cinema 4D

Tron Legacy Tutorial

abduzeedo — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 12:36:49 +0000

Since the very first time I saw the trailer of Tron Legacy I decided that I would have to try to do something inspired on that, all those light effects were exactly what I always love to do in Photoshop. Then I saw the James White design inspired by Tron and I was damn it, James nailed it. So I postponed my little experiment, however this week I decided that the time had come and so, I decided to recreate the logo effect we see in the trailer.

For this tutorial I used Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop and Cinema 4D. Pretty much all the light effects and composition are done in Photoshop, the other apps were used just to create some shapes and elements, so if you want to do just the Photoshop part, in the of the tutorial there is a ZIP file with all the resource files used for this image.

Step 1

The first thing to do is find or create the logotype of Tron Legacy. I found a vector file online with it. Then open it in Illustrator and convert the strokes to fill (Object>Path>Outline Stroke). Export the file in a very low version of Illustrator, I'm using Illustrator 8.

Step 2

Once you have the vector logo it's time to create the 3D version of it. We could use Photoshop Repoussé to create that but I decided to do it in Cinema 4D because I've been practicing more with it. So once you import the shape just apply a basic extrusion. You can download the Cinema 4D file in the end of the tutorial

Step 3

One thing that was really cool with the Tron Legacy logo was that sort of digital pattern it has in the light effect, so to create that I used a simple Tiles texture for my material, that is a default preset in Cinema 4D. The color is not important because we will change that in Photoshop later on.

Step 4

Here is the Objects I have in Cinema 4D, as you can see there is all the shapes with the Extrude NURBS and the material. I also added 2 lights and a camera to get the right perspective.

Step 5

Here is the final render in Cinema 4d. You can download the TIFF file in the end of the tutorial.

Step 6 - Photoshop

Open the logo in Photoshop and now let's start editing and creating the light effects. The first thing to do is change the Hue and Saturation. Go to Image>Adjustments>Hue and Saturation. Use 190 for the Hue, 50 for the Saturation and 0 for the Lightness.

Step 7

Go to Image>Adjustment>Levels. Change the black input to 30, the grey input to 1 and the white input to 131.

Step 8

Import the vector logo and make sure it's black, you can add a color overlay through Layer>Layer Style>Color Overlay.

Step 9

Go to Edit>Transform>Scale, reduce the size so it's a size between the front and the back faces.

Step 10

Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 15 pixels for the Radius.

Step 11

Duplicate the layer in order to make this dark effect darker.

Step 12

Import the vector logo again and position it in front of the 3D logo, this will be the neon effect.

Step 13

Go to Layer>Layer Style>Color Overlay. Use #86f7fe for the color with 60% Opacity. Also over the Blending Options, reduce the Fill color to 0%.

Step 14

After that select Inner Glow. Use Color Dodge for the Blend Mode at 50% Opacity. For the color use white. Change the Source to Edge and use 0% for the Choke and 10 pixels for the Size.

Step 15

Select Inner Shadow. Use Color Dodge for the Blend Mode with White for the color at 50%. Use 120º for the Angle, 8 pixels for the Distance, 0% for the Choke and 10 pixels for the Size.

Step 16

Now, select Drop Shadow. Use Screen for the Blend Mode with white for the color at 50%. For the Distance use 0, for the Spread 15% and for the Size 30 pixels.

Step 17

The last option will be Outer Glow. Use Color Dodge for the Blend Mode, 100% for the Opacity, white for the Color. Them for the Spread and Size use 0.

Step 18

Now go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Hue and Saturation. Use 195 for the Hue, 90 for the Saturation, -20 for the Lightness.

Step 19

Select all layers including the background and duplicate them, after that merge all the duplicated layers into a new one and go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 10 pixels for the radius.

Step 20

Change the Blend Mode of the blurry layer to Screen at 80% Opacity.

Step 21

Again go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Hue and Saturation. Use 7 for the Hue, 50 for the Saturation and 0 for the Lightness.

Step 22

Again select all the layers and duplicate them, after that merge the duplicated layers into just one. You can do that using the keyboard shortcut Command (MAC)/ Control (PC) + Alt + Shift + E. After that just change the Blend Mode to Screen at 50% Opacity.

Step 23 - Logo Conclusion

The Tron logo is pretty much done, as you can see we were able to create the nice 3D/light efect as we see in the trailer and we used basically Blend Modes and Adjustment Layers. For the Legacy text I used Helvetica Neue Ultra Light with a nice teal glow. You can save your file and end the tutorial here, but I want to show you how I created the whole composition.

You can group all these layers and name the folder logo. Also you can duplicate the group and merge it into a layer so we will use only that file in the end of the tutorial. As it has a black background, change its Blend Mode to Screen as well, then hide it.

Layer Order

This is the layers order. You can see that it's quite simple.

