Being a designer means that you will constantly need to come up with new concepts and ideas. The way we present them is of crucial importance.

In the following tutorial, I will show you how I have modeled a new packaging concept for Doritos inside 3DS Max. You can see the whole concept and read more about it at my Behance profile.

However, I will offer you more than just a regular tutorial in this post. I will also talk and present ways how to use 3D software as a tool for generating and exploring new ideas.

Step 1

Since the base of the packaging is a hexagon, the best way to start is by creating a cylinder with only 6 sides.

If you try to render it now, even though there are only 6 sides, the edges will still look soft which is something we don’t need. In order to sort this out, turn off the “Smooth” option.

Step 2

Now it’s time to start editing the primitive. In order to work non-destructively, instead of converting the cylinder to Editable Poly, we will add a modifier.
Go to the Modifier tab and from the Modifier List, pick Edit Poly (notice that after this action the soft edges will appear again in the viewport).

Pick the Polygon Selection Mode [4] and select all faces [Ctrl+A]. Then scroll down to the bottom of the Modify Tab, and under Polygon: Smooting Groups, click the Clear All button. The edges will become sharp again.

Step 3

Now since we have the base, it’s time to work on the triangular sides.

Switch to Vertex Selection Mode [1] and select the middle vertices. The easiest way to do this is to go to the front viewport and drag a selection around the middle row.

Now we need to rotate those vertices  by 30°   (doesn’t matter whether it’s clockwise or counter-clockwise)

Few edges need to be added in order to divide the shape on triangles. For that purpose we will use the Cut tool (Modify tab > Edit Geometry > Cut, or use the shortcut Alt+C). After we active this tool, a crossbar will appear which we can use to draw the missing edges by clicking over the vertices that need to be connected.

After that, right mouse click to exit the Cut Tool and activate it again by using the shortcut Alt+C in order to draw another edge.

Step 4

When you’re done, check your model for extra vertices. Sometimes when you’re using the Cut Tool,  it happens to click near a vertex instead of over it, which creates additional points that we don’t need, so we have to fix this.

If there are no obsolete vertices in your model, feel free to skip this step.

Make sure you’re still in Vertex Selection Mode, and under Edit Vertices, choose Target Weld.

First, click over the additional vertex, and then over the original one. This will automatically weld them together, without affecting the position of the original vertex.

Step 5

Now we will work on the proportions of this packaging until we come to a satisfying result.

1. Exit out of the Vertex Selection mode by clicking over the yellow icon.

2. Take the Select and Non-Uniform Scale tool [R] (notice that you might need to click the shortcut a few times in order to pick the proper Scale Tool, or if you’re using your mouse, click and hold over the Scale icon until you can see all tools available underneath it).

In the Perspective Viewport, drag the Z axis until you get to 80.

Now the triangular sides look better since their sides are equilateral.  However the top and the bottom part of the packaging look pretty big. Let’s narrow them down.

Go to Vertex Selection Mode [1] again. In the Front Viewport select the top and bottom row of vertices. Take the Scale Tool [R] and in the Front Viewport and drag the Y Axis until you get to 85.

Now the proportions are much better.

Exploring new ideas through experimentation

Since we are very close to the end result, I would like to talk about how to use 3DS Max (or any other 3D software)  for testing a concept or coming up with new ones.

The most important thing is to question everything.

These are all questions that I ask myself regularly when developing a new idea. It helps me drift away in unknown directions where interesting things can happen :)

Stackability is a very important aspect of every packaging. By making copies of the same model, I can easily test it. In this case, the hexagonal base works perfectly for stacking as well as fitting more product into a smaller space. The design is also extremely strong for withstanding vertical pressure and is less likely to be damaged during transport and handling.

I isolated one triangular row and multiplied it. Although the resulting form looks interesting, it’s not the most suitable solution for a packaging. Maybe for another kind of object?

Chips and dips always go together. By splitting the 3D model in half, I developed a form that can be easily used as a dip container. Then I made different variations of the bottom row.

Step 6

Rendering the model

I will be using VRay for rendering the final image. From my experience, It’s the best and easiest-to-use software for creating realistic visualizations. However, the same result can be achieved with other renderers as well.

I won’t go in too much detail since you can find an abundance of tutorials for creating studio lightning and adjusting the render settings in VRay.

CREATING THE BACKDROP

Start with a line, assign Fillet and turn on rendering visibility.

MATERIAL SETTINGS (used for the backdrop and the packaging)

Vray Standard Material with lighter Diffuse Color (R225 G225 B225).

RENDERING SETTINGS

Turn on Indirect Illumination. Use Irradiance map as an engine for Primary Bounces and Light Cache for Secondary Bounces.

If you try to render it now, you will get a result similar to this:

Although it looks pretty realistic, there’s something that doesn’t quite sell it. We will fix this in the following last step.

Step 7

The problem with the current 3D model are the edges of the packaging. If you take a paper and fold it, creases will appear.  So we also need to simulate those creases here.

Start by selecting the packaging and making a copy of it [Ctrl+V].

We will use the Lattice Modifier in order to accentuate the edges. This modifier basically transforms every object into a wireframe.

You will find it under Modifier Tab > Modifier List > Lattice. Make sure you copy the same parameters as below.

Now we will erase the accentuated edges at the top and the bottom. Without them, it looks more natural.

First, while the object  is still selected, click the right mouse button and choose Convert to Editable Poly.

Pick the Edge Selection Mode [2], select the top and the bottom row of edges and hit the [Delete] button.

