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How to Create Remarkable 3D Text in

Photoshop
Oct 20 2009 by Tyler Denis | 44 C omments
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In this quick and easy graphic design tutorial, you’ll discover a handy process for Advertise Here
generating eye-grabbing three-dimensional typography with the help of Photoshop and

some creative techniques.
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Final Result
Here is a preview of what we’ll be working towards (click on the image to see the Search
result in full-scale).
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Setting up the Photoshop document Web Applications
1 First off, we are going to open up Photoshop and create a new document (Ctrl + Web Design
N). In the New document dialog box, set the Width and Height units to inches (if it
isn’t already). We’re creating a square canvas; set the width and height to 10 inches. Web Development
We’re creating a graphic that’s high resolution and ready for print use, so set the
Web Standards
Resolution to 300 pixels/inch.
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2 With your canvas created, fill the Background layer with a dark gray (#333333)
color. One of the ways you can do this is by first setting your Foreground color to the
dark gray color (in the Tools panel). Then choose the Background layer in the Layers
Panel and press Ctrl + A (which creates a marquee selection around the entire canvas
– you can also do this via Select > All). Finally, choose Edit > Fill (Shift + F5) to open
up the Fill dialog box, make sure that the Use option is set to Foreground color, and
then click OK to apply the fill.
Creating the text

3 Now we’ll place the text on the canvas. Choose the Horizontal Type Tool from the
Tools panel and type the text/logo that you desire. Change the color of the text in the
Options bar to a yellow color (#FFCC00), use a rather large font size, and try to
choose a bold font type as the technique works best this way. The font used here
was Myriad Pro Black set at 286pt for the word ‘Six’ and 83pt for the word
‘Revisions’. Start typing the text on the center of the canvas; this tutorial uses the
text ‘Six Revisions’, but of course, feel free to modify it.
4 Rasterize the text so that we can more easily work with it; this has the side effect
of not being to modify the text anymore so make sure you’re happy with the text.
Right-click on the text layer and click on Rasterize Type (or Rasterize Layer
depending on what Photoshop CS version you’re using).
Using Free Transform on the text
5 Now we are going to skew the text to give it more of a dramatic 3D look. Make sure
you have the layer with our text selected in the Layers Panel, then press Ctrl + T to
let us edit under Free Transform (Edit > Free Transform).
6 Holding down Ctrl, click on the top right transform control of the box. Drag the
corner to the left. Do the same with the top middle transform control. You should get
something like what I have below.
Adding some layer styles
7 We are going to add some layer styles to our text. Make sure that the text layer is
selected in the Layers Panel, and then click on the Add a layer style icon at the
bottom of the Layers Panel. Choose Bevel and Emboss, which will open up the Bevel
and Emboss Layer Style dialog box. Set it to the settings that I have below; this will
make the edges of the text really pop. Don’t forget to change the colors for the
highlights and shadows. The highlight is #FFCC66 and the shadow is #DFA125.
8 Go back into the Layer Styles dialog box (if you exited out of the Layer Styles
dialog box, just double-click on the layer in the Layers Panel to go back) and apply a
Satin layer style. This will give some depth to the color on our text instead of just a
solid or gradient. Change the color to #F3881F.
9 The last thing we are going to do to the text’s face is add a Gradient Overlay layer
style. Click on the gradient and change the left color stop to #F7F3A7 and the right
color stop to #F3881F.
Creating the 3D effect
10 We are going to start giving this text a 3D look. First, we want to duplicate our
text layer; choose the layer and press Ctrl + J to duplicate the layer. Go to the
duplicated layer and get rid of the layer styles by clicking and dragging them into the
trash can icon at the bottom right of the Layers Panel.
11 Now that we have a logo with no layer styles, we are going to adjust the color.
Open up the Curves options by choosing Image > Adjustment > Curves (Ctrl + M) and
adjust them to something like I have below to give the layer a darker color.
12 We want to drop down the saturation because the color is too vibrant to be a
shadow. Go into Hue/Saturation with Ctrl + U (or Image > Adjustments >
Hue/Saturation) and adjust the settings like I have below.
13 Now, we are going to create the edges of our text to make the three-dimensional
look. First, we want to click and drag our layer below the original yellow text layer and
move it one space to the left with the arrow key. Holding down Alt, push the down
and left arrows repeatedly. This will duplicate the brown layer each time you push the
arrow button. Keep duplicating the layer until you get the size and depth that you like.
Combine the duplicated layers
14 Let’s combine all of these duplicated layers into one. To do this, click on the
topmost brown text layer in the Layers Panel, hold down Shift, and then click on the
bottommost brown text layer to select all of them. Then with all the appropriate layers
selected, click on the Link layers icon at the bottom of the Layers Panel. A chain link
icon should appear on all the brown text layers when you click on it. Once you link all
the brown text layers together, select all the layers in the Layers Panel again (if you
somehow deselected them) and press Ctrl + E to merge down all the linked layers
together.
15 Let’s add a Gradient Overlay layer style on our combined text edge layer so it goes
with the gradient on our yellow text. The colors are black (#000000) and white
(#FFFFFF) (double-click on the merged layer to open up the Layer Styles dialog box).
Create a drop shadow

