• Related Tutorials:
• Solid Text
• Reflected Text
• Tutorial Index:
• Fireworks tutorials

Creating Solid Text

Using the solid shadow feature of Fireworks 8, it is quite easy to create text that looks three-dimensional. Looks even better with a drop shadow.

Step 1: Start a new 500x300 document at 72 pixel per inch. Add text 60pt text. I chose Arial Black and bold to give it a solid look.

Step 2: Add solid shadow filter ...

Step 3: Set the Solid Shadow with a black color as shown below. Click OK and you this is what you get.

Step 4: The dark black might be a bit strong. So lets create a shadow with a matching color. Click the "i" icon to edit the settings.

Step 5: Click the color picker and sample the color found in the main text.

Step 6: This causes our shadow color to be the same as our text color. Click the color picker again and choose the color wheel this time.

Step 7: In the color wheel dialog, our current color is shown. We click as shown below to choose a color with a darker saturation based on our current color.

Step 8: Click OK to the color picker dialog and the solid shadow dialog and this is what we get...

Step 9: If you feel that the letters are too close together, you can increase the letter spacing as shown above.

Step 10: Now lets add a drop shadow by clicking the Add Filters button and choosing Drop Shadow.

Step 11: Play around with the drop shadow settings to find one that you like...

Step 12: And here is the results which you can download from this file: solidtext.png.

In the next tutorial, we will learn how to add reflection as well as a background to this text. Oh, now you see why I used the word "reflection" for the example.