Hit the Render Button [F9] and you will get the final Doritos Packaging rendering:

Hope you found this tutorial useful. The second part will be published soon where I will cover the texturing process.

And remember, 3DS Max is not just a visualization tool, it’s a tool for generating new ideas.

——————

Please write in the comments below what kind of other nontraditional methods  you use in your daily work for coming up with new ideas.

In this tutorial I will show you how to draw a very simple but awesome twitter bird vector. I’ve used photoshop to create this but you could just as easily use illustrator as we’re mainly using the pen tool.

This is a fairly basic tutorial and all you’ll need is a very basic knowledge of the pen tool. Have fun!

Step 1: Base

Create a new document, I’ve created mine 575 x 680, but it doesn’t really matter what size it is, you can resize later if need be as it is a vector we are creating. Now select the pen tool and begin to draw the basic body shape of the bird, I based mine on a sketch I had drawn previously. You can copy the shape from a photo or drawing or you can just use your imagination.

When drawing with the pen tool I usually will turn off visibility of the layer in the layers menu so I can see what I am doing better. Once you’ve finished drawing you can turn it back on.

Now we have the basic shape of the body, I used #33ccff as the color, but again you can choose whatever you like. Next I added a slight gradient to the shape just to add a bit of depth.

Step 2: Features

Now we have the basic bird shape, the next step is to add the birds features (eye, beak, legs). The beak is a faily simple triangle-ish shape and is coloured #0f0f0f, again drawn with the pen tool, and with a slight gradient added to give it depth.

The eye is just layers of different coloured circles ontop of eachother to create a ‘beady’ looking eye.

Now the legs. First we need to create the thigh shape, this layer needs to be underneath the body layer and I coloured it with #DBDBDB. This way any overlap will be hidden underneath the body layer. The actual legs again are underneath the thigh and body layers and are positioned to look like they are gripping something and I used #0F0F0F.

Step 3: Shading

The final step is to add a bit of detail and shading, I have kept it fairly simple but you could really go for it and add as much shading as you like. I started by adding a lighter area (#7AD6F5) covering the breast of the bird.

Instead of drawing a whole new shape, I duplicated the body shape layer and adjusted it to how I wanted it, this way the edges will match the body shape.
Then I added the darker areas (#2AB7E6), again by duplicating the body shape and adjusting it by deleting a couple of vertices and adjusting others.

Conclusion

The final result is a fairly simple, but good looking twitteresque bird. Hopefully your will have had fun following this tutorial and will have learnt something along the way. The pen tool is a great tool to know how to use, so practice with it as much as you can as it can be trick at first, but once you know what your doing you can do alot with it.

Download the Twitter Bird Photoshop PSD File:

In case you want to compare your results or just tweak my design, here is the finished PSD file of the twitter bird: twitterbird.psd

‘Tis the season for snow and ice in the northern hemisphere, so I decided to create some cool ice cubes (please excuse the pun). In this tutorial we will go through the steps needed to create realistic ice cubes inside 3ds Max and add some finishing touches in Photoshop.

Step 1

To begin, open up 3ds Max and create a chamfered box shape with the same dimensions for the length and width, and about two thirds of that for the height. To do this, go to the command panel and under the create tab select extended primitives. The chamfered box enables you to have rounded corners and edges like on a real ice cube. The fillet should be set to around 2.7. Use 6 for the Length, Width and Height segments so there are plenty of vertices to play with.

Step 2

Now we’ll convert the box to an editable poly. Select the box, then right click and find, ‘convert to editable poly’. This allows you to move the separate parts of the box, such as the vertices that make up the points of the shape.

Step 3

In the command panel under the modify tab (with the editable poly selected) highlight vertex, so you can now edit the vertices.

Step 4

Now in the images change the points of the middle and corner vertices to match the shape of an ice cube. You could use a modifier, however I prefer these results as they are more accurate and controllable. Use the move tool (W) on the keyboard to move the vertices along the axis. (The axis gizmo will turn yellow for their respective plane).

Step 5

Keep going until the entire box looks like an ice cube.

Step 6

Now we only have one ice cube but we would like about 4. So, select the chamfered box we just edited, right click, and select clone and choose copy. The copy will be in exactly the same place as the original, so move it into place (W). Select both cubes using CTRL and copy and move them again so you have a total of four cubes.

Step 7

Now we’ll move them into position, use the axis to move them up or down and back and forth. Get them stacked on top of each other so they look more realistic.

Step 8

Now the cubes are all in line, however they still look unnatural so use the rotate tool (E) on the keyboard to rotate them into a position that matches ice cubes. Take your time, I like to spend a decent amount of time getting this correct.

Step 9

So now that the general shape of the ice cubes is finished we can progress. Press F9 to render out a version, as you can see the background is black, but we need white.

To change this go to Rendering and select Environment (8). In the environment and effects tab click color to bring up the colour picker. Drag the slider on the left down to change the color to white.

Press F9 again to render out a version, and now you can see the background is white.

Step 10

To alter the materials to an ice effect we have to change the renderer from the default scanline renderer to Mental Ray. To do this go to rendering and select render setup, scroll down to assign renderer. In the assign renderer tab next to production, click choose renderer and select Mental Ray.

Step 11

Go to rendering material editor (M) to assign a material. Click the standard button and choose Arch & Design (mi) at the top of the list and hit ok.

Step 12

In the BRDF rollout select by IOR, hovering over this you can see this defines how the reflectivity depends on angle known as ‘Fresnel Reflections’, best suited for dielectric materials such as water and ice.

