Chrome Text

Quick reference

• 00:04 Hey everyone.
• 00:05 Howard Pinsky here, with another Photoshop tutorial for all of you.
• 00:07 Well we're going to be taking a look at creating a chrome text effect
• 00:11 using the new 3D features within Photoshop CS6 Extended.
• 00:15 In this video,
• 00:16 we're gonna look at bringing your text into the third dimension.
• 00:19 Working with bevels, materials, and
• 00:22 reflections to create the end result that you see here.
• 00:25 Let's get to it.
• 00:26 When starting out a 3D text design you're going to start out like any other
• 00:30 type based project, with the Type tool.
• 00:33 It's usually a good idea to set your type properties beforehand.
• 00:35 But in Photoshop CS6, even after you've converted your text into a 3D mesh,
• 00:40 you still have the ability to edit your type later on.
• 00:44 From my experience, the thicker the font, the better.
• 00:47 Once your text has been typed out, if your type layer is still active, the 3D button
• 00:52 on the right side of the options bar will make the conversion into 3D.
• 00:56 Otherwise you can use the new 3D extrusion from selected layer option
• 01:00 under the 3D menu.
• 01:01 Now if you've ever used the 3D features in Photoshop CS5 you're gonna notice that
• 01:06 everything is completely different in a very good way.
• 01:09 I can simply click on the elements that I want modified.
• 01:12 And right from within the workspace I can move, rotate or scale.
• 01:16 As this video is focused on the text, let's click on the 3D text to select it.
• 01:21 When a 3D layer is active you're going to notice some helpful options within your
• 01:25 Properties panel.
• 01:26 If you don't see the Properties panel in your workspace you can activate it
• 01:30 under the Window menu at the top.
• 01:32 One of the first options that's available to you is the shape pre-set.
• 01:36 This will allow you to add a bevel inflation or twists to your text.
• 01:41 Each pre-set will give your text a different look.
• 01:43 And they can also effect how your reflections look as well.
• 01:47 Let's start off with a simple bevel for now.
• 01:49 Down a bit further is the extrusion depth.
• 01:51 This controls how thick or thin your text is.
• 01:54 You're going to notice that as I increase and decrease the size of extrusion.
• 01:58 My text is becoming thicker and thinner.
• 02:01 Finally, as I mentioned earlier,
• 02:02 even after your text has been converted into a 3D mesh, it's still fully editable.
• 02:07 You can very easily change the text base color using this color picker here.
• 02:12 Or you can open up the Character panel to gain access to many more
• 02:15 text-based properties.
• 02:17 Such as the font, styles, bleeding and so on.
• 02:21 Of course, if you're not happy with what the actual text says,
• 02:24 you can use the Edit Source option to edit the wording of your mesh.
• 02:28 This works very similar to a Smart Object where the type is
• 02:31 contained within an internal document.
• 02:33 So once you're made your edit, simply save the document.
• 02:36 Close it and you will see your updated mesh.
• 02:39 Next let's take a look at modifying the bevel touch.
• 02:42 At the top of the properties panel, the third icon will allow you to
• 02:46 make changes to the bevel and the inflation if you chose to add one.
• 02:50 If you ever added a bevel and embossed layers style.
• 02:53 You may find this very familiar.
• 02:55 The width will control how thick the bevel is and the angle will allow you to
• 02:59 pull the bevel away from the text or into the text to create an inset.
• 03:03 Finally just like when using a layer style,
• 03:05 you can change the contour of the bevel.
• 03:07 Which can add extra ridges and once you start toying with reflections,
• 03:11 change the contour can drastically change how your final result looks.
• 03:15 I'm gonna stick with the cove contour and set the width around 45%.
• 03:19 So now that we have the set of the mesh set up.
• 03:22 Let's take a look at our materials.
• 03:24 Each one is labeled accordingly and
• 03:26 when they become selected they become highlighted on the mesh itself.
• 03:30 You're certainly free to edit each mesh individually, but
• 03:32 as this mesh will have similar properties throughout each material.
• 03:36 We can easily edit all materials at once.
• 03:38 By selecting the first one, holding down shift, and selecting the last one.
• 03:43 Starting at the top in the properties panel,
• 03:45 the diffuse is basically the base color or texture of your mesh.
• 03:49 This color pick is going to override the color you set earlier with the type tool.
