Create a 1980s Inspired 3D Text Effect in Photoshop
Tutorial Assets
You will need the following assets to complete this tutorial. Please download them before you begin. If they are not available, you will need to find alternatives.
- Geomancy font.
- Texture 376 by Sirius-sdz.
- Lightning texture by GBCPL.
- OF Flare // Conspiracy 3 by Vascan.
1. Creating and Converting Text
Step 1
Create a new 1152 x 864 px document, and fill the Background with Black. Then, create the text in All Caps using the font Geomancy. The color is #b7b7b7, and the Size is 150 pt.
Step 2
If you are creating more than one line of text, create each line in a separate layer, then place those lines as you like before extruding them.
Step 3
Click the Rectangle Tool, and click the Subtract Front Shape icon in the Options bar. Then click and drag a rectangle that covers the upper half of the text. When you release the mouse button, that part will be removed.
Step 4
Click the Path operations icon, and click Merge Shape Components. This will get rid of the extra parts, which will make sure that the gradient that will be created later will be applied correctly.
6. Adding and Moving the Anchor Points
Step 1
Pick the Add Anchor Point Tool, and click once to add each of the points along the path where you want to move it up or down.
Step 2
Pick the Direct Selection Tool. Select the first point you want to move upwards, then press and hold the Shift key, and click to select all the other points you want to move upwards as well.
Step 3
When the points are selected, release the Shift key, then press the Up Arrow Key (on your keyboard) 2 – 3 times.
Step 4
Now select the remaining points, and make sure that the previous ones are not selected anymore.
Step 5
Press the Down Arrow Key 2 – 3 times to move the selected points down.
7. Creating the Front Inflation Material
Step 1
Double click the original shape layer to apply a Gradient Overlay effect. Change the settings as shown below, then click the gradient box to create the gradient.
Step 2
To add color stops, you need to click once below the gradient bar for each stop. Then, you can click each color stop added, and modify its Color and Location values at the very bottom of the Gradient Editor box.
From left to right, the colors used and their locations are:
#ffffff– 0%#eafcff– 69%#8ac3e1– 83%#002c32– 100%
Step 3
This will create the gradient fill of the original text shape.
Step 4
Double click the copy shape layer to apply a Gradient Overlay effect again.
Step 5
The colors and locations used from left to right are:
#eaf0ff– 35%#d83aad– 68%#250b31– 100%
Step 6
You can use any other colors you like. Just make sure to follow a similar change of shades in the gradients you use.
Save the file (File > Save) then close it (File > Close) to go back to the original document.
Step 7
The changes will be applied to the 3D mesh.
Step 8
The colors might seem a bit pale. Change the Shine value to 100% to make them more vibrant.
Step 9
Repeat all the previous steps to create the other text mesh Front Inflation Material.
8. Creating the Outline Material
Step 1
Click the first text mesh Front Bevel Material tab, then click its Diffuse texture icon and choose Remove Texture.
Step 2
Click the Diffuse folder icon and choose New Texture.
Step 3
Set the Width and Height values to 500 and click OK.
Step 4
Click the Diffuse texture icon once again and choose Edit Texture.
Step 5
This will open the blank new texture file. Duplicate the Background layer.
Step 6
Double click the copy Background layer to apply a Gradient Overlay effect.
Step 7
From left to right, the colors and locations used are:
#e6fcff– 0%#e6fcff– 7%#460053– 45%#18b7df– 61%#004e51– 71%#f9f9ff– 92%#f9f9ff– 100%
Step 8
Save the file (File > Save) then close it (File > Close) to go back to the original document.
Step 9
This will apply the gradient to the outline. You might notice that not all the colors appear though. We’ll fix that next.
9. Modifying the Outline Material
Step 1
Start by changing the Shine value to 100%.
Step 2
Click the Diffuse texture icon then choose Edit UV Properties.
Step 3
Change both the U Scale and V Scale values to 100%, and the U Offset and V Offset values to 0%.
Step 4
This will make all the colors of the gradient appear.
Step 5
Repeat the same steps to create the Front Bevel Material of the other text mesh.
10. Creating the Extrusion Material
Step 1
Select the Extrusion Material tab, then remove the Diffuse texture.
