Imagine you are grazing in a beautiful pasture, minding your own business when a nice man in a cowboy hat and a pair of pointed boots (made out a material that looks damn familiar by-the-way...) walks up to you, and before you can spit out your cud and run for your life, he jabs you in the tail end with a hot branding iron! Now you're running around in a circle like a mad cow trying to escape from the million-and-one killer bees that are all stinging you in the ass at the same time, and he's sitting back over at the fire eating beans and doing shots of cheap tequila. But hey, but that's OK, cause that night, you make a deal with his horse, and in the morning when he goes to 'saddle up', and his horse drives a back hoof right into his groin at 300 m.p.h., you get to sick back an laugh as he sifts through his vomit trying to figure out 'which ones is beans, and which ones is his testicles'! YIPPIE-KYE-AYE (insert Die Hard Expletive here)!

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Black text or imported artwork on a white or transparent background. Flattened or Un-Flattened. Image sample was created on 72dpi, 600x600 pixel. Give yourself room for expansion,shadows and swelling.(a little bactine may help that).
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Simply Sapphire

A nice blue glass on a black background that works great on text and also makes some pretty cool buttons. Add a few glows and glares to enhance the effect.

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Black text on a white or transparent background. Image sample was created on 72dpi, 600x350 pixel document with text placed from Illustrator. Give yourself room for expansion and shadows.
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Mactastick!!!

It seems that everyone from Wacom and Iomega to George Foreman and Compaq have jumped on the iMAC color bandwagon. Everybody has some kind of merchandise with that bright colored, clear plastic on it, so I thought, "hey, why can't I get a piece of the action?" Now, I may not have a 'fancy' grill with a grease catcher to sell on the Home Shopping Network, but I got actions! So, here it is. Mactastick creates a colorful base with a clear, colorful plastic top that you can see through. Lets you pick your colors for the base, top and background. Works best on thick fonts. (Thin fonts will just slide right into the grease catcher.)

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Use thick fonts 300 points plus. Black text, white background. Rendering and flattening is optional.
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Alien Cave Wall

Creates a dark, murky, alien-like cave wall texture.

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Open up a blank doc and press play. It's different everytime. Run it over and over again on the same image until you get one that 'Scares The Freaking HELL' out of you!!!
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Liquid Bubble Gum' seemed a better name than 'Pink Drippy Crap', and no, I don't know what you'll use it for either. However, I do think PinkDrippyCrap.com is available...and...if you need a logo...

Anyway, works in both PS5 and 6. The action flattens the image to render the background reflection. You can go back a few steps in the history to seperate it to it's own layer. Text is created with tranparency that will show background layer behind it.

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Black text on a white or transparent background. Image sample was created on 72dpi, 600x600 pixel document with text warped and liquified in Photoshop 6 using Text Warp and the new Liquify Filter. You can flatten your text and paint in drips with the paint brush as well. Give yourself plenty of room for expansion, shadows and reflection. Use a square document double the size of your text. I don't know why, but it seems to improve the edges of the bubble gum.
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Krystl'

Here is an action that I created while working on glass type buttons for a Web project a while back. It works well on text and button shapes. You will want to add some glares and lighting effects to really bring it to life. The background is included as part of the action. I recolored half of it to show the true transparency of the objects.

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Black text on a white or transparent background. Flattened or unflattened. Image sample was created on 72dpi, 600x350 pixel document with text placed from Illustrator. Give yourself room for expansion and shadows. Best to work on double the size of your intended artwork and reduce by 50%. (Photoshop reduces best at 12.5 increments.) No plugins, styles, gradients or patterns needed.
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Peanut Butter and Crackers

Peanut Butter and Crackers. Peanut Butter stays on it's own layer, so, if you don't like it, scrape it off!!!

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Use a thick, round font to get the best looking crackers. Did this one on an 8in x 8in doc with letters done up in Illustrator. Just use black text on a white or transparent layer and get your stinkin' fingers out of the peanut butter jar!!!
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Astroturf

Something done in the spirit of [American] Football Season. Very simple effect that you can do with the colors of your favorite team.

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Black text on a white or transparent background. Image sample was created on 72dpi, 600x350 pixel document with text placed from Illustrator.

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Hatchet

The Hatchet Action. Wooden letters and a rough cut wooden base. Just add your type and watch the woodchips fly.

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Black text on a white background. Rendered or flattened is optional.

