Dreadfully sorry getting this post up late today. I usually get them up the night before, but an unexpected thing happened. Lynda Weinman and Bruce Heavin (principals of lynda.com) invited Colleen Wheeler, David Gassner, and me to the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, for which lynda.com is the primary sponsor. We walked down a red carpet (during which the people on the edges gave us conspicuous glances of who the hell are you?), enjoyed Chopin cocktails in a private club, and sat in the same row as Colin Firth. For the sake of comparison, my typical evening in California involves recording videos in a soundproof cube. So as you might imagine, I got somewhat discombobulated and forgot to write this post.

(Last night, I was also fortunate enough to see Geoffrey Rush wax on hilariously about his career before accepting an award. But I only mention him parenthetically because he wrapped things up by suggesting that we end our culture of celebrity. I mean, give me a break. Here I just walked down the red carpet, and all of sudden now the whole celebrity thing is off? Thanks a lot, Geoffrey!)

All right, so much for the tedious name dropping. (Did I mention Helena Bonham Carter was there as well? In fact, we really hit it off. Look for news of us and our shockingly torrid romance in the tabloids. (If Geoffrey doesn’t go and utterly ruin the good name of gossip mongering!)) Here’s the official description of that thing I was supposed to post earlier this morning:

This week’s episode of Deke’s Techniques features the creation of glowing embers of type. In under eight minutes, Deke shows you how to employ a combination of layer effects to create the burning glow, and then apply filters to create the ripples of heat coming off the incendiary text. Although the letters appear to be on the brink of destruction, they nonetheless remain completely editable underneath, so you can alter your burning message to suit you (or your client’s) whim.

And if this isn’t hot enough for you, lynda.com members can watch exclusive Deke’s Techniques videos from our Online Training Library during which Deke actually sets the letters on fire. Okay, he virtually sets them on fire, but that explains why they’re glowing.

Deke’s got something new for everyone every week, so stop back by next Tuesday for another useful technique, always brought to you in under ten minutes. And keep the ideas coming for what you’d like to see Deke cover in future episodes.

For reference, here’s what the text looks like at the end of this video, heated up:

And here’s what it looks like after I set it on fire in the video available to members of lynda.com, to which you can gain an immediate free 7-day pass by clicking on the image below.

And now I must go. Helena calls for me.