Step 13

In the advanced rendering options rollout uncheck skip reflections, this saves time rendering as these reflections are weak. Check solid, this means light refracts through the object.

Step 14

We’ll now set up the material change, the IOR to 1.33, for water. A good tip here is if you need to look at how settings appear, hover over it and the guide appears; here it is the index of refraction. In the refraction box change the transparency to 0.90 and leave the glossiness at 1.0. Also change the values in the reflection box, the reflectivity 0.7 and glossiness to 0.95. Change the diffuse level to 0 and color to black, it’s always good to set the diffuse color to as dark as possible with materials that have reflections and refractions such as these.

Step 15

Now that the material is setup we can assign it to our ice cubes and render out a copy. Select all the boxes and in the material editor click assign material to selection.

Then hit F9 to render out a copy. Keep rendering and changing the viewport until you find a view that you think works best.

Step 16

Save the image by clicking in the save icon the top left corner, choose to save as a Tiff file and check the store alpha channel. The alpha channel saves a channel around the objects so it’s already cut out when we go to edit it in Photoshop.

Step 17

Now we can begin the finishing touches in Photoshop. Open up the Tiff file in Photoshop and add a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer. I set my brightness to –59 and contrast to -2, play around with these settings until you get something that works best.

Step 18

Hit Ctrl + Alt+ C to bring up the Canvas Size dialogue and increase the canvas by 200 pixels for both width and height.

Step 19

Go to the channels palette (if its not visible you may have to go to window in the menu and select channels). Ctrl click the’ Alpha 1’ channel to make a selection around the ice cubes.

Then go back to the layers palette and create a new layer. Inverse the selection with Ctrl + Shift + I.

Then create a gradient from black (#000000) to dark grey (#45494d)  and holding shift drag a gradient from bottom to top.

Step 20

Next well add a gradient fill. Go to the adjustment layers in the layers palette, and select gradient. Start the gradient from a light blue (#2084e2) to transparent at 90 degrees. If this seems too strong, lower the opacity.

Step 21

Now we’ll add some bubbles in the ice. To do so, download these bubble brushes. Once installed, create a new layer, then select black and brush some different sized bubbles on the ice, remember to be subtle with this effect.

Step 22

Now we’ll add the shadow. Create a new layer and select the ice by Ctrl + clicking on the ‘Alpha 1’ channel, fill this selection with black. Press Ctrl + T to free transform the shape, choose distort, and drag from the top down and to the right.

With the shadow in place Ctrl + click the alpha channel again to get a selection of the ice. Inverse the selection and add a layer mask. Then selecting the layer, not the mask, and apply a gaussian blur at 8.2 pixels. Finally lower the opacity of the shadow later to 24%.

Step 23

Now we’ll create the reflection for the ice cubes. Find the original ice layer, select the alpha channel and hit Ctrl + J to copy this selection to a new layer. Select free transform and flip this ice vertically. Then holding shift drag the ice half way down the original ice.

Lower the opacity of this layer to 11%. Add a layer mask to this layer, and with a black to white gradient fade the bottom of the reflection out. Duplicate this layer and apply a gaussian blur of 6.2 to it and finally lower the opacity to 11%.

Step 24

We are nearly finished, all the ice cubes need now is some melting water. So create a new layer and draw out the shape of melting water with the pen tool on an ice cube and fill this path with light grey.

Next bring up the layer styles options and put in these values: select Drop Shadow – change the values to opacity 20%, spread 5 and check anti–aliased.

For the Inner Shadow change opacity to 20% and leave the rest as the defaults.

For the Inner Glow change the color to black, set the blend mode to multiply and lower the opacity to 28%.

Finally add a Bevel and Emboss with depth at 83%, size to 10px, shadow mode to vivid light and colour to white.

Lower the fill to zero, create 3 more melting shapes and copy the layers style by holding alt and dragging to the melt layer.

Conclusion

I hope this tutorial was useful to you, you should have a good handle on materials and how to use some advanced rendering setups to get effective and realistic results. Im sure you definetly know how alpha channels work with 3ds Max now having covered these a lot.

Step 1

Fire up Photoshop and open up your picture. I’m using this photo that I found on Flickr.

Step 2

The easiest way that I could think of to create this style mesh overlay is through the use of a custom made Photoshop pattern. Create a new document, sized at 3px by 3px, and select ‘Transparent’ for the Background Contents. Zoom in to 1600%.

Step 3

Now, create the pattern shown below. Use the rectangle marquee tool (‘M’) to make selections, and fill those selections with black by clicking Edit->Fill and choosing black. Then choose Edit->Define Pattern.

Step 4

In this step we’ll add our custom mesh pattern on the photo. Go back to the original photo you opened. choose Layer->Layer Style->Pattern Overlay. Select your custom pattern you defined in the previous step, and drop the opacity of the pattern overlay to around 60%.

Step 5

That’s pretty much it for creating the mesh pattern overlay effect, but I think the image could benefit from a subtle vignette effect. Add a new layer to the top of the layers palette and grab the gradient tool (‘G’). Change the left side of the gradient to transparent and the right side to black. Drag out a gradient from the center of the image out to a corner. Change the blend mode to Overlay and the opacity to around 20%.

Step 6

In this last step I added a white background, and some text just below the vignette layer. Lower the opacity quite a bit, then add your text. I used Aldo for the font.

