Variations in Plastic

To begin with, create a new image with a transparent background. Then create a new layer. My image for this tutorial has the following states:

9 inches wide
5 inches high
150 dpi
Transparent Background
RGB

Select the type mask tool. In the new layer enter your type.

Now choose 2 shades of blue, red, orange or whatever color you like for the foreground and background colors. Make sure one is lighter than the other, and place the lighter color in the background. I'm going with orange here.

Select the Linear Gradient tool. Fill the selection from top to bottom.

Here's where I am thus far:

Set this layer's opacity to 50%, then duplicate it.

Create a new layer, and contract your selection by 16 pixels. Select a lighter shade of your background color and fill the selection. Apply a gaussian blur of about 9 pixels, and change the layer mode to Color Dodge. Set the layer opacity to 60%.

Now create a new layer, and Command/Control>Click Layer 3 to reselect it. In the new layer contract the selection by 16 pixels again, fill with white, and set the opacity to 50%. Transform the selection so that it is compressed toward the bottom... you need not move it too far, only about 1/3 of the text height. Set this layer mode to Screen.

Now I'm going back down to the Layer 2 Copy. I'm applying a Bevel/Embos via the Layer Styles with the following settings:

I'm also applying a stroke via the Layer Styles. Here's the settings:

Ok, now lets take Layer 2 and Layer 2 Copy and increase their opacity to 70% each. I've also create a new layer beneath layer 2 and filled it with a scanlines pattern to ensure the type is indeed transparent.

Ok, so it isn't quite like the effect of the iMac action, but the process is very similar. Now lets see what sort of variations we can come up with for this puppy!

I've included my final result as an action, so feel free to play around with it.