Photoshop Tutorial – How to create a Falling Apart text effect

Final Result

Step 1: Create a new canvas

First open Photoshop and create a new image (File > New…) with the size around 624×500.

Step 2: Fill the new document with black

To change the background color go to Edit -> Fill… and select black color and 100% opacity and hit OK

Step 3: Write a short text

With your Text tool (press T) create a text area with the same width as the background on the center of the image. Use a big text size (I`m using 72pt for small and 100pt for big text) and make it bold and write a text of 2 lines with a white color.

Step 4: Add a Layer Mask to your text

To add a texture to our text first we need to add a layer mask to our text. To add the mask on your layer palette select the text layer (highlight it with blue) and at the bottom of the layer palette click the Add a vector mask icon.

It should look like this:

Step 5: Apply a texture to the text

First we need a texture to use, for the best results use a scratched metal texture.
I will use this one, click here

Open the texture image with Photoshop and select and copy the image: Select -> All then go to Edit -> Copy then go back to your image and click on the layer mask next to the text layer in the layer palette while holding down the Alt key on your keyboard.
This will open up a white image – the layer mask. Now we need to paste the texture image into the layer mask. Go to Edit -> Paste and than click on your text layer to get back to your image.

Your image should look like this:

And your layer palette should look like this:

Now right click the layer mask in your layer palette and click Apply Layer Mask. After this step the layer mask will be removed from your layer palette and the texture will be permanently added to your text. This step is necessary, because else when we would cut the text into smaller pieces we would need to add a new mask to each small layer (piece of text).

Step 6: Cut the first piece of your text

Select your Pen tool (press P) and make sure you have Paths option selected:

Using the Pen tool draw a line around the middle of your first letter (don`t hold down your mouse, just click on various points until the line is complete – the start of the line touches the end of the line):

Right click your line and click Make Selection…

Set the feather radius to 0 px and hit OK.
Than go to Layer -> New… -> Layer via CutYour image will look the same after this step.
Now select the new layer that appear in your layer palette (usually named Layer 1) and with your Move tool (press V) move it around and position somewhere close to it`s original position:
To make move the new layer more precisely zoom in your image using the Zoom tool (press Z).

Step 7: Cut your text into multiple pieces

Repeat step 6 until you have something similar to this (don`t forget to select your original text layer in your layer palette before cutting):

Step 8: The last modifications

After we have cut the text into pieces and we have arranged each piece we need to add some more effects to the text, to make it more shiny and add a background light.
To make these settings easily first we need to create a single layer from all these small layers.
Go to Select -> All Layers – this will highlight each layer in your layer palette.
Now right click the name of your first layer in the layer palette and click Convert to Smart Object

This will combine each layer into a single layer. Now right click the name of this new layer and click Blending Options…

Select Outer Glow, choose a white color and use the following settings:

The Final Result

Source: tutorialswindow.com

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