80

Technique

CINEMA 4D Creative Suite 2 or later

The new way to create 3D text

3D text needs the right depth, lighting and texture. Nik Ainley tells you how to do this without re-rendering nightmares
Typography is huge at the moment in illustration, and 3D text is a big part of that. It literally gives the artist another dimension to play with, and the power of 3D programs provides a sense of realism that 2D typography just cant match. This allows for seamless blending with photos and other renders. This tutorial explains how to create very simple 3D text that can be generated in minutes in any 3D package or even in 2D software such as Illustrator and give it life in Photoshop. The advantage of using Photoshop is that changes in texture, colour and lighting can be achieved much more quickly than in a 3D package. In a 3D program youre constantly changing things, re-rendering to see the effect and then going back to make more changes. In Photoshop theres none of that waiting around, and if you know what youre doing the effect can be just as impressive.

Nik Ainley A freelance illustrator and designer based in the UK, Nik has worked for many clients including Adobe, MTV and British Airways, but still nds time for his personal artwork. See it at www. shinybinary.com.

Time needed 2-3 hours Skills Prepare a simple render Add texture to a 3D object Add dynamic colour and lighting

Computer Arts Summer 2008

www.computerarts.co.uk

ART152.tut_4 80

10/7/08 9:30:42 am

81

First, arrange your text in a 3D package Ive used CINEMA 4D and the words fresh science word. I produced the text outlines in Illustrator then imported them, rather than using CINEMA 4Ds type tools, to get much more control over the position of each letter. Saving as an Illustrator 3 le minimises compatibility issues.

01

02

Next, you have to give the text some depth. Use an extrude NURBS object and place your text shapes inside it. Change the movement to vary how deep each letter becomes. CINEMA 4D has various options for capping the extrusion that is, how the ends join onto the sides. I chose a small llet cap to round the ends very slightly.

03

We need to add a oor, for the shadows to fall on, and some lighting. I used a sky object with a high luminance to generate overall lighting. The nal render is performed with Global Illumination turned on as well as an Alpha Channel for just the text, to save having to cut it out in Photoshop.

04

Take the render into Photoshop. Use the Alpha Channel generated by CINEMA 4D to Copy and Paste only the letters onto a new layer. You should still have the original letters behind with the shadows as well.

Mask off the bottom of the Shadow layer. Add a layer mask and, using a black-to-transparent gradient, drag from the bottom up to fade the shadow. Change the blending mode to Multiply so only the dark areas are used. Run the letters layer through a light Shadow/Highlight adjustment, as well as Auto Levels to improve the lighting.

05

Next, you need to isolate the front faces of the letters youve chosen. Trace around them carefully using the Pen tool to get the best selection. Doing this in Photoshop gives much better results than trying to produce a separate render with just the faces showing.

06

www.computerarts.co.uk

Computer Arts Summer 2008

ART152.tut_4 81

10/7/08 9:30:49 am

82

Technique

07

Create a selection from this path and ll with grey on a new layer for each word above the letters. Copy the letter faces and Paste right at the top. Use Image>Adjustments>Curves to set the white point to the central colour of each letter, then change the blending mode to Multiply and the background layer to a deep cyan. Add a light texture over the top set to Multiply.

09 08
Next, add texture to the front of the letters I Pasted a photo of some concrete above the face layer for fresh. Group the face layer and the new layer created by your pasting to create a clipping mask. Now use Edit>Transform>Distort to match their perspectives. You could use the Vanishing Point tool, but I nd it slow and cumbersome.

Change the blending mode of the texture to Multiply so that only the dark parts of the texture are visible. If it darkens things too much, set the white point lower with Image>Adjustments> Curves. Repeat this with a couple of different textures until all three words have been altered.

10

Use Filter>Distort>Pinch on the background texture. A setting of 50% or so works well. Create a new layer above the background and ll it with a radial gradient from white to black, from the centre outwards. Change the blending mode to Soft Light to focus light more centrally. Ive also added some Adjustment Layers at the top of the image to change the colours a little.

12
To make the letters more interesting, import a texture (I used scanned-in oil) and Paste it above the texture layer for the word on your top row. Group it with the layer below so they share a clipping group. Change the blending mode to Overlay or Multiply so you dont just cover up the existing textures.

11

Duplicate the old texture and create a white layer underneath. Merge the duplicate and white layers, Copy and Paste the result into a new channel, and delete that layer. Edit this channel until its all black except areas representing the darkest parts of the texture. Make a selection from this channel and add a layer mask to the newer texture.

13

Repeat the process for the other two words, using different effects on the front to produce some variation. For science, I imported some parallel lines from Illustrator and matched their perspective to the front of the letters, though you can make a custom pattern in Photoshop instead.

For a dramatic colour change, create a Gradient Map Adjustment Layer at the top of the image with a colourful gradient. Set the blending mode to Darken and drop the opacity to about 30%. Now use a radial gradient on the layer mask to fade the effect towards the edges and background.

14

15

About the font

The font used in this tutorial is Neutrino from the San Francisco-based type studio Neutura, run by freelance graphic artist Alexander McCracken. Alex featured in Computer Arts 149, June 2008, when he wrote his own article explaining how to convert a font design from a sketch to a functional electronic typeface. To nd out more about Neutura, see www.neutura.org.

The nal touch is to add another texture over the top of the image but below the Adjustment Layers. Make sure its mostly black with light highlights. I used the same concrete texture as for fresh, but inverted and darkened signicantly. Change the blending mode to Screen and youre done.

Computer Arts Summer 2008

www.computerarts.co.uk

ART152.tut_4 82

10/7/08 9:30:58 am