Finishing

A few finishing touches and our title will be well and truly complete.

1. Activate the Mortar layer.
   
   
2. Ctrl-click on the Bricks layer so as to select the shape.
   
   
3. Select Layer > Add Layer Mask > Reveal Selection.
   
   
This step is very important, as it gives the impression that the letters have been created by piling them up one on top of another. Without this merge mask, we would get the impression the letters have been cut out of a texture of background bricks.


4. Activate the Bricks layer.
   
   
5. Select Layer > Effects > Drop Shadow and apply the following options: Normal Mode, Opacity 100%, Angle 135°, Distance 2 pixels, Blur 5 and Intensity 0.
   
   

Your title is well and truly finished. It is easy to imagine the various pattern application variants. For instance, we could use tiling instead of bricks...

Another possibility would be to animate this title so that it takes shape brick-by-brick, right in front of your visitor's eyes.



Figure 9: Our title - really solid stuff!