Hi. This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
I'm going to show you how to wrap a custom texture around highly realistic, 3D text with
reflections, refractions and deep shadows.
Before we begin, if you're not already a subscriber to my channel,
hit that small Subscribe button at the lower, right corner.
If my tutorials have helped you learn or improve in Photoshop and would
like to help support my channel, become a Channel Member or become a patron through Patreon.
To become a channel member, click the "Join" button below this video or to become my patron,
click the Patreon card at the upper, right.
Both of them will give you early access to watch my new tutorials a week before anyone
else can see them!
You'll also get a 10% discount on all the Blue Lightning TV merch.
Alright! Let's get started to create our 3D text!
Keep in mind, this tutorial is for versions CS6 and later.
Download the Photoshop template I provided.
Its link is in my video's description or project files.
You'll most likely get a pop up message that says you don't have the font that's in the template.
No problem.
Just replace it with any text you like or download the font I'm using.
The font is called, "Gunplay" and I provided its link, as well.
The template contains 3 layers: the text, a rusted texture image that we'll use for
our background and a metal image that we'll use to wrap our text with.
We're going to create this image that has the metal texture wrapping around the text
and the rust texture as the background, however, if you want to reverse the textures, use the
alternative Photoshop document I provided.
The first step is to check our 3D preferences.
Go to Edit, Preferences and 3D.
The "Ray Tracer Threshold" determines the quality of the rendering.
The higher the threshold, the less noise there'll be in your final image, but the longer it'll take to render.
The default amount is 5.
For slower computers, you may want to use a lower setting.
VRAM is your video's card's memory.
The amount I'm allowing Photoshop to use is not necessarily what you should use because
your computer may have its own requirements.
Go to View, Show and make sure the top four 3D elements are checked.
If any aren't, just click them.
Shift-click the metal texture to make it active, as well, and go to "3D', "New Mesh from Layer"
and "Postcard".
If you see this message, just click "Yes".
If you can’t access the 3D feature, it may be due to one or more of the reasons I listed
in the video's description.
I won't be going over every aspect of 3D in this tutorial, since I already did an in-depth tutorial of it.
If you'd like to watch it, its link is also in my video's description below.
Next, we'll set up the metal texture to wrap around our text.
To do this, make the Metal Texture layer active and open the 3D panel.
Click the "Whole Scenes" icon and click "Metal Texture".
In the "Properties" panel, under "Materials', click the arrow next to the ball,
click the gear icon and click "New Material".
When you see this window, click OK to save it.
Scroll down to see that "Metal Texture" is now a new material preset.
Before we can wrap our text with this material, we need to make our text go into a 3D mode.
Open the Layers panel and make your text active.
Go to 3D and "New 3D Extrusion from Selected Layer".
If we ever want to backtrack a number of steps, it’s a good idea to use the History panel to do it.
Go to Window and if History isn’t checked, click it to open the panel.
Just go to the step we want to take our project back to and click it.
Click the "Front Inflation Material" to make it active and Shift-click the "Back Inflation
Material to make all the text layers active.
Open the Material presets and click "Metal Texture".
Instantly, it wraps this material around our entire text.
Click the Extrusion material layer and make the reflection: 35%.
You can always change it later.
Click the "Meshes" icon and reduce the depth of the extrusion to 1 inch.
Again, you can change it later if your like.
Click the "Coordinates" icon and in the"x" axis of the Rotation" field, type in 90 degrees
and press Enter or Return.
Go to the Secondary View window and open the "Select View/Camera" list.
Make sure "Top" is checked and click the "Swap Main and Secondary View" icon, which does
what it says: swapping both views.
Go to "3D" and "Move Object to Ground Plane".
Now our text is sitting directly on the background.
We'll center it in a minute.
Open the Layers panel and Shift-click the "Rust Background" to make it active, as well.
Go to 3D and "Merge 3D Layers".
This connects our text and the background in 3D space.
Open the 3D panel and click the "Whole Scene" icon again.
Click "Environment" and uncheck "IBL", which are image-based lights.
You image will probably look black.
If it is, it just means that, presently, there are no lights illuminating your image.
Click the light bulb icon and the small light bulb icon at the bottom of the panel.
This opens a list of 3 lights you can choose to illuminate your image: Point, Spot or infinite.
You can add as many lights as you like from these 3 choices.
Click "New Infinite Light".
The light widget has a handle you can rotate to adjust the angle of the light source.
To soften the shadow, increase the "Softness" to 30%.
You can always change it later.
To brighten your image, increase the "Intensity" to 175%.
Next, we'll center our text over the background.
Click the "Whole Scene" icon and make sure your overall text is active.
Click the "Coordinates" icon and place your cursor over the "Y" axis of the "Position" field.
Drag to the right or left until your text is centered.
Next, we'll reduce the size of our text, because we'll be ultimately zooming into our entire image.
Go to the "z" axis of the "Scale" field and drag it to the the left until your text is
approximately this size.
Click "Current View".
Click the "Rotate" icon and rotate your image to an angle you like.
Click the "Scale" and drag your image down until your image fills the document.
If you want to drag your image in any direction, click the “Drag” icon and drag your cursor.
Remember, you're free to adjust any aspect of your image.
For example, if you want to add a bevel to your text - no problem.
Click your text layer to make it active and click the "Cap" icon.
Open the "Contour" presets.
I'll pick, "Cove Deep", however, feel free to experiment with the other presets.
I'll make the Bevel Width: 10% and the Angle: minus 10 degrees.
I'll make the "Inflate" angle: 0%.
Now that I see it, I think I;d like to widen the width of the bevel.
I'll increase it to 20%.
To get a preview of the final image,click the "Render" icon and Photoshop will start
rendering the 3D image.
If you decide you want to stop the rendering to make some adjustments, just press the "Escape"
key on your keyboard.
Remember, it can take anytime from a few minutes to many hours.
At the bottom, left of your screen, you'll see a countdown timer letting you know the
time remaining for Photoshop to complete the rendering.
When it finishes rendering, it'll automatically stop.
To save the final 3D image, open the Layers panel and click the New Layer icon to make a new layer.
Make a composite snapshot of your image by pressing Alt + Ctrl + Shift + E.
Then, press Ctrl or Cmd + Shift + S and save the layer as a JPG.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
Thanks for watching!