Photoshop design Very cool 3d Text tutorial (top)

Here you will learn how to make a simple font more dynamic, such as a dream-like 3d writing works.

This tutorial is divided into two chapters, this is the first part. Here you will learn how to make a simple font more dynamic, such as a dream-like 3d writing works. Here are some ingenious ways to make your artwork a better place. Don't miss it!

Original Author: Wojciech Pijecki

Final Effect Preview
Let's take a look at the magical effects of having done both.

Introduction and preparation
This series of tutorials is a continuation of the tutorial Super malleable Lines (this is the tutorial). This has some similar effects, but it is reflected from different angles. In the first part of this tutorial, we will focus on how to create 3D text and splash effects. First, to create 3D text, you need to download the demo version of Xara 3d6, or you can use Adobe Illustrator to create (Xara 3d6 can go down to research but it's all birds), but I strongly recommend that you use Xara. Also need to download from cgtextures.com stained metal texture image (This picture does not find stuffy!) ）。

Step 1: How to start
The best way to start is to find the right color for the letters. In this tutorial, the background color is very sunny, give us a very warm feeling. Here we will use cold tones.

First we need to create a new document with a 1350 * 1600px resolution of 300px/inch. Create a new layer and make a simple color match. Instead of using the first color you choose, try a few different shades. An ugly background color often destroys hard work. (In simple terms, you want to try a few more colors)

Now we've found a good match color, using the Paint bucket tool (G) to fill the new layer with #166a91. Name this layer as "background" (background).

Step 2: The depth of the background
Now what we need is to give this background some vitality! Again, it takes some time to find the right color and try to use some proper cold tones. I'm talking about finding some deep or light blue. The color I use is shown in the following figure. If you have selected some nice darker colors (or if you have questions about your choice, use the color of the image below-the particular color I use). Using the Brush tool (B), set the flow 5%, hardness to 0%, and make your brush diameter very large, as you can see in the figure below. Create a new layer, named "Bg_color", with this large brush in the corner smear. The new color of each brush is applied to its own new layer.

Try to smear a different place, basically the edge is black, the middle is bright. So you get some irregular gradients, which is exactly what we want.

Step 3: Adjust the color
When you finish coloring the background. This color seems a little bright to me, so I decided to go to the layers panel and add a new hue/saturation adjustment layer above all the layer. Then I slightly reduced the saturation and eliminated some colors.

Step 4: Prepare the splash texture
Now open stained metal texture. I don't know why this is called "Metal," which in my opinion is more like some stain. In any case, the stain is the main point, you can pick a picture of your favorite. But it has to meet your needs. Now click the Command + T button and use the twist to do perspective on this screen. Then click Command + Shift + u to reduce saturation. Click Command-click on this floor to create a selection. Press COMMAND + C to copy it. (same as Command=ctrl below)

Step 5: Create splash, shape and shadow
Back to our main project documentation. Using the Pen tool (P), draw a splash shape and turn it into a selection. First, create a new layer on top of all layers, named "texture" (texture). Now go to edit > Paste to. Our textures should now be pasted dynamically into the selection, which means you can change the position inside the selection. Now change the blending mode of the layer to overlay, and set the opacity to 70%, the effect should be similar to the following figure 2 (that is, the second picture).

Now create a new layer on top of all layers named "Splatter shading" (Splash Shadow), using the Brush tool (B) to change the color to #125361. Make sure your brushes are set very soft, hardness 0%, Flow 10%. Now make a selection (a thumbnail of the Command-click layer) on the texture layer. Look at figure 3 below and smear it in the specified location. We need to darken this splash on the inside edge and create a convex visual effect. This splash needs to be highlighted, not too flat. See Figure 4 and Figure 5 below.

Step 6: Create an edge highlight effect
OK, the previous step creates some shadows and now it's time to do edge highlighting. Look at the first image below. I made a small preparation (this is not what you have to do). Before you add light you need to imagine what it will look like before it becomes real. So, I created some simple lines to show where the light is suitable for setting.

If you are ready, create a new layer on top of all layers named "Splatter lighting" (Splash light) and select a selection on the "texture" layer. Now with the same brush settings and a brighter color #99e9ea, begin to paint at the specified location (to leave a little space on the splash edge).