Parting Thoughts

I hope you enjoyed this quick tip. The potential uses for patterns are numerous, experiment with different ones, and different layer styles.

In this post I would simply like to show you a quick and easy way to accomplish a similar effect. I’ll use this photo I found on Flickr to illustrate the effect, but you are welcome to use whichever photo you’d like.

Step 1 – Open & Duplicate

Open up your photo in photoshop and duplicate the background layer by selecting it in the layers palette and pressing ‘cmd + j’.

Step 2 – Gaussian Blur

Add a gaussian blur to your photo with a radius of about 5 to 10 pixels. To do so, click Filter->Blur->Gaussian Blur.

Step 3 – Layer Mask

Add a layer mask to the blurred layer (Layer->Layer Mask->Reveal All). Then grab the Elliptical Marquee Tool and draw out a circle of the area that you’d like to highlight. For a perfect circle, hold down shift as you drag out your selection. Double check that you have the layer mask selected and fill your selection with black by selecting Edit->Fill then choosing black.

Step 4 – White Stroke

Don’t deselect the circle selection just yet, you will need it for the stroke and shadow. If you have deselected your circle, the best way to redo the selection is to ‘cmd + click’ on the mask, then select the inverse (‘shift + cmd + I’). Add a new layer to the top of the layers palette (Layer->New->Layer). Now click, Edit->Stroke. Choose a width of 4px, and a color of white, then click ok.

Step 5 – Shadow

Add another layer, and place it just below the white stroke layer you created. Add another stroke, this time make it 6px, and black.

Step 6 – Blur The Shadow

Add a gaussian blur to the black stroke to soften the shadow. You can go through and add the gaussian blur through the filters, or just hit ‘cmd + f’ to repeat the last filter (which in our case was the gaussian blur). I hit ‘cmd + f’ twice to make the shadow quite subtle.

Step 7 – Finishing Touches

In this last step, I added a sketchy arrow and some text. I also added a very subtle drop shadow to both. Here is the final result.

Parting Thoughts

As you can see, this is a very simple way that you can add some interest to blog images, and focus the readers attention. Don’t hesitate to drop me a comment and let me know what you think of the effect, or make mention some other techniques that you use, or that you have seen in action.

Reactions that I got regarding the design were better than I had anticipated and it ended up being one of the favorites at the show. Here is a simple walk-through of how I went about creating this design, and how easy it really was.

Step 1

Open a new document. If you are designing this for an actual skateboard deck, you can use the same dimensions and resolution as my document and you will have room to spare once applied to a blank deck.

Step 2

Give your document a black (#000000) background. Choose a large solid brush from your basic brush preset, with a size of about 100px. Draw lines and dots on your black background at either a slight left or right angle. You will end up with something like this.

Step 3

Easy enough right? Now, navigate to Filter->Sketch->Chrome. Use whatever setting gives you the most variation in your lines. My setting had a Detail of ’0′ and a Smoothness of ’4′. Hit ok!

Step 4

Now navigate to Filter->Blur->Motion Blur. Most likely you will have to max it out and apply it a few times to get a good amount of blur. Depending on which way you drew your lines, your angle of motion blur will vary. Just make sure you blend with your angle, and not against it. Once you have done that use Select->Color Range… to select the white areas.

Step 5

Now you can either create a new layer and fill your selected area with black, or copy and paste and then press ‘ctrl+i’ to invert it. Color your original blurred background any color you’d like, but for display I colored mine white. Then go wild! Duplicate your blur layer, flip it, flop it, blur it some more, shrink it, do anything you would like. More complex is better in my opinion.

Step 6

With your solid background layer selected, go to Filter->Noise->Add Noise… With the settings as follows… Amount: 10.00%, Gaussian: Checked, Monochromatic: Checked. (In this case, I decided to change my background layer to a blue.) This will add more depth and character to your board, that will make a considerable difference when all is said and done.

Step 7

Create a new layer above your others and using a large Blurry Brush, color it in randomly with colors of your choosing. Set this layer’s blend mode to Color. You can create as many colored layers as you like and mess with the blend modes on each until you are happy. Just remember, you want to be able to see your angle blurs through these layers. You can even move the angle blurs on top of these layers and mess with their opacity and/or blend mode as well.

Step 8

Create a layer at any level of your file, so long as it is visible, and fill it with white (#ffffff). Now destroy it with all of your favorite brushes! Here is the outcome of this step, and the structure of my file thus far.

Step 9

Time for some skulls! Find a decent reference picture as a template for your skull design. There is an excellent set on Flickr. Create a new layer and equip your Wacom if you have one. If not, you can use paths but it takes much longer. (You can find the Wacom Bamboo on Amazon for really cheap these days. An excellent beginners tablet.)

Step 10

The best part about drawing a skull with your tablet is that you don’t have to be a perfectionist. It adds to the whole “destroyed” look. Use a medium, solid brush (60px), and turn on Pen Pressure in your Brush Preferences Pane.

Use the pressure sensitivity of your tablet to your advantage and you will never need to change the size of your brush. You will have created something like this. There is a great video and walk-through of how to draw skulls with a tablet on GoMediaZine. Here is what mine looks.

Step 11

Delete your skull picture template and create a layer beneath your drawn skull and color your skull in with a white background. Then duplicate it, rotate it, resize it, and play with opacity to achieve a result you are happy with.

Step 12

Now using the same basic techniques from the skull, draw some tentacles. The more accent lines and notches the better. Adds more character. Do the same as you did with the skulls and color them in, then rotate, re-size, and duplicate them to your liking.