Step 25

To create the composition like we see in the posters and in the trailer the first thing we will need is a city skyline photo to use in the background. The one I used is from Shutterstock and you can find it here http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-66610090/stock-photo-new-york-cityscape..... So basically just desaturate the image (Image>Adjustment>Desaturate) and then go to Image>Adjustments>Levels and increase the black inputs and the white inputs. After that go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and use something around 10-20 pixels for the Radius. The idea is make it very blurry.

Step 26

Now go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Hue and Saturation. Use 190 for the Hue, 40 for the Saturation and -50 for the Lightness. Also select the Colorize option. This adjustment layer will give that teal color to the image.

Step 27

Back to Illustrator create a few rounded rectangles using the Rounded Rectangle Tool. Also create a few circles and an empty space where it will be the sort of highaway crossing the grid.

Step 28

Copy the shapes in Illustrator and paste that in Photoshop, below the the Adjustment Layer. Also make sure the vectors are white so you will make them teal. Once you paste the grid from Illustrator, go to Edit>Transform>Distort. Distort the layer to get the perspective like the image below.

Step 29

Go to Filter>Blur>Guassian Blur. Use 5 pixels for the Radius.

Step 30

Duplicate this layer and move it down a few pixels and then change the Opacity to 20%. That will create the reflection in the grid.

Step 31

Duplicate the grid layer again and move it above the Adjustment Layer. Group this copy into a folder and change the folder's Blend Mode to Color Dodge. After that select the layer inside the folder and go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 10-15 pixels for the radius. That will depend on the shapes you created.

Step 32

Hide the city skyline layer and then select all the layers and duplicate them, after that merge all the duplicated layers into one layer only then go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 10 pixels for the Radius.

Step 33

Change the Blend Mode of that layer to Screen at 100% Opacity. Also make the city skyline layer visible again.

Step 34

Add a layer on top of the others and with the Paint Bucket Tool (G), change the type to Pattern and fill this layer with a scanline pattern. To create this scanline pattern is pretty easy. Just create a new document of 100x4 pixels and then create a rectangle of 100x2 in black. Also make sure that the background is white. Merge all layers and then go to Edit>Define Pattern. Just name it and that is it.

With the Eraser Tool (E) delete the pattern area that is above the city skyline, the idea is that the effect will be visible only in the grid and city.

Step 35

Change the Blend Mode of the Pattern to Overlay at 15%.

Conclusion

Now make the Tron logo layer visible again and position it in the center of the composition. After that add a new layer and go to Filter>Render>Render Clouds. Make sure you had black and white for the colors. Then change the Blend Mode to Screen and the Opacity to 40%. With the Eraser Tool (E) you can delete pretty much all the areas close to the edges leaving only the area that is behind the logo and a bit on top of it.

You can also add the same pattern overlay effect over the Legacy text to give that nice digital touch. Once again everything we did was done using simple tools and techniques mixed together, the most difficult part is understand and organize the thoughts, the software part is all about trial and error. So now it's up to you.

Click on the image for full preview

Download the Files

Click here to download all files used for this tutorial

About the author

Abduzeedo is a blog about design. There are all sorts of articles for those who want to look for inspiration. Also you will find very useful tutorials for the most used applications out there, with a special selection of Photoshop Tutorials and Illustrator Tutorials. You can get in follow us via Twitter at @abduzeedo

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Wash Your Hands Case Study by Jõao Marques

abduzeedo — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 14:47:25 +0000

João Marques is a digital artist and graphic designer from Coimbra, Portugal and he contacted us willing to share a case study of one of his designs, the Wash Your Hands. It's a beautiful image in which João mixes a 3D text done in Cinema 4D with stock photos in Photoshop.

We have published tutorials using similar techniques as the one João used, however one thing that really caught our attention was what drove him to do that, it was a project for an English Class. we are bringing this up because once again we want to persist with the idea of how important is to do personal work and you don't need any special motive or a client to do so, it's all about trying.

This one was a project for English Class. I can't remember correctly why did we have to make this work, but I think we were talking about hygiene. At the time I wanted to create something using water stocks, so this was my opportunity.

Case Study

For more information about Jõao Marques visit his Behance profile or his DeviantArt

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Introducing Digital Artist Kevotu

aloa — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 20:23:55 +0000

It's a common mistake integrating 3D modelings into Photoshop by not embedding it well into the background. The choose of right colors also is indispensable otherwise the artwork looks too fake. If my research was done properly I found another very talented young artist at the age of 16. It feels like he's chief blaster who blows up tons of different colors landing them just perfect.

I'd be happy to see a website, when yet I only found his DeviantAccount http://kevotu.deviantart.com/

About the author

Aloa is the moniker of the german/greek graphic designer/filmmaker & musician Alexis Papageorgiou. Im glad to share great artistic work with the readers on Abduzeedo. Contact me on aloa@abduzeedo.com or follow my Twitter and Facebook page

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Beautiful Xmas Wallpaper in Cinema 4D and Photoshop

abduzeedo — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:44:13 +0000

Last night I was watching TV and decided to create an image for a Christmas tutorial. I was willing to work a little bit more with Cinema 4D, and as I have seen some Christmas designs with candy canes, I decided to try and design my own candy cane typeface. I also used Photoshop to create the background and the whole composition.

