This is a relatively easy effect to achieve and relies on only two filters to get a really good look and feel.

1. Find a font that has a thickness and shape to compliment the effect, in this case i’ve used good old Times New Roman.

2. Apply Inner shadow “distance > 2″ , “Opacity > 80%” , “softness > 3″ and “Angel > 330°.

3. Apply Drop shadow “distance > 2″ , “Opacity > 75%” , “softness > 0″ and “Angel > 315°.

4. If using a pattern background try adding a “filter > Overlay” to let the pattern leach through the type face and effect.

5. The Finished effect.

Every now and again you will need to adjust the shape of a font you are using in a project, Ive needed to do this quite a few times when creating logo concepts that have a play on text shape rather than use a icon/shape logo. It’s an easy technique to learn and will give you loads more scope when coming up with those creative concepts.

1.  Lets start with some plain text, Ive used Impact as its a safe font that most of you should have.

2. Now right click the text and select convert to paths

3. You will now have a Group of paths, so right click again and click ungroup to get a set of paths distributed to individual layers.

4. Now that we have our font in the format we want, we can now start to play around to get the font deign we want. To do this select your subselection tool  from your toolbar and select the anchor points you would like to move. I have chosen to skew the bottom of the font to stretch downwards for this example but you are really only limited by you imagination.

5. To make the adjustment you can either drag and drop the selection or use cursor keys ( I prefer cursor keys as it gives me more control).

6. The final result.

This is a tip good for poster art. Add a radial gradient in bold text to spice things up. If you’re tired of using borders and bevels, try this.

1. Start off with your text on canvas however you want. Choose a very bold font, I used Impact as it is most common.

2. Select the text and click the Fill Color square, and click Fill Options. Choose gradient instead of the default solid. Then choose Radial among the types of gradients.

3. Choose your colors, preferably darker on the edges and bright on the center.

The result is a simple beautification of your headline or title.

4. And optionally, create a rectangle and fill with another radial gradient.

Our first guest post is written by Lucian. Enjoy!

This tutorial will show how a realistic 3d shape, such as text, could be created in Fireworks 8, a 2d software.

1. Create a new file and have a rectangle with a gradient fill be the background.

2. Add some text. Be sure the font is thick/bold so the 3d effect will look better.

3. Give the text a perspective using the Distort tool or other method of choice. In this tutorial I will give the text an isometric perspective by first rotating it 45 degrees either way (holding Shift while rotating it), and subtracting 50% of its new height.

4. Now that we gave it a perspective, you can either choose to add an outline or not. I added a 2px white outline.

5. For better results and individual effects, we will convert the text to paths (Right-click > Convert To Paths) and ungroup the new group created.

6. Now we are ready to add some extrusion to the text. With all paths selected (step 5), add a Solid Shadow effect found under Shadow and Glow option in the Live Filters menu in the Propeties panel (bottom of window). The effect should have a value of 270 degrees angle (depending on the perspective), and the distance is up to you. Make sure you check the Solid Color box and change the color to a slightly darker gray than the white of our outlines, such as #EFEFEF.

NOTE: Rearrange the order of the letters after adding the Solid Shadow effect (in Layers panel or Ctrl+Up/Down) such as the closest letter to you is on the top layer and the farthest is on the bottom one.

7. This step is optional but it gives a touch of lightning to the scene and reinforces the 3d perspective. Having all letters selected, add a Inner Shadow effect to all of them (found under Shadow and Glow menu). Give this effect the following values: distance-10, opacity – 20%, softness-20, and angle-90 degrees (adjustments may be necesary depending on size, perspective, and Solid Shadow distance of the text).

The text should look like this:

Now that we have the 3d text created, we can group its letters for easier handling.

8. It is time to add a reflection into the floor. Duplicate the text, send it below the actual extruded text (in Layers panel or Ctrl+Up/Down) and move it down wherever you want the reflection. Reflecting the bottom face of the original 3d text, I recommend making the reflection darker by changing its brightness using the Brightness/Contrast filter found under Adjust Color in the Live Filters menu ( I reduced the brightness to -50 ). Take the opacity of the reflection down to about 10%.

Here is the outcome:

9. The final touch towards the 3d effect is adding a shadow casted by the extruded text onto the floor. Once again we will duplicate the text, ungroup the copy and remove both the Solid Shadow and Inner Shadow effects from the letters. Now we can regroup it and using the Color Fill option found under the Adjust Color menu, we give the group a black fill.

10. Place the shadow’s layer between the extruded text layer the and reflection layer. Its position on the canvas should be half way between the reflection and the extruded text (where all shadows should be) as shown in the below image . Now give the shadow a Gaussian Blur with a radius of 5, and reduce the opacity to 50%.

There you have it.

For more examples of 3d simulation in Fireworks, please visit http://dFever.deviantart.com .

Lucian Dragomir

Instead of using the default Glow filter for the text, you can use other methods to make your text shine in the dark. This tutorial will show you a combination of them.

1. First type your text in white on a black background. Give the text an inner glow: #CCFFFF, width 2, softness 6, opacity 65.

2. Duplicate the text and give the one underneath a Gaussian blur, radius 4.1. This will make a more natural glow.

3. Duplicate the main text again and flip it vertically. Position it below the main text and set fill to linear gradient, bottom edge zero opacity. This will make a reflective surface effect, like this one, only less visible.

4. Create a rectangle the size of the whole canvas minus the rectangular area directly under the main text. In other words, fill everything except the “surface” the text is standing on. Set to radial gradient with a blue (#003333) center.

5. Then draw a horizontal ellipse (its width six times its height, or however desired) and set it to white, 100 Feather and overlay. Put it on top of the rectangle and underneath the texts.

There you have it, a decent text glow. Do some tweaking and you have yourself a doable text logo for your company.

You can make your very own Web2.0-style logo with Adobe Fireworks. Here I’ll teach you a few simple techniques that can help you do just that. There are more methods out there, but here’s my favorite ones.

1. First, make a circle and set its vertical linear gradient fill to #0099CC #003333. Type ‘f’ on it and set that to #FFFFFF, Trebuchet MS italicized, inner shadow distance 1.

You will get one simple yet attractive logo using the first letter of your company name. This is one technique. Here’s another.

2. Type the whole company name with Trebuchet MS or any other font you think is appropriate. Set that to vertical linear gradient with the same colors as the circle.

Now you already have a decent name logo. But I’m gonna show you more techniques.

3. Draw an ellipse and set it to #FFFFFF and 25% opacity. Put it between the two objects, above the name and below the circle.

This will make the text look glossy.

4. Now select the text and duplicate it. Modify>>Transform>>Flip Vertical. Set the fill to #003333 on both ends and set the bottom edge to 0% opacity. Position it underneath the original name to create a shadow effect. Don’t forget to adjust the gradient position: put it higher.

But wait, there’s more!

5. Using a Star tool, draw a star and set it to 10 points and decrease its radius to make it less pointy. Set its outline to #FFFFFF and add a drop shadow effect. Put it underneath all layers. Type ‘NEW’ in uppercase and fit that in the star.

6. And for the last technique, draw a rectangle and set it to vertical linear gradient fill with white on top and gray on the bottom. This will make the logo look like its sitting on a shiny floor.

And there you have it! I hope these tricks will make your logo look better.