PS Elements Glitter Fill Tutorial
Hello, folks! I'm here with a tutorial on glitter fills. I've seen it mentioned once or twice in passing by someone who was in search of a tutorial on this very thing, and at the time, I wasn't aware of how it was done. Just this morning, in a bout of writer's block, I decided to test a few theories out, and wouldn't you know... I knew how to do it all along. I just hadn't tried it. :D This tutorial is written for PS Elements, but I'm sure it's translatable to other versions... and as for PSP, I haven't the slightest clue; I've never used the program. Also, feel free to try different things with this tutorial, such as changing a step or cutting a step out; this is just a method I came up with in an attempt to learn this process on my own, so I'm certain that it's not the only way it can be done. Without further ado...
[1]. Start with a new document (you may want to try different sizes to get it as closely cropped to the text as possible, so that the word(s) is/are centered).
Note: if you're following my tutorial exactly for practice, your image should be 280x125. The font I'm using is A Perfect Circle, found at
fontaddicts, set at 100 pixels. Type out 'Nesha' if you're following the example exactly. Otherwise, dick around and choose your own size and text.
[2]. Select the magic wand tool and use it to select all the surfaces within your text (with the Tolerance set at zero). Be sure that you're only selecting the text; otherwise, you'll end up filling the entire image.
[3]. Open the glitter fill (you can Google 'glitter fills' and a decent amount of sites offering them will pop up). Starting with the first visible layer, turn all the layers into a pattern (Edit --> Define Pattern --> OK).
Note: If you're feeling creative, you can create a pattern or fill yourself, or use one of the preset patterns that Photoshop has to offer.
[4]. Go back to your text. Go to Layer --> New Fill Layer --> Pattern --> OK. Select the first glitter fill from the patterns you created, then press OK.
Note: depending on what kind of font you're using, the edges might come out a bit jagged (this tends to happen with script and grunge fonts, as I've discovered through testing). You can cover this up slightly by going to Layer --> Simplify Layer, then Edit --> Stroke. Set the pixels to whatever floats your boat, then click OK.
[5]. Go to your Layers palette and delete the background. This will give your image transparency (as you should already know, if you're looking up PS tutorials).
[6]. Create a new transparent image, set to the same dimensions as your original. Paste that image into the new one. Select your Move tool and adjust the position on the image to center it, if you wish.
Note: When adding the rest of the layers, most likely you will need to use the Move tool to line all the images up as best as possible. Otherwise, your word will jump around the animation like text on crack, lol.
[7]. Repeat steps 4 - 6 until you've used all patterns of your glitter fill (most glitter fills have no more than four layers). Go back to your Layers palette and delete the background again, to maintain the transparency of the glitter fill. Click the Save for Web button on your toolbar at the top of the program, and make sure that the Transparency, Animate, and Loop boxes are checked.
Note: I think it's best that the frame delay is set to 0, because it looks a bit retarded at any delay higher than that, depending on the glitter fill you've used. Test it for yourself and find out what works best for your glitter fill. For example purposes, this glitter fill was set at 0 delay.
The end result:
Ta-daa! Your very first glitter fill. Enjoy!
Any questions? Did I make this tutorial too complicated, or not complicated enough? :) Comment and I'll help you out with whatever I can. And if you have any tips to cut time for the process, or know of another way that this can be done, let me know. I'm very willing to learn a new method. :D
[1]. Start with a new document (you may want to try different sizes to get it as closely cropped to the text as possible, so that the word(s) is/are centered).
Note: if you're following my tutorial exactly for practice, your image should be 280x125. The font I'm using is A Perfect Circle, found at
fontaddicts, set at 100 pixels. Type out 'Nesha' if you're following the example exactly. Otherwise, dick around and choose your own size and text.[2]. Select the magic wand tool and use it to select all the surfaces within your text (with the Tolerance set at zero). Be sure that you're only selecting the text; otherwise, you'll end up filling the entire image.
[3]. Open the glitter fill (you can Google 'glitter fills' and a decent amount of sites offering them will pop up). Starting with the first visible layer, turn all the layers into a pattern (Edit --> Define Pattern --> OK).
Note: If you're feeling creative, you can create a pattern or fill yourself, or use one of the preset patterns that Photoshop has to offer.
[4]. Go back to your text. Go to Layer --> New Fill Layer --> Pattern --> OK. Select the first glitter fill from the patterns you created, then press OK.
Note: depending on what kind of font you're using, the edges might come out a bit jagged (this tends to happen with script and grunge fonts, as I've discovered through testing). You can cover this up slightly by going to Layer --> Simplify Layer, then Edit --> Stroke. Set the pixels to whatever floats your boat, then click OK.
[5]. Go to your Layers palette and delete the background. This will give your image transparency (as you should already know, if you're looking up PS tutorials).
[6]. Create a new transparent image, set to the same dimensions as your original. Paste that image into the new one. Select your Move tool and adjust the position on the image to center it, if you wish.
Note: When adding the rest of the layers, most likely you will need to use the Move tool to line all the images up as best as possible. Otherwise, your word will jump around the animation like text on crack, lol.
[7]. Repeat steps 4 - 6 until you've used all patterns of your glitter fill (most glitter fills have no more than four layers). Go back to your Layers palette and delete the background again, to maintain the transparency of the glitter fill. Click the Save for Web button on your toolbar at the top of the program, and make sure that the Transparency, Animate, and Loop boxes are checked.
Note: I think it's best that the frame delay is set to 0, because it looks a bit retarded at any delay higher than that, depending on the glitter fill you've used. Test it for yourself and find out what works best for your glitter fill. For example purposes, this glitter fill was set at 0 delay.
The end result:
Ta-daa! Your very first glitter fill. Enjoy!
Any questions? Did I make this tutorial too complicated, or not complicated enough? :) Comment and I'll help you out with whatever I can. And if you have any tips to cut time for the process, or know of another way that this can be done, let me know. I'm very willing to learn a new method. :D