Thursday, October 18, 2007

3D Text Tutorial

There is a simple way to simulate faux 3d Text in Photoshop. This technique can be adapted for different perspectives as well.

3D Text

Open a new canvas in Photoshop. Mine was 500×500px. Grab the text tool and type out your text in a large, bold font (I used Impact).

Once you’re happy with your text, we’re going to rasterize this layer so we can transform it. Right-click the layer with the text, and select Rasterize.

3D Text

Now to adjust the perspective. Hold down Ctrl-T to enter into transform mode. Right click the image and select Perspective.

3D Text

Here I grabbed the upper right corner and dragged it downwards to achieve the following effect.

3D Text

To make things easier in the next step, create a new folder. Drag your text layer into this folder.

3D Text

Now we’re going to duplicate the text layer, while nudging it forward one pixel. Hold down Ctrl+Alt, then click the right arrow until you are satisfied with the depth of the text.

3D Text

Drag the top-most layer out from the folder. Select the folder and hold down Ctrl-E to merge all those layers into one.

3D Text

3D Text

Select the top-most layer and apply a Gradient Overlay to it under Blending Options. Here I’ve opted for a subtle green gradient.

3D Text

Select the bottom layer and apply a 3px black Stroke.

3D Text

This is what your text should look like so far:

3D Text

Head over to the next page to learn how to add a small highlight to your 3D text!

Now we can add a small highlight to the text. Duplicate the top layer and delete the layer style.

3D Text

Select this new layer and fill it with white (hold down Ctrl while selecting the layer).

3D Text

With the Rectangular Marquee Tool selected, nudge this selection down and left by 2 pixels.

3D Text

Making sure your highlighted layer is selected, hit Delete.

3D Text

3D Text

Set the Blending Mode of the highlighted layer to Overlay. And there you have it! Faux 3D text.

3D Text

Here are more examples of different perspectives and styles using the same technique. When you’re duplicating layers for depth, you would hold down Ctrl+Alt as usual, but you may have to select a different directional arrow.

3D Text

3D Text

3D Text
From mintyferret

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