Step 2
Change the Diffuse color to #226a90 and the Shine value to 100%.
11. Modifying the Lights
Step 1
Click the Infinite Light 1 tab in the 3D panel. Then, in the Properties panel, change its Intensity to 75%.
Step 2
Click the Coordinates icon at the top of the Properties panel, then change the values as shown below. You can also use the Move Tool to move the light around until you like how the text looks.
Step 3
Click the Add new Light to Scene icon down the 3D panel and choose New Point Light.
Step 4
Change the Point Light’s Intensity to 35% and un-check its Shadows box. This light will be used to brighten up the extrusion a little bit, but we don’t want it to cast shadows, since the Infinite Light already does that.
Step 5
Move the Point Light below the extrusion until you like how it looks.
Step 6
When you’re done, go to 3D > Render to render the scene. This shouldn’t take much time, but you can stop it by clicking anywhere inside the document or by pressing the Esc key.
12. Creating the Outer Stroke
Step 1
Pick the Pen Tool, choose the Shape option in the Options bar, change the Fill to None, and set the Stroke color to White and its Width to 3.5 pt.
Start creating the stroke around the 3D text. Click once to add a point, and click and drag to create a curve. You can also click to add a point, press and hold the Shift key, then add another point to create straight lines where needed.
Step 2
Try to keep the same distance between the stroke and the 3D text.
Step 3
Use the Direct Selection Tool to modify any points along the path when you’re done creating it. Click the point you want to modify then move it around, or – in case of curve points, you can click and drag the point itself, or click the Direction Points at the end of the two Direction Handles, then move them around to change the orientation of the curve, or drag them outwards and inwards to make the curve wider or narrower.
You can use the Add/Delete Anchor Point Tool(s) if needed as well.
Step 4
When you’re done, click the Stroke color box in the Options bar, then click the Gradient fill icon. Create the gradient using the colors #00708c to the left, and #b336a6 to the right.
13. Adding the Texture
Step 1
Select the 3D text layer, then go to Filter > Convert for Smart Filters. This will convert the layer into a smart object, which will prevent any accidental changes in the rendered result. You can still edit the 3D mesh anytime by double clicking the smart object’s layer thumbnail to open the original 3D layer file.
Step 2
Place the Texture 376 image on top of the 3D text, and resize it as you like. Change the texture layer’s Blend Mode to Overlay and its Opacity to 75%. Then go to Layer > Create Clipping Mask. This will clip the texture to the 3D text below it.
Step 3
Duplicate the texture layer, then drag the copy on top of the outer stroke layer, and create a clipping mask again.
14. Adding the Background Image
Step 1
Place the Lightning image right on top of the Background layer, then scale it down without letting the trees at the bottom appear.
Step 2
Go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation. Check the Colorize box, then change the Hue to 232, and the Lightness to -20.
Step 3
Go to Image > Adjustments > Levels. Change the Shadows value to 5 and the Gamma to 0.95. This will darken the image a bit more.
15. Adding the Flares
Step 1
Open the OF Flare // Conspiracy 3 image, then go to Image > Adjustments > Levels. Click the Sample in image to set black point icon then click somewhere near the flare. This will turn all the pixels that match or are darker than the one you clicked to black, which will help get a cleaner result of the Blend Mode change next.
Step 2
Duplicate the flare image to the original document and change its layer’s Blend Mode to Screen. Then scale it down to a size that suits the text, and place it on top of one of the letters you have.
Step 3
Next, you just need to duplicate the flare layer a couple of times, and place each one on top of one of some of the other letters. You can go to Edit > Transform > Rotate, and rotate the flares that need rotation. Don’t forget to hit the Enter/Return key after rotating to accept the changes.
Congratulations! You’re done.
In this tutorial, two text layers were converted to shape layers, and extruded into 3D meshes. Then the original shape was modified to create the Front Inflation Material, and and the outline and the extrusion of the text were created and modified as well.
A couple of changes in the lighting of the scene were made, then the scene was rendered. After that, the Pen Tool was used to create the outer stroke, and a couple of images were used to texture the text, add the flares, and create the Background. Some Image Adjustments were also applied to modify the colors and the lighting of the images used, to get the final result.
Please feel free to leave your comments, suggestions, and outcomes below.
