This is a really cool way to swirl text and also use a tool that you probably don't use too often Polar Coordinates.

Step 1: You'll want to choose a font that is bold for this effect to work best. I chose Compacta Bold. Type a word and then rasterize the text.


Step 2: Next select the text, I used ctrl key while pressing the layer thumbnail on the layers palette.


Step 3: Go to the Select menu at the top of Photoshop and choose Modify->Contract. I used a pixel contraction number of 2, but your results will depend on the resolution. Use your best judgement to achieve the results as shown below.


Step 4: Delete the middle out.


Step 5: Flip the text 90 degrees clockwise.


Step 6: This is where it gets fun. Go to Filter->Distort->Polar Coordinates and choose "Polar to Rectangular"



Step 7: Go to Filter->Stylize->Wind and choose "Wind" and "From The Right".



Step 8: Go to Filter->Distort->Polar Coordinates again and choose "Rectangular to Polar" this will reverse the effect you applied earlier.



Step 9: Now just flip back 90 degrees counter clockwise and the effect is complete.

Not sure where I would use that... but it is very cool.

I have my own trick using the Polar Coordinates tool. I'll post a tutorial in a bit.

I used the effect and it worked really well but I've tried to use it on large fonts and it isn't working the same way. Any suggestions? I have tried changing the amount of wind and the number of pixels I contract the outline by but it doesn't seem to work.

Any help would be great.
Thanks.

What is your resolution set at? The tutorial is set for 72dpi, so the settings would change a bit depending on your image resolution.

It shouldn't matter what size font you use. I have had success with all different sizes. You may just need to play with it a bit more.