3d Drips
1st edition — by Patrick McNeil — Mar. 23, 2006
Difficulty: Beginner
Application: Photoshop
This tutorial is meant to accompany the Drips
Sprays
& Splatter design
element chapter.
The purpose of this tutorial is to show how to give some 3d depth to the
drips in a spray paint texture. . The image used for
this tutorial can be downloaded from the Drips
Sprays &
Splatter article. This article assumes you know how to extract the spray
paint from the white background, this is demonstrated in the Blend
If tutorial.
Step 1
Open the image we are working with to start off.
Follow the steps in the Blend If tutorial
to isolate the spray paint. You might need to merge the splatter with a blank
layer. This is done to essentially apply the Blend If and actually remove
those extra pixels from the layer. If you don't do this you will quickly
discover why this won't work.
We have placed a gray layer below the pattern to show it is isolated properly.
Step 2
Double click the spray layer to get the Layer Style dialog box. Proceed
to the Gradient Overlay option on the left. Click on the
gradient preview to get the full gradient dialog.
Step 3
I setup a nice light to medium and back to a lighter value range. Keep the
color group tight. This adds some depth to the spray and keeps it from feeling
to flat, there would of course be some color variation in the spray.
Step 4
This is what your image might look like depending on the colors you selected.
Notice how much more interesting the image looks then with a solid color.
Step 5
Return to the Layer Style dialog window and check the Satin option on the
left. Look at the settings I used to add an additional bit of variance to
the texture.
Step 6
The real goal is just to give it some life and have it feel like it has
a bit of depth.
Step 7
This step is really going to pull it out and give it the 3d feel. Return
to the Layer Style window and add Bevel and Emboss to the applied effects.
Look at the settings used below to get an idea on how to configure it.
I increased the size and soften settings
I also adjust the light a bit to reduce the overly dramatic nature of the
shadows. I wanted them to be more subtle.
Also note how I adjusted the shadow color. I think keeping in the color
group helps reduce the photoshop feel and makes it feel more natural. Play
with these settings until you are pleased with the results and hit ok.
Step 8
This is what we came up with. I think the key to this tutorial is keeping
things subtle, once you get to dramatic it looks fake and like it was created
in photoshop.
Step 9
I wanted to try this on a darker background. I changed it to black and altered
my Bevel settings to accommodate. Here are the new settings.
Step 10
This is what the image looks like after the changes.
Summary
This is a fun combination of some simple layer styles, but the end results
are pretty interesting.
Download all the images from the Drips
Sprays & Splatters page and
have fun.
