Using Smart Objects to create awesome filter effects on text

Have you ever wanted to add a nice filter effect to text in Photoshop only to see that Photoshop makes you rasterize the text before proceeding? The problem with this is, if the text is rasterized (turns it from editable text into an image) you can no longer go back and edit the text.
Here is how you can get around this problem.
Go to Layers > Smart Object > Convert to Smart Object

In this example, after I created a Smart Object, I was able to go to the Filter Gallery and use the text Craquelure creating this nice effect.

 

Because this is now a smart object, I'm still able to go back and edit the text by simply clicking on the Smart Object Layer and changing my text.
What happens is that a separate file built into Photoshop with a .psb extension is used to keep the text information. It's like a file inside a file. After editing the text I can close the text window taking me back to my main Photoshop window for editing.
Here is a video taking you through these steps:

http://www.screencast.com/t/lSw6AQUzv7uE

For more information on Smart Objects check my previous blog at:
http://leonaruth.blogspot.com/2009/03/smart-objects-smart-filters.html

Now you can add even more special effects to your text without the worries of never being able to edit the text again.