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The Ultimate List of Resources for Creating and Styling 3D Text in Photoshop

3D text is becoming more and more popular with designers, yet many people still struggle with producing and styling it professionally.

The aim of this post is not to grab 100 random text tutorials that you’ve come across before. That would be of no use to anyone! Instead, I’ve selected a few incredibly helpful tutorials, each of which focus on different aspects of producing/styling 3D text. This guide is meant to teach you every different aspect involved in the basics of this process.

I’ve compiled the post into two main sections. The first teaches you several different ways to produce 3D text from scratch in Photoshop (i.e.: without using any 3d software whatsoever). Each method is very different, and so should give you a few ideas to work with. The second main part teaches you how to style 3d text in Photoshop, to really make it pop, and look super professional!

Finally, I’ve included some additional resources to help you get to grips with Photoshop’s increasingly powerful 3d features. Enjoy!

Creating 3d Text From Scratch in Photoshop

Many Photoshop tutorials teach how to style 3d text that was created in a 3d program originally. However, for those of you without access to such software, these great tutorials show you some short cuts to creating your own 3d text from scratch in Photoshop!

How to Create a Textured Grungy 3d Type Design

This tutorial shows you how to create 3d text manually, by scaling and cropping various text layers. The start of the tutorial is in Illustrator, but could be achieved in Photoshop.

How to Create 3D Text Blocks in Photoshop

This tutorial is very unique, and gives you a detailed walkthrough of Photoshop CS4′s 3d features. You use Wireframes, meshes, and a various texturing techniques, to produce some great 3d text!

Create a Spectacular Style Text Effect

This tutorial uses another approach, whereby you duplicate text layers, and apply various layer styles to create a 3d effect.

Styling Pre-Made 3D Text in Photoshop

Design Soft Stylized 3d Type

This tutorial walks you through creating the original text in Illustrator, and then applying various brushes and styles to create a stunning, soft 3d text effect.

Tutorial: Text Effects

This tutorial by Nik Ainley shows how to create 3d text in Xara 3D, and then add some incredible details and styling to really spruce it up!

The new way to Create 3D Text


Another tutorial where Nik Ainley shows you how to produce 3d type in a basic 3d program, and then export it to Photoshop for detailing and styling. Very impressive end result in this one!

Create a Spectacular Flaming Meteor Effect on Text

This amazing tutorial teaches you how to create 3d text in Illustrator, and then export to Photoshop to create a flaming meteor effect. You will play with the filter tools as well as the warp and brush tools to create a truly impressive end result.

Hell of a Tutorial in Photoshop

This tutorial uses a slightly different, but very intriguing technique to create 3d text in Illustrator, and then ‘sink’ it into the ground in Photoshop, allowing you to create a flaming pathway to hell. This has got to be one of the best text tutorials ever written!

Bonus Tutorial

Photo Strip (Photoshop Tutorial)

This tutorial isn’t actually a text tutorial, but does show how to create an amazing 3d effect purely within Photoshop. You learn how to use the warp tool to wrap images around a 3d sketch. I’ve included this tutorial not just because it’s awesome, but because it could easily be applied to a text-based design. Play around with it!

Extra Resources

These additional resources may help you expand your knowledge of 3D tools within Photoshop. They are well worth reading over:

A Guide to Photoshop CS4′s 3D Features

Create a Shiny Earth With Photoshop 3D Layers

Render a Cereal Box Cover From Scratch Using Photoshop’s 3D Tools


About the Author:

Tom is the founder of PSDFAN. He loves writing tutorials, learning more about design and interacting with the community. On a more interesting note he can also play guitar hero drunk with his teeth.

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5 Comments:

  1. [...] The Ultimate List of Resources for Creating and Styling 3D Text in Photoshop « PSDFan Awesome 3D Text Tutorial ULTIMATE LIST! (tags: photoshop typography text roundup tutorials) [...]

  2. Kiren says:

    Very cool, I just discovered 3D text option in Illustrator. Works pretty good after you import it into photoshop:)

  3. Oliver Web says:

    Great list of tutorials here and something I’ve never tried in photoshop but now I can use these resources to start creating 3D text. I really like the hell text tutorial because it looks really professional and something I could probably do with a bit of time. Thanks for taking the time to share these with us.

  4. rahulfow says:

    hey gr8 collection of tuts..! awsum TRICKS! ;)

  5. alx21creations says:

    very nice! will do this with maya n ps

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