Bumping text

[carmen]

Well, I was trying for some definite effects on a text layer. Here is what I got:
    --first try
    --second try
    --third try.
The last one gets closer to what I was after--grateful if anybody can suggest a way to improve on it.
All 3 began from a bent text (thanks, Ofnuts!) colored with a blue-to-white linear gradient, to which I applied the follwing bump map (minimun blur):
   
1. default options, depth decreased to 2
2. same, azimuth moved to nearly vertical, plus bottom 2px removed (layer mask), because of too much white
3. is 2, minus the mask and with the bump map repeated, options as in 1.

As I said, the result isn't all I wished for, being quite new to bump maps... 
Any ideas?

[rich2005]

Quote: Any ideas?

Can you give some idea of what you are looking for?

also that is quite a small image, is that the intended size? Larger will be easier.

[carmen]

(11-17-2019, 04:43 PM)rich2005 Wrote:

Quote: Any ideas?

Can you give some idea of what you are looking for?

also that is quite a small image, is that the intended size? Larger will be easier.

It's the intended size--it's  half the title of a book cover (e-pub): 400x560 px. I am looking for an effect similar to my example 3, but I don't find that one wholly satisfactory.
Of course, the trouble 'may' be chiefly the font: it has to be slab, but slab fonts, when stretched vertically, end up with rather enormous serifs...

[rich2005]

I had to do a quick trace but maybe a bit more rounded , still with margins.

   

[Blighty]

Same as Rich:
The image is small - much smaller than 560x400
Not sure what look you are after

The attached was done with the Layer Effects plug-in. Lots of variations possible with this plug-in.

[carmen]

Thanks, everybody--I think I solved it:
   
This is after I exported the 'path to bend' into inkscape, and 
* made all the upper serifs same size (that of the small letters)--inevitably, the two at the borders increased at bending
* reduced the low bars to 1/2.
Fortunately, making such linear transforms of path nodes is especially easy in inkscape.
Of course, half the title is only a small part of the cover: add the other half + picture+ author + 40 px spine...
If somebody is curious, search 'google images' for

Code:

"Cyril Hare","Tragedy at Law"

for the cover I am copying--there is just one decentish picture: 586x1000 px, 115 KB--I try to keep my own covers under 70 KB, under the notion that the important part of a book is (usually) the text.

[Ofnuts]

The black-white transitions are bound to cause problems, you should blur the bump-map a bit. We could try things if you also provide the "flat" initial layer.

[carmen]

(11-17-2019, 09:28 PM)Ofnuts Wrote: The black-white transitions are bound to cause problems, you should blur the bump-map a bit. We could try things if you also provide the "flat" initial layer.

Thanks, but I am thinking that my last post does the trick, unless my sight is deceiving me--shall know better tomorrow, looking under natural light.
I didn't blur more my 'aux' layer because I was trying to keep sharp angles sharp--there is a rounding in the center of the W which I raher dislike. But I tried for the same effect by stroking an 'inset path' and the rounding was much worse. 
All in all, I think that bumping gives the best result, and I rather like the effect of bumping twice, with some 45º of difference between each pass...
Anyway, I have attached the 'to bend' last path--once bent, it requires a very little editing of the right tip of the L--couldn't figure it before bending.