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Squished

What better way to stick your letters to the wall than with a bit of chewed-up bubble gum? Hey, it worked for my kids when they were little. Most kids just used that little magnet on the back to stick them to the refrigerator. But no, my kids had to be 'Clever'! (Its also a quick way to stick button shapes to your Web pages!) For more info, see http://www.webteknique.com

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Use a large type face about 300-400 points. Flattened, not flattened, rendered, not rendered, doesn't matter. Just make sure it's black type on a white background. If you get it in your hair, try a little gasoline. (That's what my dad use to do!)

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Acrylic

Acrylic paint squirted straight from the tube. You remember this stuff, don't you? It's what we all used to paint with before we got computers. (Or, if youre like me, it's what you used to eat in kindergarten class when you ran out of paste!)

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Black text on a white or transparent background. Image sample was created on 72dpi, 600x350 pixel document with text placed from Illustrator. Give yourself room for expansion and shadows. You will be prompted to choose your color at the end of the action. You can also use the Lasso to choose individual letters to make several colors with the Hue/Saturation Adjustment Tool.

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GI Joe

Camouflaged and Battle Ready.

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Black text on a transparent or white background. (You can also use a scan of text on a light background. The action will will auto adjust the color) Sample was created on a 72dpi, 600x350 pixel document. Leave room for expansion.

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Double Stuff

An effect similar to the logo of everyones favorite milk companion. Twist it, lick it and dunk it! Just dont forget to wipe that chocolate gook from the sides of your mouth when youre done!

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Black text on a white background about 300 points or greater. Flattened or not.

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Chunck of Somthin'

Engraves your text into a chunk of somethin'. I'm not quite sure what it is, but it's shiny. I hope it's not radioactive or anything. If you start to glow at night, or any body parts turn green and fall off, I would whip it into your neighbor's yard!

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Seems to work best on thinner fonts. Use a font 300-400 points. Black text/white background. Flatten or unflattened.

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Pumpkin Head

I wanted to get something up here for Halloween, sooo, here's one for all of you pumpkin carvers out there. Happy Halloween!!!

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Really simple one. You will be prompted to make sure the bulb in the Lighting Effects Filter is in the center of your document. If it is not, just slide it into place. I created my sample on a 600x350 pixel, 72 dpi image. If you are going to use this or any other of my actions for print, you will need to make modifications.

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Sunset Blvd.

A kartoonish sunset effect for those upitty hollywood toons. "I'm ready for my close up, Doc!!!"

SUPPORT INFORMATION
For the sample image I used a 600x350 pixel doc with black letters on a white background. You can use flattened or unflattened artwork.

I used the Lens Flare Filter to add the sun to the desired location and then boosted the shadows a bit in Image>Adjust>Levels. (move the shadow slider in just a bit)

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Emerald City

Click your heels together three times and press play! Paint some glares and add some lens flare to really make this thing sparkle!!

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Start with black text on white or transparent, flattened or unflattened. I created this sample as a 72dpi, 600x350 pixel document. Leave some room for expansion. Results will vary depending on size, font and resolution. Use the action to get you in the ball park, but use stops to customize it to fit your needs.

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Balloonz

Fun Party balloons with a nice airbrushed look. Action lets you select your own color!

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Just black text on a white or transparent background. You will be prompted to use the Hue Slider to pick your color. Best to run it on all of the letters seperately to get different color balloons. Results will vary based on the font you use. Rounder, fatter text works best.

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Gelly Belly

Something for your sweet tooth. Hue slider allows you to create just about any flavor.

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Black text on a white or transparent background. Image sample was created on 72dpi, 600x350 pixel document with text placed from Illustrator. Give yourself room for expansion and shadows.

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Chrome and Gold

Chrome and Gold (seperate actions)inspired by those name plates on the back of automobiles. The image is a combonation of the two.

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Black text on a white background. Some sparkles and lens flare will make these shine.

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Boogles

I love grocery shopping because I get to check out all of the great type treatments on product packaging aimed at kids. You know the ones with the fun, colorful letters and cartoon characters that have nothing at all to do with the product itself. Some of the best type effects are on these packages. Of coarse, the fun packaging is there to distract your attention away from the fact that the snack is nothing more than cleverly disguised sugar. With the right packaging you can sell a kid anything. Tubes of colored sugar

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Use large text at least 300 pts. Use Black text on a white background, flattened or unflattened.

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Deco

Fun, colorful, over the top and a little bit gaudy! Works for me! The more fun the font, the more fun the result! Creates a multi-layered effect where it cuts your text into the outer shell. For more info visit my WebTek Site.

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Use it on type 300-400 points to get the best detail. Flattened or not...Rendered or not...

