Creating Vector Shapes for 3D
In Photoshop, with a blank document, I have just simply a background layer. I can start creating any shape that I like. I can use a Custom Shape Tool, and I can select any of the shapes found in Photoshop. I'll just use the one that I have currently selected, and this creates a vector shape. I can then extrude it into 3D space. I can click on the 3D panel, click on 3D Extrusion from, select that layer and click on Create. And this turns it into a 3D object. We can also, in the 3D layer, we can click on that shape layer. And we can edit the source and with the Direct Selection Tool, you'll notice that this is, in fact, a vector graphic and we can adjust it any number of ways. And I can press CMD+S to Save, and that will get applied onto the 3D element. At least it should get applied into the 3D element. Let me go back and edit the source again. And let me just close it this time, instead of just saving it. Oops. Excuse me. Actually it did make those changes, and you could sort of see wh...
at happened down here. The reason that at first it didn't seem like it did, is because I had it at this angle where the shape came off to the side and it blended in with the background, and I really couldn't see it. And the reason that part of the shape has that original black material is because the front inflation material's using the texture. In the Texture, If I open that up, it's going to be the original shape. So the texture didn't change. So, I can remove the texture and you can better see the changes I made to the shape. So that was sort of an optical illusion that I really couldn't see that the 3D shape had actually changed when it did. And the reason I'm showing you this is so that you can see that we can work with vectors in 3D. And if we can use a vector that comes stocked in Photoshop by using a Custom Shape Tool, then that means that we can use vectors that we create, to create 3D elements. So that's what we're going to do in this example. We're going to create our own 3D vectors using the Pen Tool. And I'm going to go into the Layers panel. I'm just going to delete this shape. And we're going to start with a background. And I'm going to create a new layer. The first thing that we need to do is, we need to find out where the center of the image is. There's two ways of finding out. You can press CMD+R, CTRL+R on the PC, it'll bring up the rulers. Right-click on it and select Percent. Fifty percent will be right in the middle, so you can click and drag our rule over. Or another way you can do it, that I think is probably easier, is by going into the View menu, selecting New Guide Layout, selecting two columns, two rows with no gutter space, and no margin. Notice that now we have two guides going across the center dividing this in half, and I'm going to use these guys to help me create my my vector shape. I'm going to click on the Pen Tool from the tools bar, and I'm going to start just quickly showing you how the tool works. Notice that when I click I create a point. And then, if I click somewhere else, I create another point and now I have that curve that I can adjust. The downside is that Photoshop, by default, doesn't work like Illustrator Aware, where you click and you see a preview over the next point it's going to land or the next curve is going to be rather. To enable that you got to click on this gear icon and click on Rubber Band. And notice now that I have a live preview of the next curve. It's a lot easier to see. Let me show you again what it looks like when it's disabled. It's disabled, you really can't see where you're going. You enable it, you'll see the preview. So now I can just create whatever shape that I like. And I can use this as a path to turning that into a 3D object. So I can go into 3D, select that work path extrusion, create, and it creates a a 3D model based on that work path that I created.
In this class, Adobe Certified Expert Jesús Ramirez, founder of one of the most popular Photoshop YouTube channels in the world, shows you how to make your very own 3D elements – no experience required. You’ll learn to use the 3D features in Adobe Photoshop, in addition to using text, images, and paths to create 3D geometry from scratch.
Through a series of 3D projects, Jesus covers:
This class is filled with techniques, tips, and workflows that allow you to immediately begin using 3D features in Photoshop for your projects and will teach you to create 3D objects from start to finish.
- Creating 3D text, adding texture and lighting
- Using 2D images to create 3D Objects
- Working with Image Based Lights to generate reflections
- Applying Textures to 3D objects
- Using the pen tool to create 3D objects
- 3D Depth Maps with geometry to create effects such as a waving flag
Software Used: Adobe Photoshop CC 2017