video.  

opening the render panel

Step 2

Set the following settings in the Render Video panel: 

  • Format: H.264
  • Size: Document Size
  • Range: All Frames
setting up the render options

Awesome Work, You’re Now Done!

Your video is ready! In this manner, we can create an animated VHS text effect in Adobe Photoshop using the smart objects, gradient fills, filters and video overlays.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and if you want to create this effect using Photoshop actions, you can check my Animated VHS Text Effect Action on GraphicRiver, which will help you to create this text effect in a few simple clicks.

httpsgraphicrivernetitemanimated-vhs-text-effect-action23844478

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