Make a chrome-text poster in Artfkt by adding an editable text layer, preparing its tones with Spotlight, then applying Chrome. The result has reflective highlights, while the words remain available to revise. This walkthrough makes AFTER HOURS, compares two reflection controls, then changes the headline to OPEN LATE and exports an opaque PNG.

You need Artfkt on an Apple Silicon Mac with macOS 13 or later, or a 64-bit Windows 10 or 11 PC. The example uses bundled Inter Black, so it needs no extra font download. The editable-text guide covers the basic text workflow in more detail.

Start with readable lettering

Create a square document at 1200 × 1200 and set its background to #10121B. Choose Add → Text. In the text content editor, put AFTER on the first line and HOURS on the second. Use these settings:

  • Font: Inter, weight Black · 900.
  • Font size: 230 px; color #F4F1EB.
  • Alignment: center; line height 0.9.
  • Letter spacing: −4 px; word spacing 0 px.
  • Text box width: 1080 px, with Auto height.
  • Scale: 100%; rotation: 0°; position X 0, Y 25.

Set the position after adjusting typography. Keep playback paused at 0 seconds and effect motion off for the still comparisons. The poster also has two separate Inter Medium labels at 25 px with 3 px letter spacing: “ARTFKT — TYPE IN METAL” at Y 470 and “REFLECTION STUDY / 01” at Y −470. Those labels have no effects.

Untreated cream AFTER HOURS lettering and small labels on a dark square poster.

The untreated poster. The headline is a text layer, not a flattened picture.

Give Chrome some tones to reflect

Select the headline and add Spotlight, then Chrome, in that order. Keep both effects on this text layer. These effects work on the rendered image of the text. Turn Motion off for each effect.

Chrome derives reflective relief from the incoming image. Uniformly colored letters can look flat, so this recipe uses Spotlight to vary their tones before Chrome reads them. Set Spotlight to:

  • Exposure: −2.
  • Radius: 70%; Aspect: 1.6.
  • Softness: 1.
  • Center: X 0.45, Y 0.50.

Keep the Spotlight settings fixed for every treated example below. They are part of this recipe, not Chrome’s defaults.

Shape the metal

Start from Chrome’s defaults, then set Relief to 1.80, Roughness to 0.12, Light angle to −45°, and Slope shift to 0%. Leave Strength at 1, Relief scale at 0.8%, View angle at 15°, and Mix at 100%.

Relief controls the apparent surface shape derived from the image. Light angle moves the illumination across it. Roughness changes how sharply the reflections read. Slope shift is kept at zero here to avoid pulling the letter edges away from their original positions.

This is image-derived reflective relief, not automatically generated 3D geometry. The text stays editable, but Chrome is treating its rendered image. You do not receive an extruded mesh from this effect. For an actual 3D object beside your type, see how to make 3D art without Blender.

Compare one reflection control at a time

The cover shows the polished setting, Roughness 0.12. The next image changes only Roughness to 0.42; the lettering, Spotlight, Relief, Light angle and all other settings are held fixed.

AFTER HOURS lettering with softer, more diffuse metallic highlights at Roughness 0.42.

Softer reflections: Roughness 0.42. Compare the edge highlights with the polished cover at 0.12.

For a light-angle comparison, return Roughness to 0.12, then change only Light angle from −45° to +45°. Keep the rest of the polished recipe unchanged.

AFTER HOURS chrome lettering lit from a different angle, moving the bright and dark reflective edges.

Light angle +45°. This changes the illumination direction; it does not rotate the text.

Judge the letter shapes as well as the highlights. A reflective effect can obscure a counter or merge two edges. Use the untreated view to check legibility, and inspect the exported image at the size where you intend to publish it.

Change the words and reopen the project

Restore Light angle −45° and Roughness 0.12. Select the headline, open Inspector → Text content, and replace the two lines with OPEN and LATE. You can also choose Edit text and accept the edit with Command+Enter. Spotlight and Chrome remain attached to the layer.

Save the project, then reopen it through File → Open. In our desktop check, OPEN LATE, Inter Black and both effects were preserved. The reopened text content and Chrome controls remained editable.

OPEN LATE replaces AFTER HOURS while retaining the same chrome treatment and dark poster layout.

New wording, with the same typography and polished effect settings. A shorter headline changes the shapes receiving the reflections.

Real Artfkt desktop editor showing the reopened OPEN LATE text and Chrome's editable Relief and Strength controls.

A cropped capture of the actual reopened desktop project. Chrome remains on the selected text layer.

Export an opaque PNG

Open Export and choose Image → PNG. Use Original dimensions and Canvas size, confirming 1200 × 1200. Turn Preserve transparency off, keep Background: Document background, then export. Changing appearance settings makes Optimization read Custom.

The dark background is part of this image. The PNG is the finished artwork; retain the project to edit the words and effects later. Our desktop verification saved and reopened the project and exported this opaque PNG through the app.

For another treatment, explore the Iridescence collection, which includes Chrome, or the foil poster tutorial. If you need a transparent PNG instead of an opaque one, see why a PNG background is not transparent. The free browser demo offers selected effects, but this tutorial’s editable text, project saving and reopening workflow uses Artfkt for Mac and Windows.

How these examples were made

The poster is original typography using bundled Inter under the SIL Open Font License. All artwork images were rendered at 1200 × 1200 through Artfkt’s production engine; no chrome appearance was painted or simulated afterward. The roughness and light-angle studies each change one Chrome setting from the polished state. The editor capture and revised PNG were also checked in the real desktop host. The values are a reproducible starting point for this composition, not a promise that every font or phrase will look identical.