Here i’ve changed their blend mode to Overlay.

Step 13

The final version of this design is not near as complex as my original. But the same techniques have been applied.

Final Thoughts

Projects like this, while time consuming are great fun. You can experiment over and over again, while mixing limitless techniques and styles, while still producing something fun and unique. If not for anything else, do it for the fun of it! After all, that is why we design things isn’t it? Although, as a freelancer I enjoy getting paid and being professional, I also enjoy not knowing the outcome. Dubbed “accidental designs”.

If you want to get your design produced, I would recommend going to your local printer and getting it printed on “adhesive polypropylene”. Then take it to a skate shop to have it applied and trimmed. Be warned, it won’t last long if you use the deck to skate.

Introduction

3D text effects are a growing and awesome design trend. They can add angles, lighting and interest that many 2D text effects can’t bring. Here is an awesome Showcase of 3D Typography that was put together a little while back by Angie Bowen. I’ve also been seen and been inspired by tutorials like 3D Text on Fire and this Fresh Text Effect.

After some experimenting with what can be accomplished using Illustrator’s 3D capabilities and Photoshop’s texturing I came up with the design for this tutorial. In the steps that follow you will learn some pretty helpful techniques and tricks all while designing your own slick 3D ice text effect. Let’s get started.

The Preview & PSD

• Preview the final result
• Grab the PSD file to follow along

Step 1

Fire up Illustrator and type in your word(s) at the size you are designing for. I used Diavlo bold for my font of choice. Be sure to change the font color to a mid-tone gray. It’s not important to choose a specific color yet, but we do need something that will have a strong enough contrast to stand out when we transform the text into 3D.

Step 2

Now it’s time to utilize Illustrator’s simple, but awesome 3D capabilities. With your text selected choose Effect->3D->Extrude & Bevel. Make sure to tick on the preview option so that you can view your results as you go along (be warned this 3D effect with preview turned on is a huge memory hog — slower computers beware). Then manipulate the text into the angle that you desire. Bear in mind, perspective is the trickiest and most important part of a 3D text effect, so take your time here. The cube in the top left is a great visual tool. Simply click and drag on different parts to manipulate the x, y and z axis. Or if you prefer the cliff notes, just alter the settings to what is referenced below.

Step 3

Now it’s time to move our project over to Photoshop. Open up a new document in Photoshop, then click back to Illustrator and put the two documents side by side. Grab the move tool in Illustrator and drag the 3D text from Illustrator into the Photoshop document. Then in Photoshop select the background layer and fill it with black.

Step 4

Filters offer a huge range of possibilities, but they can lead to some pretty horrific results when they are overdone or used inproperly. In our case, we are going to add a couple of minor tweaks, to start the illusion of highlights and shadows on raised ice.

The Filter Gallery is a very handy interface that you can use to add and combine various filters. To get started click Filter->Filter Gallery. First, add ‘Accented Edges’. Play around with the settings until you have some simple, but not blown out highlights on the edges of your 3D text. Below are the settings that I used. Now, click to add a second filter (using the small ‘Add Filter’ button in the bottom right), choose ‘Plastic Wrap’ and select settings similar to what is referenced below. Then click ok.

Step 5

Our filters gave us some nice highlights on the edges of the 3D text, but I think we could do a little better yet. Let’s take advantage of some of the things layer styles have to offer. Double click on the 3D text layer to bring up the layer styles box. Add a bevel and emboss, and a drop shadow to our text. The drop shadow will be rather unnoticeable against our black background, but it will look good when we set up the ice background. Use settings that are similar to those shown below.

Step 6

That’s starting to look cool, but we could definitely use some more contrast. To add some, click Image->Adjustments->Shadows/Highlights. There are a ton of sliders to play around with in here, and quite honestly moving them around and experimenting is the best way to learn what they do. It’s also good to note, that since we brought over this text from Illustrator it should be a smart object. Which means that these filters are non-destructive and can be easily tweaked at a later point.

Step 7

In this step we are going to start working on the background ice. We need an interesting ice texture with some bright colors (even though we’ll be altering them later). I found this really cool ice texture on Flickr. Download that one or something similar and place it on a layer below the text layer and above the black background. Add a layer mask to your new layer by clicking Layer->Vector Mask->Reveal All. We want to gradually fade our design out to the black background, so add a radial gradient to that layer mask that goes from black on the outside to white on the inside. Touch up some of the mask with a soft brush with low opacity if necessary. Lastly, drop the opacity of this layer to about 90%.

Step 8

The background is starting to look interesting, but the texture could definitely be simplified and smoothed out a bit. I personally like to make those kinds of changes on a smart object so that I can adjust them later if I change my mind. So, right click on the layer and choose ‘Covert to Smart Object’. Then click Filter->Blur->Surface Blur. Use this blur to soften the texture and contrast some. Then add a bit of simple noise back in by clicking Filter->Noise->Add Noise. The settings I used are shown below as a reference.

Step 9

Let’s add some of this same texture to the text to help with realism and consistency. Duplicate the ice background layer and place it at the top of the layers palette. Add a layer mask to this layer just like you did before. Fill the layer mask with all black. Then select the shape of the ice text by ‘cmd + click’ on the thumbnail in the layers palette as circled below. Fill the shape that you just selected on the layer mask with white. This will reveal the texture only on the ice text. Now, change the layer mode to Overlay and the opacity to about 85%. Lastly, you can unlink the mask and the layer to move the texture independent of the mask. This give you great flexibility to change the texture on the text to something you find visually striking.

