When I post tutorials at The Graphic Mac, I look for a few things. First, it must be somewhat simple to achieve the desired effect. I also look for how detailed the tutorial is in describing the steps necessary to achieve the effect. And finally, I try to decide if anyone would actually want or need to achieve those effects for day-to-day work. When I came across this tutorial, I was skeptical as to how detailed it would be, and how easy it would be to repeat the outcome. Well worry not.

Photoshop Roadmap has nailed it with this tutorial titled Realistic Chrome and Glossy Plastic Text Effect. The tutorial is both simple and detailed, requiring no special filters and only a simple download of a small preset file (if you want to avoid any guess work). Most of the heavy lifting is done using Photoshop layer effects such as drop shadow, inner shadow, and bevels. And the effect isn't so "out there" that I couldn't see using it for real design work.