• 03:53 For this design, I'm gonna use a solid black for the mesh's color.
• 03:57 Of course, if you wanted to use an image as a texture,
• 03:59 you can load one in by clicking on the folder icon to the right.
• 04:02 This option is only available when you have a single materials selected.
• 04:06 As we currently have multiple materials selected,
• 04:09 this option is currently grayed out.
• 04:11 Next is specular.
• 04:13 This will really come into play when you are dealing with reflections and
• 04:16 lights that are hitting your mesh.
• 04:17 If you are looking for
• 04:18 strong reflections, you may want to increase the brightness of the specular.
• 04:22 A very light gray is going to give us great results once we
• 04:25 start adding reflections to our scene.
• 04:27 Now, down below we have basic properties that will effect our mesh.
• 04:31 Shine and reflection will be very important if you're looking for
• 04:33 a chrome effect.
• 04:35 You'll definitely want to increase the reflection value quite a bit.
• 04:38 And then depending if you want the light spread out amongst your mesh or nice and
• 04:42 tight, you can adjust the shine value accordingly.
• 04:45 A higher value will tighten up the light.
• 04:47 While a lower value will spread it out.
• 04:50 Next, the roughness value may not appear to do much at first.
• 04:53 But once you start working with image-based lights,
• 04:55 which we're going to look at in a moment.
• 04:57 Increasing this value will help blur out your reflections if you
• 05:00 don't want them so sharp.
• 05:01 Let's set it around 10% to soften out our reflections.
• 05:05 The rest of the properties, we're not gonna be touching.
• 05:07 But if you wanted to add a tactile feel to your mesh, you can add a bump texture.
• 05:12 You can adjust the opacity of your mesh.
• 05:14 And adjust the refractions if you're working with transparent objects.
• 05:17 At this point let's give our scene a render to see how it's looking.
• 05:20 This button right here will start the render process,
• 05:23 which is going to smooth out your mesh reflections and shadows.
• 05:27 Now depending on which version of Photoshop CD6 that you're running, and
• 05:30 the settings within your 3D preferences.
• 05:32 You may see a large blue box, or
• 05:35 you may see a smaller blue box that makes it's way around your document.
• 05:39 As you can see, the text is looking shiny, but it's lacking in terms of reflection.
• 05:43 Let's go ahead and stop the render by pressing the Escape key, and
• 05:46 let's look at how image based lights can help improve your results.
• 05:50 Up in the environment properties, we can add and
• 05:52 customize an image based light or IBL.
• 05:54 Which will usually help give your scene a more realistic look.
• 05:59 If you're running Photoshop CS6 13.1, you're gonna see the new default IBL.
• 06:03 Which is basically a few white boxes to help generate reflections.
• 06:08 However, you can load in your own images to be used as the image-based light.
• 06:12 If an IBL is already active you can use the Replace option.
• 06:15 Otherwise, a Load option will be available to you.
• 06:19 For this design, I'm gonna be using an image I grabbed from ShutterStock.com.
• 06:23 And once it has been selected, you are going to see the image fill your screen.
• 06:26 But don't worry, it is only there for preview purposes,
• 06:29 once you start rendering, or select a different property, it will hide itself.
• 06:33 You also have the ability to rotate your image based light,
• 06:36 just in case you want a different area of the image reflected on your mesh.
• 06:40 Now, instead of no reflections at all, or
• 06:42 simply white boxes, your image is now being reflected int he text.
• 06:47 And if I give it a quick render, you're gonna see it in the action.
• 06:50 Now keep in mind, when you start adding reflections or
• 06:52 adjusting your mesh's opacity, render times can drastically increase.
• 06:56 As there's a lot more that Photoshop has to put together.
• 06:59 A little bit further down in our properties panel, we can also add
• 07:01 a reflection to our ground plane, which is what our mesh is sitting on.
• 07:05 Increasing the opacity will strengthen the visibility of the reflection.
• 07:09 An increase in the roughness will soften it out.
• 07:12 Another quick render will show you how the reflection on
• 07:14 the ground plane's going to look.
• 07:16 Of course, the longer you let the render go,
• 07:18 the more Photoshop will be able to smooth out your reflections.

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