Limited pixel values in layer effects and styles (Photoshop)

Question

Some layer effects and styles in Photoshop have pixel settings. The problem appears when you want to scale your design. For example, in Bevel and Emboss you are able to set the Size and Soften. The former is limited to 250px and the latter to 16px.

To scale and preserve my design I need to set values greater than the Photoshop limits. Is it possible to do that? Any workaround?

Moving to Illustrator is not a solution, since some Photoshop effects that I'm using are not present in Illustrator.

Answer 1

The only work around is creating the effects yourself. It may seem daunting at first. But in reality most effects are just..

• Duplicating the current layer.
• Setting a clipping mask of the original to the duplicate.
• Setting a blur, color, stroke effect on the duplicate.

Different combinations of the last step will achieve different layer effects.

Answer 2

With my massive 3500pt text in a bold (Impact) at the upper echelon of what Bevel and Emboss can do natively we get this:

Now if we need to go beyond that we move to Scale Effects which can be found by right clicking on the effect in your layer panel, or under Layer → Layer Style on the main menu system. This only scales beyond the limit for the "Softness" however, if there is a softness, not the size value.

Answer 3

You can use the Scale Effects option (see @Ryan's answer), but that won't scale effects past their maximum value (it seems it will scale soften and possibly some other values past their maximum but not size values).

In that case—No. There is no way to apply effects bigger than their maximum size. Either:

1. Recreate the effect yourself.

2. Work at a smaller scale.

3. Create your bevel at a smaller scale, convert the layer to a smart object and enlarge the smart object. Your beveled layer will be at a lower resolution than the rest of your document however.