Design Soft Stylized 3D Type

May 4th in Text Effects by Arik

The use of 3D type is an increasing trend in design today. Creating such type usually requires advanced 3D software. Yet, not all of us own such software, nor know how to use it. In this tutorial, I will teach you the basics of creating polished 3D type using Illustrator and Photoshop. Let's get to work.

Author: Arik

Hey there! Well, I'm Arik and I have been designing for about 4 years now. I've worked my way up by reading a lot of tutorials and spending a lot of time using Photoshop. I hope that you will enjoy my contributions to psdtuts.com!

Step 1

Open up Illustrator and with the Type Tool, type some text. I used the font Bifurk, which is available to download for free. I used this font because nice thick fonts work best with this effect. Using a thin font usually yields poorer results. The font size has been set to 77pt. Don't worry about the font size too much. We'll be using Smart Objects, so we can adjust the size at any given time.

Step 2

Now change the color to white. If you don't like not being able to see your text, you can simply use a different background. Next go to Effect>3D>Extrude & Bevel. Use the settings shown below, making sure to open up ore options, and make sure that Preview is on.

Step 3

Time to migrate your work to Photoshop. Simply copy and paste the artwork (or drag it from one canvas to the other). I prefer to use Smart Objects. You can now resize your text to whatever size you want. In fact, the bigger the better. For the purposes of this tutorial, I will stick to a relatively small canvas. I placed the image on a blue background, so it's easier to work with than white on white.

Step 4

Now the magic happens! Use the Settings below to apply Layer Styles to the text. The result follows the settings images.

Step 5

Let's go over the top with this design. After all, this is a funky style we're creating here. Ctrl-Click your text layer to obtain a selection. Next, on a new layer add a smooth black to white gradient. Set the layer mode to Soft Light, and the Opacity to 40%. This creates some awesome contrast.

I also want to add some shadows so that my text sits on a surface. Select a low Opacity (around 20%) and a small-sized soft, black brush. Then brush a shadow below the text on a new lower layer. The further away you get from the text, the fewer strokes you should use. If you feel your shadow needs a blur then go to filter>blur>Gaussian blur. Use a value that seems appropriate to you. It's a basic shadow, nothing too fancy.

Step 6

You could call it a day and stop here, or you could go on. Duplicate the smart object and rasterize it by going to (Layer > Rasterize > Smart Object). Hide the bottom smart object. Now go to the Clone Stamp Tool. Get a nice irregular brush, like a spatter brush, or something similar. Then clone some parts of the text. This creates a sweet broken-up effect. Be careful not to overdo the effect though.

Step 7

I'm going to add more elements. Instead of glowing swirls, I'm going to add what I like to call :road marks". Perhaps the proper term would be "pinstripes". I use the Pen Tool to create a shape that has the proper perspective (this is all by eye), and then I fill it with white. This enhances that illusion of a surface. You can tweak it with a mask and a low-opacity brush—fading some parts creates a sweet effect.

Step 8

Lens flares are underestimated. When used well, they help to enhance the effect of a glowing object. Create a new layer on top of everything else, and fill it with black. Go to Filter > Render > Lens Flare. Go for the 105mm prime. Put it a tad off center, so you get a nice beam shooting out of it. Set the layer mode to screen. Perhaps you noticed that if you move the layer around, you can see a harsh edge at the end of the lens flare. Simply erase it with a soft eraser or mask it with a soft brush. You can regulate the layer's opacity in order to control the intensity of the effect.

Step 9

Let's add some color to the type now. Create a new layer on top of everything else. Grab a fuzzy, medium-sized brush, and set it to a color like (#e02c97). Start brushing the bottom of your type. When you are done, Ctrl-click on the layer where your type is located, so that a selection is visible around the type. Now hit the layer mask button at the bottom of the Layers palette. This should remove all the color that is outside the bounds of the text. Next, you should set this layer to soft light.

Step 10

Let's work some more on the background. Create a new document that is 40px by 2px. Make sure that the background is set to transparent. Now fill half of the document (20px) with black. Go to edit > define pattern. Then save this new pattern.

Step 11

Return to your original project. On a new layer, located below your type layer, go to edit > fill. Set the use field to Pattern. From the patterns available, select your freshly made custom pattern from the previous step. Now hit OK. The whole canvas should fill with a bunch of stripes.

Now go to edit > transform > perspective. Take the lower-left anchor point, and while holding Shift, drag it outwards and to the left. Keep doing this until the stripes seem to match the orientation of the shadow. This adds to the 3D effect in the design.

Finally, I changed the layer mode to Soft Light. With a low-opacity brush and a mask, I added some texture to the whole thing. I also removed parts of the line patterns to focus the design with a mask.

