Hi. This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
I'm going to show you an awesome faux, 3-D, cubed text effect.
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I created this image of a cube that you can use as a template for your text.
It's link is in my video's description below or in my project files.
The first step is to create grids in the shape of a cube using the "Vanishing Point" filter.
Go to Filter and "Vanishing Point".
When the window opens, click on any corner.
Go to another corner on the same side of the cube and click on that corner.
Click on the next corner.
To complete the grid, click on the last corner on that side of the cube.
If you want to finesse any of the corner points, go to the corner and press and hold Ctrl or
Cmd as you drag the corner point to reposition it.
We'll extend the grid down or across the opposing side of the cube by first making the "Create
Plane Tool" active again and going to the middle point of the grid that you want to
extend in perspective.
Press and hold Ctrl or Cmd as you drag the grid down or across to the opposing side.
It's okay if the grid doesn't exactly match the cube under it.
The cube template is just a general guide for the grid.
Notice that the first grid seems to have vanished except for the lines around its perimeter.
Actually, the grid is just temporarily hidden from view.
Go to the middle point of the side of the grid you want to extend in perspective and
press and hold Ctrl or Cmd as you drag the grid to the opposite side.
Then, click OK.
We're ready to set the text.
but before we do, check your foreground and background colors.
If they're not black and white respectively, press "D" on your keyboard.
Open your Horizontal Type Tool and pick a font.
For this example, I'll use "Alfa Slab One Regular", but feel free to pick whatever font you like.
It's size should depend on the font you choose and the amount of characters in your text
for each side of the cube.
Since the first text we type out will be placed on the left side of the cube, make its alignment flush right.
Place your cursor right of center and type out your text.
To adjust the amount of space between the lines of text, called "Leading",
highlight all of your text and click the Character/Paragraph icon or go to Window and Character.
Go to the Leading icon and click and drag your cursor to the left or right to decrease
or increase the space between your lines of text.
Center your text by opening your Move Tool and dragging it.
Make a copy of of the layer by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + J. Hide the bottom text
and double-click the copy to highlight it.
Click the Align Left icon, since this text will be placed on the top of the cube.
Open back your Move Tool to center it
and double-click the layer to highlight the text.
Type out your replacement text for the top of the cube.
Open back your Move Tool.
Make a copy of it and hide the text under it.
Double-click this copy to highlight the text and type out the next text that you'll ultimately
place on the bottom of the cube.
Open back your Move Tool and center your text.
We'll copy this text onto our clipboard by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + A to select it and
Ctrl or Cmd + C to copy it.
Deselect it by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + D. To save space in the Layers panel, we'll place
all of our text into a folder, but first let's hide the top text.
Shift-click the bottom text to highlight them all and press Ctrl or Cmd + G. Name it, "Text".
We want to make a new layer below the active layer.
To do this, Ctrl-click or Cmd-click the New Layer icon.
We can close the Character/Paragraph panels now.
Go to Filter and "Vanishing Point".
Press Ctrl or Cmd + V to paste our text into the Vanishing Point window.
When we drag it over the grids, we can see how our text conforms to the perspective of each grid.
Drag it over the bottom of the cube.
To resize the text, click the "Edit Plane Tool" and go to a corner of the text's bounding box.
When you see a diagonal, double-arrow, press and hold the Shift key as you drag it in or out.
Pressing Shift keeps the text's original shape as you resize it.
Feel free to adjust its aspect ratio if you like by not pressing the Shift key.
I’ll drag it approximately this far away from the top and drag it down close to the
bottom without holding Shift.
Then, I’ll click OK.
Notice that the perspective text is on its own layer.
Open the text folder and make the bottom text visible and active.
Press Ctrl or Cmd + A to select it and Ctrl or Cmd + C to copy it to our clipboard.
Then, deselect it.
Hide the layer and close the folder.
Make a new layer below it by Ctrl-clicking or Cmd-clicking the New Layer icon.
Go to Filter and Vanishing Point.
Press Ctrl or Cmd + V to paste your text into the window.
Drag it to the left side of the cube.
We want to rotate this text 90 degrees, so click the "Edit Plane Tool" and go to a corner.
When you see a curved, double-arrow, press and hold Shift as you rotate it counter-clockwise
until it snaps 90 degrees.
Size and position it to center it visually on this side of the cube.
Notice, that this text is on its own layer, as well.
Open the folder and make the middle text visible and active.
As before, select it all, copy it and then deselect it.
Hide the text and close the folder.
Make a new layer under the folder and go to Filter and Vanishing Point.
Paste your text into the window and drag it to the top of the cube.
Make sure you see a corner of the text's bounding box.
Open the "Edit Plane Tool" and rotate the text counter-clockwise until it snaps 90 degrees.
Adjust is size and position
and click OK.
Double-click the top text to open its Layer Style window.
Click "Color Overlay" and the color box.
Pick a bright, rich color.
If you want to change its color, I'll show you how to quickly do it later.
Click OK on both windows or press Enter or Return twice.
To copy the color to your other text, go to "Color Overlay" and press and hold Alt or
Option as you drag a copy of it onto the text layer below it.
Repeat this to copy it to the bottom text.
Make the cube background active and make a new layer above it.
Fill it with black, which is your foreground color, by pressing Alt or Option + Delete.
Next, we’ll adjust the brightness of the colors on two of the sides to give it depth.
Double-click "Color Overlay" on the text that you'd like to be in shadow.
It'll open in the Layer Style window.
Click the color box and in the Brightness field, type in 50%.
This text is now half as bright as the other two.
Double-click "Color Overlay" on the text that you'd like to be half in shadow.
Click the color box and in the Brightness field, type in 75%.
This text is now halfway in brightness between your brightest text and the text that's in shadow.
Next, I'll show you how to quickly change your text's color.
First, If the top text in your Layer's panel isn't active, click it to make it active and
click the Adjustment layer icon.
Click, "Hue/Saturation".
Simply drag the Hue slider to the left or right to give your text a color you like.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
Thanks for watching!