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Cap'n Joe's

This one creates the text with the water reflection, the background and the water droplets. I can almost small the salt air, hear the waves crashing on shore and taste the fresh dolphin. (Dolphin FISH, that is. I know when I first saw that on the menu it freaked me out too!)

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Large Text at least 300 pts. Black type, white background, flattened or not. Use some painted glares and the Lens Flare filter to really bring it to life. (Crab not included!)

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Charmed!

The inspiration for this one came from having two daughters that come home from shopping at those little boutiques at the mall with a whole bag full of bracelets with glitter, hair clips with glitter, necklaces with glitter, body glitter, lip gloss with glitter, glitter with glitter..... Amazing, since they went to the mall with only $10 and still had enough left over to eat lunch in the food court!

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Black text on a white or transparent background. Image sample was created on 72dpi, 600x350 pixel document with text placed from Illustrator. Give yourself room for expansion and shadows. Keep your letters 6 to 8 pixels apart if you want them soldered together.

The action was create in version 5.5 and image was created running the action in version 6. No more layer effects for me. I'm back to doing everthing the old fashioned way like I used to do in version 2 and 3, with stock filters, channels, layers, calculations... I'm tired of having to change all of my actions with every new release.

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Party Time

Fun confetti colored letters similar to foil party balloons.

SUPPORT INFORMATION
(Photshop 5x)Create a document with a transparent or white background and add text in black. Make that the active document in PhotoShop and press play. Give yourself some room for expansion. I created this sample on a 72dpi, 600x350 pixel image. I have found that version 5 actions will work in 6, but not visa versa.

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Submarine Sandwich. Useful? No. Amusing? A little. Especially if you were one of those kids that grew up making your mom pretend to eat your little PlayDoh sandwiches all day. Yum!!

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Black text on a white or transparent background. Give yourself plenty of room for fixins. Oh yeah, and wear an apron. The bread takes some time to bake, but hey, we want it to be fresh, don't we?

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Pizza Pizza!!!

Fresher than frozen, faster than delivery. Spice it up with the additional Pepperoni action. "That'sa Spicy Action!!"

SUPPORT INFORMATION
The sample image was created on a 72dpi, 600x350 pixel document. Give yourself room for expanding dough and shadows. You will need to add your own pepperoni with the additional Pepperoni Action. (Hey, actions can't do everything!) Just drag as many as you need from the pepperoni image on to your pizza.

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Snot Nose Punk

It creates a snotty looking, green goop that resembles the stuff dripping out of the noses of all the little brats running around in the streets of our neighborhood. (Where are they're parents???!!!) Sorry...

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Black text on a white or transparent background, flattened or unflattened. You can also import vector text work from Illustrator. Just increase the canvas size by about 100 pixels top/bottom - left/right to give your text some room. Looks best on hand drawn type fonts, I used one called Chiller in the sample.

Give it some sparkles to give it that 'fresh from the nasal passages' look!

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Explosion

Look out for flying debris. This action creates an explosion that rips right through your text.

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Best to use large letters. I jumbles these around in Illustrator first and then broke them apart.

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Copper Syrup

A liquidy mix of blue and gold metal.

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Use a large photoshop doc with large letters to prevent the letters from becoming an unrecognizable ooze.

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Bloo!

A nice plastic effect with inset lines that looks good in text or in buttons.

Featured Font: Rhino by Thomas Rogerstam

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Black text or imported artwork on a white or transparent background. Flattened or Un-Flattened. Image sample was created on 72dpi, 600x600 pixel. Give yourself room for expansion,shadows and reflections. Use a square doc double the hieght of your text or button.

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Water

A watery effect complete with bathroom tile floor.

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Add some drips and drops to this one to enhance the effect.
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Candy Cane Lane

Something for the holidays for all of you that haven't been naughty!

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Sample was created with black text on a white or transparent background. I used a 72 dpi, 600x350 pixel doc.

If you want to make the image smaller, create a doc double the size of your intended output and reduce the image by 50% when the action is complete.

You may have to play with the canvas size if you get odd stripes.

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Vampire Blood

Vampire Blood just like you buy in the little plastic tubes at Halloween.

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Black text on white with enough room on all sides to accomodate some splashing and splattering. A few drips and drop will help bring this one to life.

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Crak'd

Creates shinng letters or buttons that are a bit cracked up. You can choose the outer and inner colors during the action with the Hue Slider.

SUPPORT INFORMATION
I created this image on a multi-layered, 600x350 pixel file with black letters and objects on a white background. You can aslo use a flattened image as long as the letters are on a white background. It will even work if the letters are a darker color other than black. (like red, blue, green...)

Work on a larger image and reduce if needed.