Step 12

Next we'll create the rings. Take the Ellipse Tool and set it to paths instead of shape layers. Now make a nice circle (hold Shift to create a circle). Then stroke it with a 2px brush. Now you have one ring. Duplicate this layer, decrease it's size, and repeat this process about four more times. Now you have a bunch of rings. Merge all these layers. Then add a default glow, but with the color changed to white. Then add a lens flare on top, as we did earlier. For the fancy effect I used a mask (yes, again), and I got rid of a portion of the rings.

Step 13

The next things to do are add the clouds and the 'smoke' below the letters. The clouds are from a stock image from Stock.Xchng. After downloading and importing the image, I heavily masked and duplicated it. Play around and see what happens. Every outcome is different with this one. The smoke was created with the same techniques as can be found at the beginning of the Flaming Meteor Text Effect tutorial by Fabio.

Conclusion

Add a new layer below our "Pinstripe" layer. Then create a pink gradient, which goes from top to bottom, and fades to transparent about halfway down. And we're done!

You've learned to create 3D style text without the use of advanced 3D software. There are many options available when creating a design like this. This kind of 3D text really looks great on posters or when blended into urban or nature scenery. Once learned, this technique can yield spectacular results. Enjoy!


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User Comments

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  1. Cain May 4th

    Very nice. The 3-D effect is awesome.


  2. Brian May 4th

    Great tut - the final products is amazing! Perfect attention to detail as well.


  3. BroOf May 4th

    I love the endeffect :D!


  4. Nate May 4th

    Pretty cool


  5. Lamin Barrow May 4th

    Awesome results. Thanks very much. :)


  6. Ben Griffiths May 4th

    Hey, this looks pretty cool! I think it’d work better with a different font, but a great little tutorial! :)


  7. Daniel May 4th

    Thanks that you did it with Ps & Ai :-)

    Daniel


  8. Wouter May 4th

    Nice effect’s


  9. Constantin Potorac May 4th

    :) Pretty funny effect. I like it. ;)


  10. Rjton May 4th

    nice :)


  11. giackop May 4th

    yeah i agree with constantin funny effect!!! cool


  12. D. Carreira May 4th

    Cool! Thanks for this tutorial!

    David Carreira


  13. Nick May 4th

    Awesome! Thanks!


  14. yan May 4th

    And without xara 3d Mortel !!!!!!!!!!!!!!(no xara 3d on mac)


  15. Daniel May 4th

    very nice tutorial ! and the whole result is very cool !


  16. Has.n May 4th

    cool one!!!!


  17. Zach May 4th

    cool effect. i know how to do this and to create some cool effects in a 3d software. seeing it in illustrator was cool though. i think that there may be something wrong though with the final pic. it looks kinda distorted.


  18. Qbrushes May 4th

    no offense bu i think it looks cheesy.


  19. Mohammed May 4th

    Thanks for you Arik …
    I tried to write a tutorial of something like this, but was not accepted.
    I think mine was too complex.
    your work is simple and so beautiful.
    thanks again.


  20. Mike Rundle May 4th

    That looks totally awesome. Great tutorial!


  21. KillaBoY May 4th

    looks very good


  22. kamel May 4th

    not clean dude!not clean

    im disappointed


  23. Arnaud May 4th

    Really cool !


  24. Snorri3D May 4th

    3D i love it


  25. goldenthunder May 4th

    Way cool Arik! Thanks!


  26. Seraphim Collective May 4th

    Nice. We need more 3D Tuts… uh oh


  27. Danny May 4th

    Yes! Another awesome text-related tutorial, been waiting for this one :)


  28. MONSTER May 4th

    Soft and pillowy. It makes me sleepy and I like to get “sleepy”.


  29. Coconut Pete May 4th

    I like it! thanks for sharing


  30. Joefrey Mahusay May 4th

    Cool text effect.


  31. mxsf May 4th

    great tut! very cool.


  32. Harry May 4th

    This is Honestally one of my fav tuts! thanks


  33. Ariful Khan May 4th

    nice


  34. Kyle Wegner May 5th

    Just wanted to stop by and give this a 2 thumbs up. Absolutely amazing, and simple! Great tut!


  35. Rax May 5th

    simply awsome, great work!


  36. Soelberg May 5th

    To be hornest, somehow I think this one is a little under what I expect from the tutorials at PSDTUTS.. It’s nearly like all the other 3d effects, just with a little new.. :( - But thanks anyway..


  37. v1ktor May 5th

    greattt!!
    i’ve been waiting for a long time this kind of tutorial
    i love it
    thanks


  38. Dmscopio May 5th

    very cool effects! I enjoyed all of your tutorials, thank you for sharing them.


  39. Ali May 5th

    Very very nice, thanks


  40. Shane May 5th

    I understand the close relationship that illustrator and photoshop have, but not everybody has illustrator. I guess this is not a tutorial for me, but thanks for posting anyhow.