16 Duplicate the brown text edge layer with Ctrl + J while it’s selected in the Layers
Panel. We are going to use it to create a shadow on our text. Go to Filter > Blur >
Gaussian Blur and adjust it so the Radius option is at 8px. Now go into Curves by
pressing Ctrl + M and adjust them as I have them. This should give you a blackish
shadow.
17 If you zoom in at the edges of the letters using the Zoom Tool (Z), you’ll notice
that the brown sides coming off the corners are jagged. We’re going to go in and fix
those. Using your Polygonal Lasso Tool, click a shape around the area that needs to
be removed and push the Delete key. Repeat this for each area that needs it until you
get smooth edges on all your letters.
Some optional steps
18 This looks pretty good so far, and we could probably stop here and be happy with
it, but if you want to put the extra effort in, we can start adding in some more
shadows. Our light is coming from the top left so we should plan to have our shadows
at the darkest from the bottom right. To get our shadows right, we are going to use
the Burn Tool on the brown text edge layer to darken it. Before we start adding in our
shadow, we want to use the Polygonal Lasso Tool to create some edges where there
would be corners on the text. Do this for all the corners of our text, holding down Shift
and dragging your mouse to add to the marquee selection.
The Burn Tool
19 Now we can start burning in the areas we selected. Change the Burn settings in
the Options bar so that the Ranges option is Highlights and the Exposure is at 50%.
I also used a brush with a Master Diameter set at 125px with a 0% Hardness.
20 With the same Burn settings all set, we are going to do the rest of the areas that
need shadows. Since you should still have the areas selected, we can do an inverse
selection, Select > Inverse (Ctrl + Shift + I), then we can burn the areas that we
haven’t done yet without burning the areas we have already done.
21 We can also do some highlights too with the Dodge Tool. Use the same brush, the
same settings, and the same method that we did with the Burn Tool.
Finished!
There we have it, 3D text using nothing but Photoshop. Here’s what I ended up with:
Share your work on Flickr
Why don’t you share your work on the Six Revisions Flickr group and show it off to the
community?
Download
If you’d like to download the Photoshop file used in this tutorial, you can do so below.
remarkable-3d-text.zip (ZIP, 2.60MB)
Related Content
How to Create Stunning and Bold 3D Text
How to Create a 3D Text Photo Manipulation
Create a Web Layout with 3D Elements using Photoshop
Related categories: Tutorials and Photoshop
About the Author

Tyler Denis is a part-time freelance designer from Ashland, New
Hampshire. He is also the creator/writer of the design blog Denis
Designs/blog, a website dedicated to bringing quality tutorials and
inspiration. You can follow him on Twitter or at his personal site, Denis
Designs.
44 Comments
Jacques//An1ken
October 20th, 2009
Nice Tutorial Tyler, there are numerous ways to create 3D text in photoshop and you
showcased this one brilliantly.
Keep up the good work.