Step 10

In the next two steps I want to work on the coloring. Add a new layer to the top of your layers palette. Then grab the gradient tool and make a colorful gradient that begins and ends with the same color and goes to two other colors toward the middle. This gives our illustration a nice smooth base color to work from. Drag out a linear gradient horizontally across your canvas. Change the blend mode for this layer to overlay.

Step 11

Create a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer by clicking on the icon at the bottom of the layers palette (referenced below). Adjust the sliders until you have a nice cool colored gradient.

Step 12

Since our subject is ice and we have some cool lighting effects going on we definitely need to add a nice reflection. This can be a tad tricky with 3D objects, as the extra dimension can play tricks on your eyes. Because the refection on the ice is really only 2D I found the best and simplest way to add that is to create a new flat text layer that mimics the size and perspective of the 3D text. Make a new text layer and retype ‘ice’ or whatever the word you choose to use was in the same font. Then click ‘cmd + t’ to bring up the free transform tool. Click and drag downward from the top middle anchor to reflect the text. Next rotate it by hovering over a corner point to get the rotate cursor. Then adjust the corners while holding down ‘cmd’ to skew the text. Get it to the point that it fits pretty well over the 3D text, like the image below, bear in mind that it doesn’t need to be perfect.

Step 13

Now drag the refection into place and move the reflection layer below the 3D text layer. Change the blend mode to overlay and the opacity to 45%. Rasterize the layer by right clicking and choosing ‘Rasterize Layer. Then click Filter->Blur->Gaussian Blur and blur the shadow a bit. Lastly, add a layer mask and fade it out toward the bottom of the reflection.

Step 14

We’re almost done here, but a lot of times it’s the finishing touches that can take a design from good to great. I went on the look out for some cool brushes and found this awesome set. Go ahead and download them or something similar. Add a new layer and use the same masking technique that you used in step 9, so that the brush you use will only show on the 3D text. Then grab a star brush, use white for your color and dab on some interesting texture. Change your blend mode to overlay and drop your opacity to about half.

Step 15

Lastly add a couple more layers and utilize a couple of the star brushes to make some sparkle highlights. Be careful not to overdo this step. It’s also a good idea to put each one on a different layer, so that you can experiment with where the sparkle looks best and vary the brightness by lowering the opacity a bit.

Final Thoughts

There are so many creative directions you can take these techniques. The main thing I wanted to get across was the simplicity of 3D text in Illustrator and the power of combining Illustrator and Photoshop.

What do you think of this effect? If you come up with a cool variation, please showcase it at MyInkBlog Flickr group.

Overview of the Tutorial

This tutorial will teach you various techniques that photoshop has to offer, from using keyboard shortcuts to filters. By the end you will have created a cool lighting effect that appears from a dark abyss.

Step 1

Firstly, open up photoshop if you haven’t already done so. Select File -> New and setup up the canvas as shown below. It really doesn’t matter what size the composition is just don’t use a resolution lower than 72 pixels per inch.

Step 2

Okay now you should be staring at a blank canvas. Go ahead and fill it with black by pressing ‘shift + f5′ and selecting the colour black.

Step 3

Now we are going to produce a nice background which I like to use for a lot of my work. Double click on the layer and select gradient overlay. What we are going to do is produce a subtle radial gradient to create a focus for our composition. Set the radial gradient properties as shown below.

Step 4

Next, create a new layer by pressing ‘shift + ctrl + n’ and then enter. We are now going to apply some clouds, to do this select filter from the toolbar at the very top and then select render->clouds. This creates a cloud effect with the foreground and background colour. Set the layer to overlay by selecting the drop down menu above layer 2 and clicking on overlay.

Step 5

You may want to duplicate the cloud layer by presing ‘ctrl + J’ but I think just one looks good! Okay now to start creating your underwater mystery. Create a new layer and press ‘G’ to select the gradient tool. Click the gradient that appears in the toolbar and create a gradient that looks similar to the image below.

Step 6

Now, making sure you have the radial gradient icon selected, click on the center of your canvas and drag till your outside of the canvas, to produce a nice radial gradient of the colors you have just chosen. We can then map this gradient onto the cloudy layer below by using the blending option ‘color’ from the drop down menu above the layer. Next, I like to duplicate the layer and then set it to overlay with an opacity of about 65%. It gives the composition a more vibrant feel.

Step 7

Now to a create our strange emerging light. Create a new layer, press G to select the gradient tool and select the gradient that goes from white to nothing. This gradient actually goes from white at 100% opacity to white at 0% opacity. With this gradient draw a small radial gradient roughly in the center of the canvas. Set this layer to overlay and duplicate 4 times, you should get an effect like the image below.

Step 8

Next up, we’ll create some explosive rays. Create a new layer, render some clouds and in the filter menu above render you should see pixelate. Select pixelate and mezzotint, fine dots. You should get a load of black and white dots. Now to use another filter, blur->radial blur. However, we are not going to use the radial blur, we are going to use the zoom blur method. Set amount to 100 and quality to best then press OK. You should get something like below.

Step 9

Now just set the layer to overlay. I like to reduce the opacity to 80%, but that’s just my personal preference. Okay, now to make some bubbles. Create another new layer and press the ‘B’ key to select the brush tool and then ‘F5′ to bring up the brush panel. Now what you want to do is choose a round brush with a diameter of 30px. Then add some spacing, scattering, shape and opacity dynamics. It is pretty straight forward, just mess around with it until you get something you like. Now just draw around the circle of light you created.

