Here are a couple of simple ones that you might find useful.

The Cutout Action has a couple of useful techniques in it, in particular, the trick used to create the lines that will be cutout in the outer shell of the letters.  It uses a patterned fill blended with a version of the letters to create the cutout channel in the shape of the outer shell.

The Outline Action resembles a technique that I see in many magazine titles.  It uses a stroked channel to create the three dimensional outline.  It also uses the Lighting Effects Filter to help bring it to life and give it a photo realistic quality.

Both actions use layers to create objects that interact with one another as if they were actual objects by revealing the object in the layer below and casting shadows on the lower layer.

You can click on the original black and whites to view and download the full size versions.  Try the action on these first and make sure you get the same results as in my finals.

Be sure to experiment with different words, different sizes, different shapes and see how it works.  We hope you enjoy these actions.  Email Us or sign our Guest Book and let us know what you think.  Send us some of your final images.  Have Fun!!

The Usual Disclaimer
These actions are created for 72dpi images only and are only guaranteed to work in Photoshop 5.5.  They were also created on a PC, not a MAC. (Please, no more hate mail from MAC users, I like PCs, I'm sorry!)  If you wish to create these effects for a higher resolution, you will need to tear the action apart and redo the steps.