Step 11: Create A Clipping Mask

Click on Layer 1 in the Layers panel to select it. Then go up to the Layer menu and choose Create Clipping Mask:

Layer 1 will become indented to the right in the Layers panel, indicating that it's now "clipped" to the text layer below it:

If we look in the document window, we see that the gray texture now appears only inside the text:

Step 12: Add A Bevel And Emboss Layer Style

Click on the text layer in the Layers panel to select it. Then click on the Layer Styles icon at the bottom of the Layers panel:

Choose Bevel and Emboss from the list of layer styles that appears:

This opens Photoshop's Layer Style dialog box set to the Bevel and Emboss options in the middle column. First, change the Technique to Chisel Hard, then increase the Size to around 7 px. Drag the Depth slider towards the right to increase it to around 500%:

In the Shading section of the options, click on the Gloss Contour thumbnail:

This opens the Contour Editor. Click on the Preset drop-down box at the top of the dialog box and choose Ring from the list:

Click OK to exit out of the Contour Editor. Then, back in the main Layer Style dialog box, select the Anti-aliased option to the right of the Gloss Contour thumbnail:

Don't close out of the Layer Style dialog box yet. We still have one more to add, but your text should now look similar to this:

Step 13: Add A Gradient Overlay Layer Style

Click directly on the words Gradient Overlay in the left column of the Layer Style dialog box. You need to click directly on the words themselves, not just in the checkbox, for the Gradient Overlay options to appear:

The middle column of the Layer Style dialog box will change to show options for the Gradient Overlay. By default, Photoshop chooses a gradient based on the current Foreground and Background colors (black and white), but if some other gradient is selected, click on the gradient preview bar:

Then click on the Foreground-to-Background gradient's thumbnail (top left) in the Gradient Editor to select it:

Click OK to close out of the Gradient Editor. Back in the main Layer Style dialog box, change the Blend Mode to Overlay, then lower the Opacity to around 70%. This will add an initial lighting effect to the metal:

Click OK to exit out of the Layer Style dialog box. Here's the effect with the layer styles added:

Step 14: Add A New Layer Set To The Overlay Blend Mode

Click on Layer 1 in the Layers panel to select it. Hold down your Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) key and click on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel:

This tells Photoshop to pop open the New Layer dialog box where we can set some options before the new layer is added. Click inside the checkbox to the left of where it says Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask to select the option, then change the Mode (short for Blend Mode) to Overlay. Click OK when you're done to close out of the dialog box. A new blank layer named "Layer 2", set to the Overlay blend mode, will appear above Layer 1 in the Layers panel. Like Layer 1, it will be clipped to the text layer below it:

Step 15: Apply The Clouds Filter

Let's add some random highlights and shadows to the metal effect. For that, we'll use Photoshop's Clouds filter, along with the Overlay blend mode we've already set the layer to. Go up to the Filter menu at the top of the screen, choose Render, and then choose Clouds:

The "clouds" create lots of light and dark areas:

Step 16: Apply The Gaussian Blur Filter

The clouds need to be smoothed out a little so they look more like highlights and shadows. We'll do that by blurring them. Go up to the Filter menu, choose Blur, and then choose Gaussian Blur:

When the Gaussian Blur dialog box appears, drag the slider along the bottom towards the right to increase the Radius value to around 10 pixels:

Here's the image after blurring the clouds:

Step 17: Add A New Layer Set To The Multiply Blend Mode

Once again hold down Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) and click on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to bring up the New Layer dialog box. Select the Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask option by clicking inside its checkbox, then change the Mode to Multiply. Finally, select the Fill with Multiply-neutral color (white) option at the bottom of the dialog box. Click OK when you're done to close out of it and add the new layer:

Step 18: Add Noise

Let's grunge up our metal effect by adding some dirt and scratches to it. Go up to the Filter menu, choose Noise, then choose Add Noise. The Add Noise dialog box will appear with the same settings we used previously. No need to change them, so just click OK to exit out of the dialog box. The text is now filled with noise, and since the layer's blend mode is set to Multiply, only the dark specks of noise are visible:

Step 19: Apply The Median Filter

To turn the noise into something that looks like dirt or scratches, go back up to the Filter menu, choose Noise once again, and then choose Median:

The Median filter is designed to remove noise from an image. Click inside the Radius input box and use the Up arrow on your keyboard to slowly increase its value while keeping an eye on your image in the document window. As you increase the Radius value, the noise will begin to disappear, leaving "clumps" of it behind to create our dirt and scratches effect. A value of around 9 pixels should work. Click OK when you're done to exit out of the dialog box:

Step 20: Lower The Layer Opacity

If the dirt and scratches effect looks too dark, lower the opacity of the layer. You'll find the Opacity option in the top right corner of the Layers panel. I'm going to lower mine to around 70%:

And with that, we're done! Here is the final "metal text" effect:

The Text Remains Editable

One of the nice things about creating this metal effect the way we have is that the text remains completely editable, and we can even change the font we're using if we don't like the one we started with! To change the font, simply select the Type Tool from the Tools panel, click on the text layer in the Layers panel to select it, then choose a different font from the Options Bar (you may need to resize the text again using Free Transform - see Step 9). For example, here I've done nothing more than change the font to Trajan Pro Bold:

Here, I've edited the text, changing the word from "METAL" to "STEEL". If you save your document as a Photoshop .PSD file, you can open it again any time you want and edit your text without ever having to recreate the metal texture:

And there we have it!

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