Step 10

Set this layer to overlay. Now we want to add some lighting to the bubbles. Double click on the layer
and add a gradient overlay with the settings below.

Step 11

To create some depth we repeat steps 8 through 10, but add 30px to the diameter of the brush this time and draw a larger concentric circle around the light each time. Below is an example of me doing this. For each of the new bubble layers you copy the layer style from the first one you made by right clicking the layer and selecting copy layer style, then paste it onto your new layers.

After doing this (hopefully) you should get:

Step 12

Next up, we’ll make some cool light rays. Choose the polygonal Lasso tool and select and area like below. Create a new layer and with the white 100% opacity to 0% opacity graident, drag form the center to the edge of your selection to get the effect below.

Step 13

Then as always set to overlay and press ‘ctrl + D’ to deselect the selection. Repeat the previous step a number of times until you are happy. Here is how mine looks.

Step 14

Now to finsh mine off I created a new layer and rendered some clouds. I set that to overlay to add a little contrast. I then selected the blue, red and yellow gradient and overlayed that on a new layer and finally, I created a new layer, rendered some clouds and added the glass distortion filter (filter->distort->glass), and
set the opacity the 65% to give a watery texture.

I was still a bit displeased so I created a new layer went to the toolbar and selected image->apply image. This puts all the visible layers into one layer. I then went filter->distort->zigzag and chose the style ‘around center’. The amount was around 45 and ripples was around 8. Finish by setting the layer to soft light 45%.

Thanks for reading! :)

Overview of the Tutorial

Today we’re going to be creating the dark and grungy poster you see below. You will also find links to the stock images we will be using in this tutorial. This tutorial focuses heavily on blending images together to achieve a desired effect.

The Files

Step 1

Open image 1 in photoshop. While searching for this image all I was looking for was the general layout and colors. Keep this in mind if you’re following the tutorial using your own images and going your own way with it.

Now we’re going to apply a gaussian blur which will leave the overall color and feel of the image without any of the detail.

Adjust the radius until you have exactly what you need. This will usually fall somewhere between 40 and 80.

This gives us the base for our background image.

Step 2

Now open image #2 (you’ll notice there are 5 textures in this pack, I used #103 but you can choose whichever you prefer) and paste it into a new layer. The texture is quite a bit larger than our original image so we need to shrink it down a bit. To do this press ctrl+t and you’ll see the border of the texture extending beyond the poster.

Grab the corner that extends beyond the image and drag it up to the corner of the image. Since this is just a texture it doesn’t matter that we’re warping it a bit. That will just add to the character :). Then check the green checkmark in the toolbar to commit the transform.

Next we want to find a good way to blend the two layers allowing our texture to add some grungyness to our background. We’ll do this with with layer blending mode and opacity.

I ended up going with Pin Light with an opacity of 52%, but you can just play around with it until you find something you like.

Step 3

Next we’re going to add some shadows to the edges to give the background some depth. Create a new layer and with a 100px brush create a black border with some variance where you would like to have more/less shadows. It doesn’t have to look good at this point, we just need a rough border.

Apply gaussian blur to this layer and take the radius all the way up to 250 this time.

And now we have our grungy background.

Step 4

Now it’s time to add the other elements. Paste the door image into a new layer and resize it (using ctrl+t). Only this time we want to maintain the proportions of the door, so hold down the shift key while resizing.

We just want the door, nothing around it so select the rectangular marquee tool and select the door.

Go to select and choose inverse to select all of the image around the door and hit delete to get rid of it.

Now we’re left with just the door floating out among our background. Press ctrl+d to clear the selection.

Step 5

We want the door to blend in with the background so set the door layer to darken with an opacity of 75%. Again, you can play with different settings to find something you like.

Step 6

Now we need to clean up the door a bit. Notice that there is a line left over at the bottom of the door. Since we want it to look like the door is completely blending into the background, we want to erase that line. We also want to get rid of the wire running across the door. We’ll use the clone tool to do that. If you don’t know how the clone tool works, see “The Basics” in Useful Applications for the Clone Stamp Tool.

Step 7

Now it’s time to add the words. I want to do Breaking Barriers where the two words share the B. So first, let’s do a single uppercase B around 500px in size. Now add the rest of the words in a size around 200px and position them as you see in the image.

Step 8

Select all three layers and rasterize then merge them. Set the merged layer to Overlay with an opacity of 100%. The text ended up being a bit more of a brown than I would have liked, I want to make it more of a red like the door. So we double click on the preview image of the text layer to bring up the layer style box. Check Color Overlay, choose a fairly bright red then bring the opacity down to aprox 20%.

Reposition the text to your liking and we’re finished.

Final Thoughts

So that’s it for this tutorial. I hope this explains well enough the process I use to develop our wallpapers and such. We actually had a reader request this type of tutorial from us and we hope it shone a little light in some new areas. Leave me a comment to let us know what you thought of the tutorial and how your design turned out if you worked through it.

Overview of the Tutorial

It’s impressive how quick and simple it is to create realistic drawings in Photoshop through the use of textures, layers and gradients. This tutorial explores some of these techniques while designing a realistic chalkboard.

The Files

Step 1

Fire up Photoshop and create a new document (I sized mine at 1000×609). Now we need to a background for the chalkboard. Create a dark-green to mid-green radial gradient and fill the background layer with it.

