Elie Khoury

In this tutorial, I will explain how to draw a simple text reflection on a shiny floor. We’ll be going through important techniques that I use frequently like patterns. By the end of this tutorial, we will have the following result:

Let’s start:

1. Create a new document (500px width, 300px height). Set the foreground to #006cc7 and the background to #ffffff (white). Then, go to Filters > Render > Render Clouds. You will have the following:

2. Press CTRL + SHIFT + N to create a new layer. Now we will create a selection from the middle to the bottom to draw the floor. Set the foreground to #006cc7 and background to #003a71. Draw the following gradient:

3. Now that we have created a simple floor, let’s add some grids to make it look more 3 dimensional. There are many ways to create grids, but here’s my favorite: Create a new document:

4. Set the foreground to #ffffff (white) and fill the document using the Paint Bucket tool:

5. Press CTRL + A to select all the layer, make sure the Rectangular Marquee tool is selected, and move 1 pixel to the left then 1 pixel to the top:

6. Press delete to clean the white area inside the selection:

7. Press CTRL + D to remove the selection, then, go to Edit > Define Pattern. Enter a name (Ex: Grids Pattern) for that pattern and close this document.

8. We’re back to the original document. Make sure the floor is still selected (If you lost the selection, you can always make a selection by holding CTRL + SHIFT + ALT and pressing the floor layer icon). Press CTRL + SHIFT + N to create a new layer.

9. Select the Paint Bucket tool, and select Pattern instead of Foreground on the toolbar. Fill the selected Area to have perfect squares grid. Press CTRL + D to remove the selection. Then, press CTRL + T to transform the layer. Right click on the grids and select Distort. Move the lower left corner around 500 pixels to the left and the lower right corner around 500 pixels to the right and press Enter to apply the transformation. You should have now something similar to this:

10. Set the Blending options of this layer to Overlay and Opacity to 25%:

11. The floor is now ready, let’s add a source of light. Press CTRL + SHIFT + N to create a new layer. Select the Gradient Tool, set the foreground color to #ffffff (white). On the toolbar, make sure that the foreground color fades to transparent, and select the Radial Blur toggle button. Draw the following gradient:

12. Let’s make this light a more wider. So press CTRL + T and drag the following sides:

13. Our light should look like the following:

14. Let’s go back to Layer 2 (Press the Layer 2), select Filters > Render > Lens Flare:

15. Here’s our result:

16. To make it more realistic, let’s add some light on the horizon of the Layer 2. So select Layer > Layer Style > Outer Glow… and enter the following settings:

17. We should have this:

18. It’s time to add a text. I’ve chosen a futuristic font that I downloaded from dafont.com (Neuropol X Free). Set the foreground color to #000000 (black). Select the Text tool and type your text:

19. Now we will create the reflection which is the key of this tutorial. Right click on the Text layer in the layers dialog and select Duplicate Layer. Then, having the new duplication selected, press CTRL + T to transform it this way:

20. From the toolbar you can make it accurate by changing the height to -100%. Then move the layer up with the arrow until it almost touches to original text layer:

21. Now select Layer > Layer Style > Blending Options, and set the fill parameter to 0%:

22. In the same dialog, we will add a Gradient Overlay:

23. When you apply the new blending options, you should see this:

24. And finally, set the Opacity of this layer to 20% to get the final result:

We’re done!

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial.  Comments, suggestions and corrections are welcome. Stay tuned!