3D text cut

[pdnnoob]

So...I finally got around to finishing up one of the tutorials I promised back in September

Basically, in this tutorial, we will be cutting our text into a 3D object made in Shape3D.

Plugins required:

Shape3D

Alpha Mask

1. Make your shape3D object (I will be using a white sphere, but any shape and color will work)

2. Type your text in black on a new layer (in the center). Bold text is preferred. Make sure that, in the next step, you can fit all the text on the visible side of the 3D shape.

3. Repeat shape3D on the text. If needed, reopen the shape3D window and adjust the position (and change to half sphere map if the text ends up too wide). Make sure you don’t have specular highlight checked.

EDIT:by "things you may change," I meant "areas you can adjust when you repeat a spherical shape3D on your text layer (some of the angles you can't change when making other shapes)

4. Duplicate the text layer and, using the hue/saturation adjustment, set the lightness to 100.

5. Blur the white text layer by 2-3 radius (blur amount may vary depending on size of text and personal preference)

6. Using the “move selected pixels” tool, drag the blurry white text approximately 5 pixels in the direction away from the “light source.”

7. Select the black text layer and press ctrl+a then ctrl+c.

8. Select the white text layer again and run alpha mask with “invert mask” and “paste from clipboard” checked.

9. Move the white text one more pixel away from the light source.

10. Adjust the opacity of white layer as needed

Done!

More Results:

http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/pdnnoob/3D%20text%20cut/result2.png http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/pdnnoob/realistic-ishlighting.png <-made for a lighting competition from who knows how long ago D:

Let's see some of yours!

Edited January 28, 2012 by pdnnoob

[pdnnoob]

EDIT: Troll post got removed...but his post allowed me to make a point D:

Basically, this was just a concept tutorial. In other words, it is meant to be very open-ended. The result isn't spectacular in and of itself, but the intention is for the reader to apply it elsewhere to make something better. That said, let your imagination go free!

I'll post some extra results to make this "wasn't-a-double-post" worthwhile...

Edited January 31, 2012 by pdnnoob

[nitenurse79]

Heres my try at it, even though I found it difficult to move only a few px. Great tut

[Goonfella]

Nice tut pdnnoob. Must try it sometime.

NN if you just need to move something a small amount use the arrow keys on the keyboard. Much more accurate.

[nitenurse79]

Thank you goonfella, I should of remembered that

[delpart]

Righto, sorry for the odd background in my test ... was messing around with a fast effect for making cloud layers (which seems to work from the looks of it). Seemed to fit in well though so I left it instead of the layer I meant to copy ...

Jokingly I made a "PowerBall" ... I avoided the red of the like named lottery in the US to not extended that pun too far.

Set up other masking layer to get the shadow to not be so flat on the sphere using alpha mask and blending from the top down to try and match the gradient in the ball's shadow. Also set the shadow layer to glow to offset the highlight ridge from the background coloring. In hindsight I probably should have not removed the specular highlight or done a little more in adjusting my lighting to keep the 3D aspect more alive. I've stared at it too long so maybe its more 3D to someone else.

Obviously this isn't "text" but it could be considered a dingbat by some depending on what fonts you like to mess with. Its just the power state/power button/standby symbol found on a lot of things these days.

Reference image acquired from the kind folks at Wikipedia: IEC 5009 Image Library at Wiki Commons

Edited January 29, 2012 by delpart

[nitenurse79]

Excellent result delpart :star:

Here is a second try at it

[yellowman]

Nice one, I remember I used same method on this :

[Jaxon]

Thanks pdnnoob, a fine tutorial.

delpart - Your text cut is really crisp and that background is just way beautiful.

nitenurse79 - It's good to see you working through these tutorials and obtaining great results.

yellowman - Your art skills are awesome.

Here's my attempt.

[delpart]

@jaxon: TY. Wish I'd been more creative, but I wanted to see how it worked and couldn't really imagine making something as nifty as yours or YM's ... Crisp in this case is just from the AA in S3D I think ... Though I did blend it a little differently with an alpha mask of the ball, so I may have gotten a little AA bump from filling in a few gaps there too ... Background is an experimental 6 step creation. Appreciate the nod on it. I've stared at them so much, I cant tell what I should be looking at/for anymore ...

I like what you did with a blend of a couple of ideas there.

@NN: Nice results. I'm so glad I didn't make a 2012 one now. We'd have been twins more or less. One note about the shifting using the keyboard, that you may or may not have figured out already, is to move one arrow over, then one arrow down to move the pixel in the 45 degree from the corner if you're using the standard lighting angle. The stair step of moving pixels like that always seems strange to me, but I always have to tell myself, "Count them. This isn't a video game ... and you cannot strafe the image ... " Again, somewhere in my head I thought I mentioned the idea in text, but I guess I didn't ... Always seems like moving two pixels when its really only one. Maybe that's just me finding it odd or having to recall to count the steps ...

[nitenurse79]

Thanks jaxon I'm getting the hang of things better now.

@delpart - thanks for the pointers re the arrow keys. Something to keep in mind when creating simular effects

[yellowman]

@ nitenurse79, also pressing arrow keys while holding the "Ctrl" key, will shift the selection 10 pixels on each click.

[doughty]

Hi,

Good job everybody.

Thanks pdnnoob for the tut.

I had trouble seeing what I was doing - had to put on my reading glasses and I'll have to use a plain surface next one I make.

Jaxon, yours reminds me of bakelite. (early plastic