Note: Remember that you can change what you feel is incorrect at any time, and if you apply too much shadow or light, erase the unwanted parts with the soft eraser tool (E).

Step 7: Create Splash, brush settings
Before we proceed, go to the Brush panel and follow the diagram to change the brush settings.

What is this for? With a small, soft faded brush, you can easily smear with the mouse. If you smear in one place, draw some lines that fail, but they can hardly be seen. See figure 2 below to see how the light is built. The white arrows on Figure 3 below indicate how you can smear. Add these rays to the outer edge of each splash.

Step 8: Create Splash, add light
Now, don't change your brush settings, just add a little diameter and change the color to white. Then create a new layer on top of all the layers, named "Lighting Overlay" (light overlay), set the blending mode of the layer to overlay, and begin with the same point depicted in step 6. Create a few dots instead of rows (in order to highlight the highlights, see the picture below).

Step 9: Create a splash and add some light
Continue to add light to the selected splash section. Keep in mind that your diameter is dynamic. You can create better light from big to small.
You can also use the Eraser tool (E), with a very soft eraser, 0% hardness and 8% flow, add details. (This step requires patience and detail!) ）

Step 10: Create Splash, cosmetic
Next, first create a new layer on top of all layers, named "Splatter Touch Ups" (splash modification), and change its blending mode to multiply. Reset your brush, set the brush hardness to 0%, flow 5%, change the color to #125361. Now look at Figure 1 and decorate it at the specified location. Then switch to white, create a new layer, name "Splatter Light" (splash light), and then use the same brush settings to add some more light to the splash.

Step 11: Shadow Process Interpretation
There are a few things you need to know before we go into creating splash shadows:
1: When you want to place an object in three-dimensional space, you need to pay attention to where your light source is.
2: Remember the shadow of the object itself (see figure below, "The shadow between box and desk" (the shadow between the box and the table). This is something that many designers tend to forget (or don't know).
3: This means that sometimes the shadow of an object depends on the light source and its location.
4: Also keep in mind the "darkened area" (dark areas) (refer to the following figure) always remain darker than elsewhere.
5: It also has "lightened area" (light region), which is light in other parts of the object.

If you have studied art or sketch, the above principles can be easily understood.

Step 12: Create Splash, shadow process
We do not specify the source of light, so we will skip the shadows caused by the light source. We just need to be concerned about the shadow of this splash pattern (see explanation of the previous step 2).

Step 13: Splash Shadow
Now there's a slight difference between the splash shadow and the non shaded place. In the second part of this tutorial, we will make the surface dirtier, which will provide a new and larger shadow effect.
We are about to finish, but before we go on, I want you to look at Figure 3 again. Maybe you want to know why there's no shadow in these places? This splash is like a three-dimensional object, so if you rotate it in a 3D program, you can see what each side looks like. Now, if you can see the splash on the right side, the shadow does exist. However, from our perspective (before), it is not visible, so we do not add it.
It's a little hard to explain, and sometimes you just have to imagine what it would be like in reality.

Step 14: Text Preparation
OK, we've done the splash effect and we can create the text. But before we do, let's look at the first picture below. As you can see, not all the splash is covered with light and shadow. The area indicated by Pink does not look complete. Because I was planning to create text in the middle of the first. So, the text should cover the back of this imperfect place.

Figure 2, 3, and 4 below show how I basically do the text. I made a little preparation, because I did not know what effect it would be. It's not something you have to do, but sometimes it's good to try it out. So, now this flat text inspires me a lot of inspiration. It made me see the goals I wanted to achieve.

Step 15:3d the text in the environment
To put the text on the surface of the three-dimensional space, you need to set the horizon. Look at figure 1 below. My baseline is the splash shape I created. Here the horizon should be slightly above the splash of the top edge. You don't have to draw a line like I did in Figure 1, just imagine where that line should be in your head.
This is not necessary in some abstract works, such as: Letters fly in the air, they can rotate and so on.
Before we continue to create 3D text, you need to know the position of the alphabet: See Figure 2 below. If the letters are below the horizon, remember that you are looking at them from the top, and this is the text that we will create.