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Cappuccino Grande

Rich steaming expresso topped off with a cap of frothed milk and sprinkled with a dusting of cocoa. Man! I can feel the top of my head tingling just thinking about it. Now, if youll excuse me, I need to get to Starbucks before I slip into a caffeine withdrawal and have to be placed on a French Roast, Double Shot, Skim, Caramel Latte with Cinnamon IV again! (That caramel syrup is tough on the veins, man!!!)

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Black text on a white or transparent background, flattened or un-flattened. Image sample was created on 72dpi, 648x648 pixel document with text placed from Illustrator and then liquified with the new Liquify Filter in PS6. Give yourself room for expansion, shadows and reflections.

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Doin Donuts

Here is one that creates cake donuts with chocolate frosting and a few confetti sprinkles. Try it along side of my Cappuccino Grande Action for a real treat!

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Works best on large, round type. Use black type on a white background at least 300 points. Flattened or not. Rendered or not.

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Toy Plastic

Toy plastic is a fun double decker effect that allows you to choose your colors.

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Use black text on a white background. You will be prompted to select your top and bottom colors by using the Hue Slider in the Hue/Saturation Adjustment Tool. Simply move the slider until you get the color you like and click OK.

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Hard Candi

Cherry, Butterscotch, Lemon-Lime, Grape, Cool Mint, Orange... you pick your flavor! More fun than a candy store!

SUPPORT INFORMATION
The sample was created on a 600x350 pixel, 72 dpi image. Run the action on an image double the size you plan to use so that you get all of the detail. Then reduce your image by 50%.

Larger, thicker, rounder fonts work best. If you get a message saying 'No pixels were selected', increase the size of your font

You will be prompted to pick your flavor using the Hue Slider in the Hue/Saturation Adjustment Tool. Slide it back and forth until you find a flavor that suits your fancy. You can also stop the action and use your selection tool to color each letter differently. When done, press play again and de-select the colorize option in Hue/Sat and click OK.

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Rusted

There is no predicting how your text with weather and rust with this action. Could be a little, could be a lot.

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Black text on white. Give yourself some room on all sides for some expansion.

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Electric Light

Blue Electric Neon Sign in a Plastic Housing.

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Just some black text on a white background.

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Plaster

It gets it's name not because it looks like plaster, but because it uses the Plaster Filter for it's effect. (Not that the Plaster Filter looks like plaster either.) Concrete background is part of the action.

Featured Font: Mister Earl from MyFonts.com. Search on Mister Earl.

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Black text on a white or transparent background. Flattened or Un-Flattened. Image sample was created on 72dpi, 600x600 pixel. Give yourself room for expansion and shadows. This one expands out to a Triple-Decker Effect

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Plastic Cut Out

Plastic letters with a horizontal lines cut through them for a high tech look.

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Seems to look best with high tech or futuristic fonts. image was created at 72dpi 600x350 pixels (half the Action Xchange size limit). The bigger the letters, the smaller the cut out lines.

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Magic Marker

This is a nice simple one that gives your text a cool hand drawn look with sweeping calligraphic lines on a rough, textured art paper.
Pen not included!

SUPPORT INFORMATION
For consistent results, start with a 72dpi, 600x350 pixel document with black text on a white background. You will be prompted to pick your starting color using the Hue Slider. Just follow the instructions.

This one is very simple and you will be able to do it without the action on any size image once you get the few steps down.

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Blow Hard

Use a font at least 300-400 points high. Black text on a white background. Does not matter if you render or flatten the image, the action will take care of that. Also lets you choose your own color. You can also use it to make some nice buttons.

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Cars on Mars

This one got this name because I needed a four letter word (a clean four letter word) to show off this wonderful font by Pizza Dude called Jelly Belly. Creates a fun effect like you might find on a movie poster. Maybe a movie called Cars on Mars (OK, maybe not!) I also added a couple characters from his Fazings doodle font.

I finally got all of my actions up at WebTekNique.com, so you can view the full size version and download the original to try the action on first and make sure it works.

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Large black text (about 300+ pnts) on a white background. Rendered or unrendered, flattened or unflattened.

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Kartoon Time

Use it on your "Fun Fonts". (The ones my clients never let me use on their corporate WebSites.) Add some sparkles! People like shinny stuff!

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Black text, white or transparent Background. Leave room for expansion. Sample created on 600x350, 72dpi image. Start there and use stops to make modifications as needed.

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Multi-level effect with cut squiggly lines.

something fun and meaningless. You need that once in a while!

SUPPORT INFORMATION
This one creates a multi-level effect with squiggly lines cut out of your text shell. Use a thick font about 300-400 points in size.
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Poppin' Copper

Hand Tooled Copper Artwork.