Step 2

Now let’s dirty up the board a bit by adding some noise. Click ‘Filter->Noise->Add Noise’. Change the amount to 1.6%, the distribution to uniform, and make sure monochromatic is checked.

Step 3

In the next few steps we’re going to work on the wooden frame for the chalkboard. In an effort to create it in only a few steps, I decided to use the Fibers filter. I couldn’t find a setting within the filter to change the direction of the fibers, so I created each part of the frame in a separate document, and then placed them into the original chalkboard image.

First off, we’ll make the top part of the frame. Create a new document that’s the same height as the original chalkboard document’s width. Set the width for what you’d like the width of the frame to be. For my tutorial, my original document was 1000×609 so my new document for the top part of the frame is 45×1000. Change your foreground color to a very light gray and your background color to a dark gray. Then click ‘Filter->Render->Fibers’. Change the Variance to something around 3 and the Strength to around 21. Then rotate the document by clicking ‘Image->Image Rotation->90 Degrees CW’.

Step 4

We then need to add some color into our wood grain so click ‘Image->Adjustments->Hue/Saturation. Check on colorize, then change the settings to something around: Hue to 19, Saturation to 33 and Brightness to -20.

Step 5

Add some noise to the wood by clicking ‘Filter->Noise->Add Noise’. Make the amount 1%. Then with the move tool selected, click and drag the top frame to the original chalkboard drawing to place it there. Move it into the correct position. You should have something like what is pictured below.

Step 6

Repeat these steps for the other 3 borders, until you have a simple wood frame. Place the frame layers in an order so that the left and right sides are at the top.

Step 7

Highlight all the wood frame layers, then right click and choose ‘Merge Layers’. Double click on your newly merged layer to bring up the Layer Style window. Add a drop shadow and an inner glow with the following settings.

Step 8

Now that we have a frame, let’s bring our focus back to the chalkboard; it needs to be a little more grungy and textured. I used the Grunge Corner Brush Pack to help me accomplish that. Download that set or use a favorite that you already have. Add a new layer between the background layer and wooden frame layer. Use the eye dropper tool to sample the darkest green color, then paint the four corners with a little grunge in that color. Lower your opacity on this layer to something around 40%.

Step 9

Let’s add a little more color variance to the chalkboard background. Add a new layer above the grunge corners. Change your foreground color to black and your background color to white. Then click ‘Filter->Render->Clouds’. Now blur those clouds by clicking ‘Filter->Blur->Motion Blur’. Change the Angle to 18 and the Distance to 100. Lastly, change that layer’s blend mode to ‘Multiply’ and the opacity to around 30%.

Step 10

In the next two steps I wanted to add the feel of old eraser marks on the board. So create a new layer above the cloud grunge you made in the previous step. Grab the brush tool and set it to the ‘Watercolor Loaded Wet Flat Tip’ brush. Change the brush color to black and the brush opacity to around 30%. Make a bunch of strokes as if you were erasing the board. Release the brush periodically then go over areas again, to darken some areas more than others. Lastly, lower the opacity on the layer itself to around 10%.

Step 11

Add another layer and repeat the same techniques as the last step, but this time make the brush color white and the layer opacity around 5%. You will end up with a result like the one below.

Step 12

Grab a cool hand-written font for the writing. I’m using a font called Christopher Hand. Write a couple of large words on the board. These will serve as some old writings on the board that weren’t quite erased fully. Drop the opacity of your text layers to around 2%.

Step 13

Think of something clever to write on the board with a hand-written font. This time change the layer opacity to 70%. Then grab some of your favorite grunge brushes. I’m using Subtle Grunge Textures and Effects from Function for my design. Add a layer mask by clicking ‘Layer->Layer Mask->Reveal All’. Then, with a black grunge brush, paint on the mask layer to reveal some of the board underneath. This will help give the impression of the inconsistency that chalk creates. Be careful not to overdo the effect.

Step 14

I thought the chalkboard would benefit from a little depth and perspective so I added a couple of extra design elements. First off, design a bottom ledge where some chalk and an eraser could reside. Use the same wood techniques you learned before. Be sure to add a drop shadow and outer glow.

Step 15

To design the eraser, grab the rounded rectangle tool and draw a small rectangle with an edge radius of 1px. Now convert the object to a smart object by clicking ‘Layer->Smart Object->Convert To Smart Object’. This will give you the flexibility to alter the filters we are going to add. First off, add some variation of light and dark by changing your colors to black and white, and clicking ‘Filter->Render->Difference Clouds’.

Step 16

The eraser still needs some help with light and texture so I decided to add a couple more filters. First click ‘Filter->Brush Strokes->Sprayed Strokes’. Then click ‘Filter->Noise->Add Noise’. Refer to the images below for suggestions on the settings you can use. Remember the good thing about working with smart objects is you can always go back and alter your filter settings later.

Step 17

With the bottom of the eraser complete, it’s time to work on the top portion. Select the rounded rectangle tool again and draw a dark gray shape above the bottom of the eraser. Just like in the previous step, convert this shape to a smart object, then add a little noise.

Step 18

In an effort to keep the consistency of the light source be sure to add a slight drop shadow to both layers of the eraser. You should now have something similar to the image below.

Step 19

To polish of the chalkboard I added a couple of pieces of chalk by using very similar techniques to how I created the eraser. Here is my final result.

Final Thoughts

That’s a wrap for this tutorial. It’s awesome how simple it is to create a realistic drawing with just a couple of filters, brushes and gradients. I hope you learned a few tricks along the way. Drop me a comment below, and let me know what you thought of this tutorial.