Step 16: Prepare the text on the Xara
OK, now open Xara3d 6. As I said before, keep the top of the letter visible. Xara is very easy to use, if you spend about 5 minutes, you will know everything. In the following figure, I pointed out some of the more important options that were used to generate this text. I recommend that you use your own settings. But if you want to achieve the same goal as I do, then color is used: Light 1:# FBDBFF light 2:# ef72d2 light 3:# e35db0

The remaining color options remain unchanged.

Step 17: Save the text
People sometimes forget the following points about XARA3D 6:
When you save, go to the shadow option, turn off the shadow (don't want to keep Xara's own shadow, it will look very bad).
Then save the file in a readable format in Photoshop, go to File > export, select PNG format, and save the image as shown in Figure 2 below.

Step 18: Adjust the text
OK, we saved the text in PNG format. Now, open the text in Photoshop and drag it to our project. Then click the COMMAND + T key (free transform) and choose to bend. Try to make the text bend, some radian. This will provide a better sense of 3D. The next step is to Figure 3: Use the Burn tool (O) to set the range to an intermediate hue, with a exposure of 25%, and a dot at the bottom of each letter (which will help to achieve a better shadow effect later). After that, apply layers > Adjustments > Optional colors to change some tones of the text (Figure 4 and Figure 5 below). It depends on personal taste. Try adjusting most of the red, because this option will primarily affect your pink text.

Step 19: Text decoration
Now look at figure 1 below. I have pointed out that some parts of the image look bad. This dark color doesn't exactly fit our image. In addition, the red arrow indicates that the point is Xara damaged, which looks very dirty. We will be modifying all these points. So first use the Pen tool (P) to paint a path (where the Red Arrows indicate) on the text without looking at the bad points. Open the selection (right-click > Create a selection). Then select the Clone Stamp tool (S) and refer to Figure 3 below. Your settings will be the same as mine (also set to 0% hardness). Then decorate this seemingly bad point so that it's perfect on the new layer.

Step 20: Text decoration, highlight
Now decorate the rest of the bad points. To create a new layer on top of a text layer, you can name it "text correction," and change its blending mode to overlay. Using the Brush tool (B), change the brush settings, flow to 10%, hardness 0%, and use a large diameter. Now select the color #ffbdf3. Next, press and hold the command key to select the selection by clicking on the thumbnail of the text layer. Then use a soft brush to smear on the spot that looks dark.

Its main task is to use a bright pink (match the color of the text) and overlay some imperfections with the superimposed blending mode. You can also change some random dots on the surface of the text, which gives the text a nice hue.

Step 21: Create a Halo
Now, let's create a halo. I wrote down what I wanted to do in the next picture, and you should be able to do it easily. The main thing is to create a soft gradient in the middle of the text to the top. You can do it your way, but I think the next picture is cool and fast

Step 22: Create the Reflection (refraction effect)
We will create some depth. The text looks good now, but it's nothing special. We need to give them a more unique look. We want to create an illusion that the text reflects something in its environment. And this is no one will care whether it reflects the real or the nothingness of the object, as long as it looks good on the line.

So, hold down the command key and click the text-layer thumbnail to select the selection. Then click the COMMAND + SHIFT key +c (copy merge) and command + V (paste). Now we get exactly the same copy of the entire text. Name this layer "Reflection 1" (Reflection 1), duplicate this layer several times, named "Reflection 1″," Reflection 2″ and Reflection 3″.

Now use one of the reflection layers, click the command + T key (free transform), rotate it as shown in Figure 1 below, and then select the original text layer (Figure 2 below). To select > reverse, click Delete (remember to select the transform reflection layer when you click Delete). You should get an image similar to Figure 2 below.

Then change the transparency of the reflective layer about 15-20% and set its blending mode to overlay. You should get the effect of Figure 3 below. Make sure the reflection layer is only on the text surface, so if it is out of bounds, it is decorated with a soft eraser (Figure 4 below).

Repeat the reflection process 2-3 times until the entire text is overwritten (be careful not to stain it). Please refer to Figure 5 below and the result should be the same.

Step 23: Halo and Reflex correction
Now, we make the halo and the reflection more powerful. Using the Eraser tool (E), set its flow to 5%, hardness to 0%, and then use a small eraser to erase the gloss around each letter (as shown by the white arrows). Then switch to the Dodge tool (O), set the range to midtones, the exposure to about 20%, and add some depth to each letter (as shown in the Red arrow).