This one was inspired by these amazing artists I saw on Home Garden Television (Yeah I watch HGTV, what about it?!) over the weekend that made the most beautiful copper artwork. They would torch it and tap out intricate patters and torch it some more and hammer it and paint it and sand it and torch it and... it took like a month to make one piece. But they were just incredible. This action won't take a month to run, but then again, it isn't a quarter as cool as the real thing! Works best on thinner, decorative fonts.

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Use a thin font about 300-400 points. Black Text on a White Background, Flattened or not.
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Just Plain Silly

And now for something completely useless, annoying and just plain silly! (Sounds just like the way my wife describes me to her friends! Hey, can I help it if I’m not good with tools, make her repeat everything she says because of years of listening to Deep Purple on volume 10 with head-phones and I like to watch Beavis and Butthead reruns?) Anyway, I don’t know what to say about this one, except, try to have a sense of humor when you run it. Because, no matter how useless and silly some things may seem, once in a while they just might make you smile. (At least that’s what I tell my wife. – So far – she’s not buying it!)

SUPPORT INFORMATION
New document, Black Text, White Background, Flattening or Rendering is optional as always. Use this on thick, decorative, rounded fonts for best results. 400-500 pixels in size. (Yes, size does matter!)
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Road Rage

A Cartoonish, Airbrushy, Chrome Effect.

This one reminded me of the days before computers when those cool chrome text effects were in the hands of airbrush artist. A couple of my favorites were the ones on the sides of tow trucks and the one on the cover of Heavy Metal Magazine.

SUPPORT INFORMATION
New document. Black text about 300-400 pixels, white background. Rendering or Flattening is optional as always.
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Mojo Baby!

Puts the Mo in your Mojo Baby!!!

I just saw the new Austin Powers movie and there was a cool (or should I say Groovy) type effect in the opening credits that looked similar to this. Let’s you choose your type and background colors.

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Use a new document with balck type or black artwork on a white background. Flattened or not. Use a font at least 300-400 pixels. Works best on thick, round fonts.
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Dried Snake Skin

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Use a font with a hand drawn or distressed look to enhance the effect. If you use a smoother font, use the crystallize and stamp filters to distort it a bit.
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Aerial View

Creates a texture that resembles an overhead view of a deep canyon with rocks, moss and occasionally some water with a light cloud cover.

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Just open a blank document the size you need and let it rip. Hope your not afraid of heights!

If you run this on documents based on 128x128 pixels, it creates a seemless tile. (128x128, 256x256, 512x512, etc...)
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Funky Munky

OK, the name has nothing to do with the action. I have always wanted to name an action Funky Munky but would have no idea what the heck a Funky Munky Effect would look like, so, maybe it would look like this.(or maybe it would look like pink and blue bananas, but even I don't have that much free time!)

Anyway, this is a combination of a few different techniques that I did just for fun. (an 'all work and no play' sort of thing). The object ends up on it's own layer, so you don't have to use the added background.

Add some glares and flares to bring this munky to life.

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Just use black text on a white background. It can be on it's own layer or flattened. Rendered or unrendered. You can also place text in from another app such as Illustrator or run it on an existing image. I created this one on a 600x350 pixels doc. Work larger and reduce later for best results. No plugins, styles or other stuff needed.
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Snacky Cake

Ok, I know these "Cream Filled Pastry Actions" have been done to death, but I just can't resist the sugar rush you get from those store bought snack cakes. You know, the ones that make your cheeks burn and the top of your head tingle for about 20 minutes until you come crashing down like a drug addict on the first morning of re-hab. Chocolate cake, vanilla butter cream, swirled icing and a dusting of powdered sugar. Mmm, Mmm, Mmm. Now we just need a "Milk Action"!

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Black text on a white background. The sample was created on a 72dpi, 600x350 pixel document. Leave enough room on all sides for expansion and shadows. (about 30 pixels top/bottom, left/right)
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Solar Panel

Solar Panel creates an effect of letters made of solar panels floating in space.

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Use large type on a doc about 8 or 9 in square. Give yourself enough room for the base of the salelite. No special plugins required.
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Open All Night

Here is a simple neon effect that will prompt you to pick your color. For some colors, such as yellows, greens, blue greens, you will need to take the saturation down a bit from 100 to 50-75 in the Hue/Saturation Adjustment Tool.

SUPPORT INFORMATION
Black text on a white or transparent background. Image sample was created on 72dpi, 600x350 pixel document with text placed from Illustrator. Give yourself room for expansion and glow.