Tutorial: How to Create a 3D Text Effect in Photoshop

With recent increases in popularity of typography, text effects are becoming more prevalent than ever. 3D text effects are now quite simple to achieve, particularly in programs like Illustrator, which has built in 3D extruding functions.

But what about Photoshop? Today I’m going to show you how to make a nice, easy 3D text effects in only 6 steps. This tutorial assumes you have a basic understanding of Adobe Photoshop.

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Ok let’s get started.

Step 1 – Document Set-Up

Open up Photoshop and create a new document. It doesn’t really matter what size it is, however I’m using a 800px by 400px canvas. I’m also using a font called ‘Intrique Script’, which you can download for free here.
Grab the text tool and create type your text, name the layer ‘Text’. If you are going to use a different font, make sure it is something relatively bold and thick. Otherwise the 3D effect won’t look as good.

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Step 2 – Perspective and Reflection

Next up, we need to ‘skew’ the text so it’s not flat. This will angle the text and setup the base of the 3D effect.
To do this, right click on the ‘Text’ layer and convert it to an object. Now go to Edit->Transform->Perspective. Now move the top corners inwards so the text looks smaller at the top and larger at the bottom.
We also want our text to look shiny, as if there is reflecting light. To do this we will add a gradient overlay with a sharp colour transition. On your text layer go to Blending Options->Gradient Overlay and enter in the details below.

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Step 3 – Extrude

Next we need to ‘extrude’ the text layer. The method for this is quite simple, duplicate the text layer, then using your keyboard arrows, nudge the duplicate down 1px by pressing the down arrow key once. Repeat this process about 6 or 7 times until you are happy with the thickness of the extrude.
I have prepared a set of Photoshop action for this, which you can download at the bottom of this tutorial. I have included a number of different directions for you which will give the text different 3D angles.
Next group your extruded layers into a group and name it ‘Extrude’. Now right click the group and go to Blending Options->Gradient Overlay. Enter in the details below. The idea here is that we are adding a linear gradient. This will put lots of little subtle lines over the layer giving it a kind of metallic style look.

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Step 4 – Highlights

If you look closely at the final render you will notice a thin highlight between the top of the text and the extrude underneath. This gives a little more depth and realism to 3D effect. To do this, duplicate the ‘Text’ layer, disable the blending options and change the shape colour to white, Then nudge it down 2px with your arrow keys and place it between the text and the extrude group.

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Step 5 – Shadows

Finally we are going to add 2 shadows to give make our 3D text look more real. The first shadow will be a sharp dark shadow and the second one will be a soft lighter one.
Duplicate the ‘Text Layer’ and change the shape colour to black. Next go to Filter->Blur->Gaussian Blur. Use a small radius like 1.5px. Now nudge the layer down and to right by 2px. Place the shadow layer behind all your text layers. This should give the extrude a subtle thin, slightly blurred shadow.
Next, duplicate the shadow layer we just made and add another Gaussian Blur, this time use a much larger radius like 4 or 5 px. Change the opacity down to around 60%. Finally nudge it left about 5px.

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Step 6 – Background

Finally we will add a nice gradient for our background. Try to make it a subtle as possible, otherwise you will overpower the rest of the image.
And that’s it, 3D text in Photoshop in 6 easy steps.

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Photoshop Extruding Action

Download Action

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If you enjoyed this tutorial and have any questions or comments please leave them in the comments section below.