Step 24: Text decoration
Now, let's fix some light problems. Obviously the upper-left corner of the text is brighter than the upper-right corner (see Figure 1 below). Of course there is no light source in some areas of the text, but our focus is on modifying the strongest light sources.

Look at Figure 2, it looks like it's missing something. The rest of these letters have good light and shade. But the letters "L" and "R" have almost no shadow at the top. It may have been caused by Xara light. But that's not the problem, we're going to fix it, and then it looks a lot better.

Therefore, create a text selection (Figure 3 below). Using the same brush tool as before (hardness 0%, Flow 5%), change the color to some darker pink (# 79185d). Create a new layer on top of all layers, named "Additional shade" (extra shading), and begin smearing the top right of these letters, referring to figure 3 below.

The next step is to create a new layer over all layers, named "Additional Light" (extra light), and repeat the same process, but this time from the left of these letters (see Figure 4 below).
Note: Remember to use a soft eraser if the smear is not correct.

Step 25: Text decoration
Go to the Layers panel and create a new gradient map adjustment layer on top of any layer. Choose a gradient from black to white, similar to Figure 1 below. Then change the blending mode of this layer to soft light and reduce the opacity to 70% (Figure 2 below).
Finally, call the text-layer selection to select > reverse. Then to the Layers panel, select the mask for the gradient map layer. Using the Paint Bucket tool (G), change the color to black and fill the mask (Figure 3 below).
Now, we want to make sure that this gradient map only affects the text and does not affect the other.

Step 26: Text decoration
Now do a little detail. Change your brush settings, hardness 100%,100% flow, and then use the Pen tool (P). First, create a new layer above all layers and make a curve or line at the top of each letter. When you are finished, right-click to select the stroke path. Please make sure the simulated pressure is selected.

Step 27: Create a text shadow
I think the hardest part is often to add shadows. First let's create a standard shadow between the splash and the letters.

Before you begin, remember that creating shadows with the same color as the surface is a good choice. Therefore, the color of our splash surface is blue light, then choose dark Blue (#092330就行). Now use the Brush tool (B), set the hardness of 0%, and the rest of the options are shown below.

Creates a new layer below the text layer, named "Text Shadow" (Shadow of the text). Use a small diameter brush to add some subtle shadow lines underneath the text. And then the diameter becomes larger to fill the area between the letters.

Note: Soft eraser can always help you!

Step 28: The final adjustment
Our first part of the tutorial is coming to an end. I usually make some general adjustments before I finish. So go to the layers panel, create a new gradient map adjustment layer, select "Purple, Orange" preset, click OK. Then change the blending mode of the layer to soft light, and reduce the opacity to around 20% (this will give the image a little more cool ~).

Repeat the process, but this time create a #31505b的渐变 from dark blue (black-green) #202930到浅色 (or even gray). Set this layer of blending mode to soft light, opacity is about 80%. This will add some color and contrast.

This text looks still too cold for me, so I decided to use the same steps to create another gradient. This time I used the gradient of #2e2111 to #e2be84 (Figure 3 below). These brown, yellow colors can add more warmth. Change the blending mode of this layer again to soft light, opacity 30% or so.

Finally, you can add curve adjustment layers. This is not necessary, but I think the dark and contrasting tones can reflect a good feeling. You can also apply a red channel to the curve to make the text look more desirable.

Step 29: The final grooming

After adding some gradients, I decided to move some light (as shown in the white arrow). I also corrected a small shadow because it looked too dark and too dense. As you can see in Figure 2 below, I have lowered the opacity between the text and Splash shadow. This is just because the curve makes it seem a bit dark.
When you are ready to make any corrections, adjust the color and contrast, sometimes you may want to change some of the details. And see if it gives you a fresh image.

Conclusion
Now you know how to create a splash effect from scratch, add luster to the Color 3D text-fill the entire image with a great color, and put it in 3D space. I think there are a lot of useful effects and techniques that can be used in your own work.

With these methods we have completed the first part of the tutorial. Although it also requires some more detailed work, because it looks too empty. Therefore, in the second part of the tutorial you will learn about the realization of luminous effects and the creation of creative sense of the technology, do not go away Oh!

Original Author: Wojciech Pijecki

Thank you for reading this tutorial. The following is the final image of this series of two-part tutorials.