Fire

Open a new greyscale image and type some text.

Apply the wind filter twice and then diffuse.

Final image.

There is nothing quite like sitting in front of an open log fire in the dead of night, whilst staring into the dancing flames and listening to the hiss, crackle and pop of dead wood slowly burning. Just follow this simple technique to add a little 'heat' to your images.

Open a new greyscale file on a black background with a white foreground. Select the Text tool in the Toolbox and type some text. I've used Verdana at 50 points. Now flatten the image. Choose Layer>Flatten Image and rotate the image 90 degrees clockwise. Select Image>Rotate>90 CW.

Now apply the wind filter. Go to Filter>Stylize>Wind and set Method to Wind and Direction to From The Right and apply the filter twice. Now select the Diffuse filter using the default settings. Go to Filter>Stylize>Diffuse. Rotate the image 90 degrees counter clockwise. Select Image>Rotate>90 CCW.

Now we'll add a little Gaussian Blur to the image. Select Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur with setting of 2.0 and then use Ripple filter with the default settings. Select Filter>Distort>Ripple.

Now convert the image to Indexed Colour. Select Mode>Indexed Colour.

OK, here's the really weird bit (cue Spooky Mulder). "Select Mode>Colour Table and choose Black Body from the Table Drop Down Menu Box. Click OK." Why? Don't ask, just BELIEVE.