Jad Graphics
October 20th, 2009
Nice tutorial. Great job!
Andy Feliciotti
October 20th, 2009
Finally a use for Bevel and Emboss
Corne Smetsers
October 21st, 2009
Great tutorial..
But the 3d tool in Illustrator is better/faster in my opinion? Most people who have
Photoshop also have Illustrator right?
I prefer the Illustrator way hehe
Kevin Mullins
October 21st, 2009
Nice one – good to get the technical details regarding the light direction etc. I’m just
about to make a flyer with 3D Text so this is perfect timing.
Andy
October 21st, 2009
Nice tutorial, though the ‘perspective’ applied in Step 6 creates an unnatural effect. The
bottom-right corner should be dragged up-and-left, not down-and-right.
That’ll add a bit of extra realism :)
Andy
October 21st, 2009
Nice tutorial but I wouldn’t call it ‘quick and easy’.
bill
October 21st, 2009
Nice tutorial but this is a bit like using a wrench to tighten a screw. There are a lot of
other programs, like Illustrator, that will do a much better job of this with far less steps.
neoprabhu
October 22nd, 2009
Hi denis,I think you missed one step after 16, might be like reducing opacity or
something, otherwise how can you explain the decreasing of dark shadow at edges at
17…
Web Designer
October 22nd, 2009
looks nice. thanks for the tut.
Web 2.0
October 22nd, 2009
I liked the style, nice tutorial.. thanks!
Tyler
October 22nd, 2009
neoprabhu:
The curves in step 16 darken the shadow, but I did forget to say that that shadow layer
goes below the brown text edge layer.
Philip
October 24th, 2009
I will try this later and it seems very easy to follow. Great job Tyler.
cLaK
October 25th, 2009
nice tut… easy to do and great effect ;)
Ali
October 26th, 2009
Yea man great effect!!!
spartax
October 28th, 2009
love your tutorial, really helpful,, thx alot tyler…
gilberto
October 29th, 2009
fabuloso el tutorial cambie a mi imaginacion el fondo de sombra y me salieron unos
efectos espectaculares gracias por el tutorial
ims
October 31st, 2009
strong like :)
widayat
November 24th, 2009
Thanks for the tut, dood friend
prasad
November 25th, 2009
that’s great work, I could not even think about doing it in photoshop.
keep it up!
harry
December 22nd, 2009
thanks alot… very helpful:)
gengtang
December 24th, 2009
very nice！thanks……
agon
January 3rd, 2010
Hi very nice tutorial and i am doing this for the second time, but i have a question, in the
step 16 when u add curves and this give a little balckish to the brown edge layer, but
whith there is totaly black edges, and in the step 17 those blackish edge become a light
orange. how it possible, did i made something wrong ?
Sapphire
February 5th, 2010
Thank you for this tutorial. I have not tried it yet but am willing to give it a shot. For
people like me, it is frustrating trying to get that “3D” look in text because I only have
Photoshop Illustrator 9.0.1 which does not give me the “3D Extrude” options. Yes, it
probably will be easier with the Illustrator CS3 but since I cannot afford it, I have to
make due with what I have. This tutorial may be a bit challenging, but I am willing to try
anyway, it sure beats getting frustrated for not having that 3D effect plug in to work
with. Thank you again, will post back if I have success with this.
sarah
February 10th, 2010
Fantastic tutorial!!
Very helpful and great result!! :D
Muxx
March 12th, 2010
Love it!
I was thinking of doing a full 3D design in one of my next projects. This should help for
some of the effects :)
F.Y.
F.Y.
April 17th, 2010
cool tuto :)
Tutorial Lounge
April 27th, 2010
really beautiful tutorial you sharing with amazing techniques for create 3d effect easy
way.
fishtaco
May 4th, 2010
wow great tutorial.
just like all the others! thanks
Mahmoud El-hosary
May 17th, 2010
salam 3alikom
great effect
Thanks for U
lektire
May 20th, 2010
thankz man really awesome

and this site 6revisions really rocks!! guys keep up the good work
egiova
September 18th, 2010
Clean and smart job, very clear tutorial. Congratulations.
asif
November 11th, 2010
very well described.
bahaa
February 20th, 2011
thank you very much , more than helpful
Michel Silva
February 24th, 2011
Good, good, good. Tanks!
CreativeJH
April 9th, 2011
Nice work. The idea is good. :D
robin
September 6th, 2011
Thanks a whole bunch for this great tutorial.
saeide
thanks i didi it.but i have some problem.
nono
October 18th, 2011
nice tutorial.. i followed thru the last and i agree with Andy with his keen observation on
step 6 perspective to be more realistic.. thanks
John
November 5th, 2011
the result looks great, but I didn’t quite understood how you obtained the 3D look …
Paul Thewlis
August 29th, 2012
Really nice tutorial, thanks so much
Richard Martin
October 8th, 2012
I must say thanks for this. I was looking for a clear tuition on how to do this, so thanks.
Dave Greaves
May 30th, 2013
Great detail thanks for sharing well written.
Sean Gannon - HeadshotsUK
Thank you, I was looking for something on 3D text. Everything else was very complex.
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Home All Articles Tutorials Freebies About Contact Follow on Twitter Subscribe: RSS Feed

How to Create Remarkable 3D Text in

generating eye-grabbing three-dimensional typography with the help of Photoshop and

Design Showcase / Inspiration

Setting up the Photoshop document Web Applications

The Problem with Android is Choice

Deconstructing Minimalist Landing Pages

Design-Based Media Queries

Using Your Design Skills to Get Website Traffic

Creating the text

Create a drop shadow

remarkable-3d-text.zip (ZIP, 2.60MB)

About the Author

Keep up the good work.

Nice tutorial. Great job!

Finally a use for Bevel and Emboss

I prefer the Illustrator way hehe

Nice tutorial but I wouldn’t call it ‘quick and easy’.

looks nice. thanks for the tut.

I liked the style, nice tutorial.. thanks!

nice tut… easy to do and great effect ;)

Yea man great effect!!!

love your tutorial, really helpful,, thx alot tyler…

Thanks for the tut, dood friend

thanks alot… very helpful:)

wow great tutorial.

just like all the others! thanks

thankz man really awesome

Clean and smart job, very clear tutorial. Congratulations.

very well described.

thank you very much , more than helpful

Good, good, good. Tanks!

Nice work. The idea is good. :D

Thanks a whole bunch for this great tutorial.

thanks i didi it.but i have some problem.

Really nice tutorial, thanks so much

Great detail thanks for sharing well written.

e m ail (will not be publishe d) use d for Gravatars (re quire d)

Subscribe to the comments on this article.

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