HOW TO CREATE 3D EFFECTS IN PHOTOSHOP CS3

When you saw the title, you probably said “Impossible!” Not entirely true. We can create extrusions even if the command isn’t available, adjust the depth and direction of the extrusion path or use shading and all we need is a different point of view on things. Sounds pretty good so far, huh?

Difficulty: beginner
Completion time: 3-5 min
Tools: Photoshop CS3
Resources: Showcard Gothic font

FINAL IMAGE PREVIEW

STEP 1

Create a document of 2000 x 2000 px in RGB color mode (File > New…) or a similar file size.

STEP 2

Grab the Horizontal Type Tool (T), draw a type box with the about the same width as the canvas. Type in your desired text and hit the “OK” button in the top side.

STEP 3

Duplicate this layer (CTRL+J). Select the original layer, make the text another color, go to the Layers palette and right-click near the layer thumb. Select “Rasterize Type”.

STEP 4

Hit CTRL+T to enter Free Transform Mode, click the chain between the percentile values and change the value to “99.5%”. Hit Enter.

STEP 5

Duplicate this layer (CTRL+J). Select its original and repeat STEP 4.

STEP 6

Repeat this step until you get a decent “extrusion” height.

STEP 7

Select all layers except the top-most one and “background” and hit CTRL+E to merge them. Click the “fx” in the Layers palette and select “Blending Options”. Use the settings below.

STEP 8

Select the top-most layer and add a similar blending setting, like below.

DONE!

You can explore different extrusion paths if you change the reference point for the Free Transform mode.

Posted in: Phothosop