Text Shapes

[Chidori]

'ello.
I've been having a few ideas floating around in my head to use in Photoshop. They involve text in different shapes. Such as shaping the word (for example) Andi (my name) into the shape of a car. Very retro 70's-esque.
Is there any way to do this easily? The only ways I can think of doing it are to play about with the text shaping tool which I find horribly tedious or making a silhouette (sp?) of the said shape and manually chopping out segments to make the desired text effect.

If anyone could make this somewhat easier for me, I'd very much appreciate it.

Thank you.

[PDG]

You could always try using the Liquify feature. It's under Filters.

[Dave]

Change your name to Audi .... :D

[Chidori]

Aye. I could also change my surname to A3 or Quattro.

I had an idea that sounds fantastic in theory. However, execution could prove difficult.
Say I had my silhouette shape of an... Audi, and I did the CTRL+Click on the layer so only the silhouette is selected. Would there be any way to mould the letters into that shape from there?

Perhaps I am grasping at straws. I never got on with liquify. It's too random for what I want to do (given the level of my Photoshopping skills). I thank you so far for the suggestion though.

[123456789]

I've been wrestling with the same question for some time, and no solution YET! It might be easier with text, though. I would take each letter individually on its own layer and use the distort, perspective etc. tools to shape the letter within a selection box (which I would have turned into a work path beforehand) which would be any shape. I don't know how well this would work, but I will try tomorrow to see if I can come up with anything decent... I think using a nice round font would help since by rasterizing the type layer, parts of the letters could be erased etc. We'll see, I'll let you know how it goes. :)

[Chidori]

Okay, I made an example. It's very rough, but then again, so am I when I've just woken up.
If I used the free-transform tool, then I reckon I could make it fit a little better, but the general jist is there.

Sadly, the original shape wasn't an Audi. It's a Hyundai Coupé

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/Chidori/andicar.jpg

[123456789]

None of my thoughts on the subject panned-out. I think it's time for Trin to jump in and bail us out. ;)

[Scott]

The best way to do this is actually with Adobe Illustrator and it's envelope distortion feature. And it works very close to your fist description, Chidori.

In Photoshop.. well, you have to kind of use what you're doing. It just comes down to playing with shapes and getting them to work either through free transform or liquify.

[D Rock]

wut if u make a selection of the car, then work from the inside out, forming the text to create the major parts of the car (ie wheels, hood, trunk)

[Chidori]

[QUOTE=Jolt]The best way to do this is actually with Adobe Illustrator and it's envelope distortion feature. And it works very close to your fist description, Chidori.[/QUOTE]

I'll give this a shot next time I am on a computer with Illustrator on it.
I'll also be sure to show you my results.
Thanks, Jolt.

[ldg40]

Ah yes, Jolt is right on the Illustrator way of doing this...but I am so bull-headed I would try it first in PS.
This is how I would do it. Find a nice clean shot of a car. Make my text, using a good thick text. perhaps altering each letter (in size etc.) to get close to the cars shape. Then take the text, place it over the car, lower the opacity, apply a layer mask, and paint away. When I was pleased with the design, discard the car. does this make any sense? Good luck to you!