    Sean: Any chance of marking tutorials with illustrator content so that readers can see those that require illustrator?

    Just a thought.


  41. Erika May 5th

    You know you’ve made it when people are pouting in your comments! LOL!

    Great work, guys :)


  42. Tommy May 5th

    Nice outcome! :O
    Thanks! ^^


  43. HamBoneZ May 5th

    Nice tutorial man! Now I know that I can do some 3D effects with Illustrator and that also gives me some ideas!

    - BoneZ


  44. Mason May 5th

    Those brushes really add a nice effect.

    Thanks!


  45. HamBoneZ May 5th

    There is my outcome! Thx again man! Hope you will enjoy the fruit of your tutorial!

    I tried to make a birthday card to my girlfriend and I think the result is nice! The withe line is to seperate them when I’ll print it!

    See it : http://www.flickr.com/photos/25239414@N05/2465951789/

    - BoneZ


  46. kbryhl May 6th

    Very nice and simple effect. Thanks for sharing.


  47. stenkoo May 7th

    thanks for this tuts. really nice effect.


  48. Tammy Dickinson May 8th

    Very nice! How much time in all did it take you to create this? Very nice, indeed!


  49. Andrew D May 9th

    Great effect, I need to try this out myself


  50. Mike May 9th

    Very nice! Some parts a little confusing, but thought common sense I was able to create a very similar effect. Thanks for this tutorial, hope to see more!


  51. Sean Farrell May 9th

    awesome, awesome, awesome


  52. Chuck Madere May 10th

    I sure like the way you teach!
    Chuck Madere


  53. tayzar May 10th

    Amazing Result!!! I didn’t know that photoshop can create 3D Design. Nice tut!!


  54. Jose Rosa May 12th

    I’m loving your tuts! they’re getting better and better! congratulations.


  55. TH May 14th

    Nice tutorial!!


  56. mamoun al bibi May 15th

    WOW :D Amazing


  57. JokR May 16th

    Great . . . just great . . . I didn’t know about 3D effects in photoshop . . . really learned a lot


  58. James May 19th

    WOW! I think I’m in love…


  59. Nabil May 20th

    Does this apply for CS3 because I can’t find the effects tab. Anyone care to enlighten me a bit?


  60. T May 20th

    I love PSDTUTS and I think you publish some truly awesome Tutorials.

    The problem is sometimes these tutorials (most of the time) do not explain things in enough detail.

    You go from a consistent starting point off on tangents.

    It’s a real shame because Photoshop beginners like myself who start off on one of your tutorials get completely lost and will simply lose interest.

    You’ve mentioned several things in this article that just make aboslutely no sense to beginners with Photoshop.


  61. Michael D. May 23rd

    Great effect.


  62. alex May 28th

    nice and cool efect. but, where can i find this plug in? thx


  63. Wouter June 7th

    I can’t use it on photoshop :(


  64. D.T June 10th

    Beautiful lighting. Thanks!


  65. Sasuke61694 June 13th

    awesome effect, I’ll be using this


  66. JJP June 19th

    I wish this tutorial was geared more towards PS beginners… :( Any websites you know of that are?


  67. Dannii June 25th

    How do you do the “road marks” ? I’ve tried and failed…maybe you could go more in depth on this part of the tutorial as thats quite a major part for those following it exactly. It’s a shame to exclude telling us how to do that.


  68. Bill Biwer June 30th

    Awesome Tut!! Can’t wait to play with it.


  69. sesebian July 13th

    Beatifull


  70. Antares July 29th

    great…..give me more:)


  71. stef August 7th

    great tutorial - i love the effects but for me, the lens flare step won’t work. :( it’s greyed out.
    any ideas why?


  72. T2 August 14th

    http://www.dafont.com/plastic-pill.font

    that font is similar
    i like it better for some reason


  73. Phill August 15th

    Hi,
    how it this effect?
    Effect 3D Extrude & Bevel not in my Photoshop CS3
    I hope answers, Thanks


  74. TwoFace. August 26th

    cool cool!


  75. VonLog August 28th

    Thanks a lot man!
    i used a type i was working on with and it worked out excellent!
    I really apreciate your share


  76. Maxime September 3rd

    The 3D part is in Illustrator !


  77. Chris October 15th

    I can’t get the blending options to look right.. the letters don’t take on the color overlay properly it seems… they just stay gray/white.


  78. Garrett October 16th

    the blending options will not work in photoshop for me. just stay gray and white.


  79. chris October 22nd

    Anyone know how to make that 3d effect without illustrator?, because i have photoshop just not illustrator


  80. sixteen11arts November 7th

    nice good job,, ;)


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