Fake 3D in Photoshop
21 Block party
We now have the basic techniques for creating the entire image. So we just have to keep creating objects, match their perspectives to somewhere on the grid, add depth and make sure the shadows are in place. This is the time-consuming part, and you can add as many objects as you like. Try to keep your layers organised into layer groups to stop yourself from going mad.
22 Float them all
Once you have finished creating and placing all your objects and are happy you aren’t going to add any more, we can add a bit more depth by giving them all a shadow. Select the outline of all your layers (Ctrl-click on your layer thumbnails while holding down Shift), then on a new layer just above your background, fill this selection with black. Apply a Gaussian Blur to this layer by about 40 pixels, move it down and to the right a bit, then drop its Opacity until it looks right.
23 Flatten it
To add a few finishing touches to the image, we first need to flatten the entire thing. Do this and copy the result into a new document. It’s best to do these final bits separately to your layered file so you can go back and change things if necessary. Run a Gaussian Blur over your new flat layer (about 30 pixels or so) then fade (Ctrl+Shift+F) to a Soft Light blending mode of about 30 per cent Opacity.
24 Depth of field
Now to add some fake depth of field. Duplicate your image and run a Lens Blur filter on it (40 pixels or so). Add a Hide All Layer Mask to this layer (hold down Alt while clicking the Add Layer Mask button). Use a white to transparent gradient, or a big, soft brush to start adding white to this Layer Mask to make parts of the image blurry. Try making the top or the bottom of the image blurriest or specific objects that appear to be further below the others.
25 Final touches
Flatten your two layers together and run a light Unsharp Mask on them (settings of 30, 0.6, 0 should do) and make any final tweaks to lightness or colour you think the image needs. That should be it; hopefully, you’ll have something that looks like our image.
In detail
Not quite perfect
There are several different ways that doing 3D in Photoshop makes things a lot harder than using a 3D program. Apart from the fact that all the lighting and shadowing has to be done manually and won’t be as accurate as with a 3D program, we are much more constrained in terms of moving things around.
To demonstrate this, the shiny object has been moved from its intended position in the image below. As you can see, its perspective is now completely wrong and it doesn’t fit in with the rest of the image at all. However, if we wanted the object here, we would have to reproduce it as a flat object and then distort it to match the grid in its new position.
Quick tip
A clever way of bringing interest to this sort of image is by adding details to the front of your objects. Make sure that you do this before adding perspective to them so you can do the distorting all in one go. Try adding shapes, patterns, textures or text to your objects to make them livelier. Feel free to vary the colours, but try to keep an overall colour scheme in mind.
[...] Fake 3D in Adobe Photoshop [...]
Pretty, I like it
[...] Fake 3D [...]
it strongly reminds me of Heiko Klug’s work…
just view some of his (amazing) older works in his portfolio @ http://www.jesar-one.com/
great tut…
Some more informations and bigger screenshots would help a lot.
I’m currently stuck at the “Object>Path>Outline Stroke” part. Where can I find “Object>Path>Outline Stroke”?
I have absolutely no idea, really.
This makes me think that I should start using Maya.
great tutorial ….added to my blog
thanks for ur sharing
[...] Fake 3D [...]
[...] Fake 3D in Photoshop [...]
[...] Vía: Webdesingnermag [...]
A really impressive result! Thanks for sharing this.
waaahhhhh
that so hard……
Hi there,
im stuck on step 20!
where is the “object>path>outline stroke”?
and could you explain that step in more detail, it is a little vague for me a novice
peace, Christina
Very nice effect – but it should be done in illustrator
nice work!!
i like it
very nice tutorial ,,excellent !
great tutorial
!
as with the others, got stuck on step 20 but i’m guessing it’s a step from some other illustrator tutorial maybe?
anyhow i still wanted to finish the tutorial & for those interested, here’s what i did to get the cast shadow effect:
1- select the depth layer of our Disc object (the white merged layers)
2- ctrl + click on one of the layer thumb to select the filled area of the layer
3- now what i did was transform the selection by Select > Transform Selection. I slightly enlarged the selection to the area we want filled as the casted shadow
4- select the empty layer from which we need the shadow to be casted, & use the gradient tool (black to transparent, linear) to create the shadow within our selection. I also used 80% opacity & Soft Light blending mode to get the effect I wanted. you can use whatever gives you the effect you find best
this turned out looking fine but not quite as realistic as i’d hoped! any suggestions for alternatives?
to Сhristina and John:
object>path>outline – I think it’s from Illustrator… Don’t know why they mentioned it in ps tutorial
but, very nice! like it
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Hi, the link is not setup right for http://www.webdesignermag.co.uk/tutorial-files/issue-152-tutorial-files/
The link only reads: ttp://www.webdesignermag.co.uk/tutorial-files/issue-152-tutorial-files/
And so since the h is missing, causes the link to be bad.
This looks like torture… lol.. I am a 3D modeler and use 3ds max, why not just learn 3ds max instead of putting yourself through all of this? It would take a lot longer to do it this way then in max.
That is amazing, thank you for sharing. Im not sure if my first few trys at 3D images will be decent but Im motivated! I really like how you present things in a practical way, where I leave feeling like Ive really learned something I can do.
Hey, i’m a graphic design student.. A bit more accustomed to Illustrator for this kind of work, but I’m definetely going to give this a whirl tomorrow in my hour class, see what results I can get. Looks promising!
great work, I like it.
really cool tutorial, I am going to share it through my own blog and twitter
I love it. Would be great if there was an option to look at a printable version with everything on one page …
I wish I was half as talented as the least talented person at Adobe. Seems like I have to hire a graphic designer for everything despite having Photoshop.
Love it! Fantastic in depth tutorial covering some major elements in 3d design… more articles like this would be great! Thanks
great work, I like it.
What's your opinion?