So in this tutorial I will show you how to create a 3D text in Cinema 4D, then in Photoshop we will import the .3DS file and play with it using the Photoshop 3D capabilities. We will also play with some filters, brushes and blend modes to create the effect.

The whole process will take a few hours, and this tutorial is more like a case study then a tutorial per se, I will show you some details of how I created the image but I really encourage you to try different values and elements as well.

Step 1

The first thing to, actually, was to create the font. I created this font in Illustrator using my laptop's trackpad, it's not very complicated it's all about adjusting the points after you have a rough version. So I saved the AI file in Illustrator as AI version 8, that way I would be able to open it in Cinema 4D.

Now, in Cinema 4D, go to File>Open and open the .AI file.

Step 2

After you have imported the path in Cinema 4D we will need to extrude the path to create our 3D text. The first thing to do is to add a circle spline that will be the shape of our object.

Go to Objects>Spline Primitive>Circle. Then go to Objects>Nurbs>Sweep Nurbs. You will have the Sweep Nurbs object, the circle and the paths in your Objects Panel. Move the circle and one of the paths into the Sweeb NURBS object. The circle has to be on top of the path. That's it, you will have a nice 3D extrusion. You can resize the circle in order to make the 3D oject thinner.

Step 3

Repeat the same thing for the other paths of the word "xmas"

Step 4

Over the Materials Panel, add a new material, go to File>New Material. Then select the color settings. For the texture I created a material that is a red and white stripe. You can download all files in the end of the tutorial.

Step 5

Just drag the material you have created over the objects to apply it to them. Now click on the Texture Tag, next to the object on the Objects Panel and then you will see the tag properties. Change the Title Y to 10 for the letters "x", "a" and "s". for the "m" use 30 because it's wider than the others.

After that go to File>Export and export the file as .3ds. That way we will be able to play with the 3D features in Photoshop, if you have the CS4 Extended.

Step 6

In Photoshop, create a new document, I used 1920x1200 pixels for the size. After that fill the background layer with a dark red (#4d2828). Then go to 3D>New Layer from 3D file... select the .3ds file you have saved from Cinema 4D.

Once imported you will be able to rotate, scale and move the 3D object in a 3D space in Photoshop. Also if you double click on the 3D layer in the Layer Panel you will have the 3D settings.

Step 7

Double click on the material option of the 3D layer in the Layer Panel. Photoshop will open a new document with the texture, make sure you have the white and red stripe texture used in Cinema 4D, if not import it and just save it. The texture will be applied again. Tip: You can create new textures and apply to the object in Photoshop as well.

Step 8

Below you can see the 3D options you have in Photoshop.

Change the Anti-Alias to Best and then duplicate the 3D layer. Hide one of the layers so we can use it later if necessary. With the other layer go to Layer>Rasterize>3D. We will do that because Photoshop gets too slow when working with 3D layers.

Step 9

Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 1 pixel for the Radius.

Step 10

Now let's add some layer styles. Go to Layer>Layer Style>Drop Shadow, use the image below for the values. You will also apply Bevel and Emboss and Satin.

Step 11

With the layer styles applied to the layer, go to Image>Adjustment>Levels. Change the middle input to 1.68. The rest stays the same.

Step 12

Go to Image>Adjustments>Hue and Saturation. Reduce the Saturation to -10 and increase the Lightness to 10.

Step 13

After all these steps, this is the image you will have. Duplicate it and disable the shadow.

Step 14

With the duplicated copy selected, it will be on top, go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 10 pixels for the Amount.

Step 15

After the Gaussian Blur, go to Image>Adjustmetns>Hue and Saturation. Select Colorize and then move the Hue to 0, the Saturation to 54 and the Lightness to -35. Also change the Blend Mode to Screen.

Step 16

To create the background we will use a new brush preset. Select the Brush Tool (B) and go to Window>Brushes. Select a regular brush shape. We will use Shape Dynamics and Scattering to create our brush preset. Use the image below for the values.

Step 17

Over the Layer Panel, add a new group. Change the Blend Mode of the group to Color Burn. Inside this group add a new layer. With the Brush Tool (B) and the brush you have just created, select black for the color and paint some circles. After that go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 40 pixels for the Radius. Also, change the layer's Opacity to 60%.

Step 18

Add another layer inside the group. Again with the Brush Tool (B) and black paint more circles. This time however make them a little bigger. Use the keyboard shortcuts to "]" make the brush bigger or "[" to make it smaller. Reduce the layer's Opacity to 60%. Also, go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 20 pixels for the Radius.

Step 19

Now, add another group in the layer panel. Change the Blend Mode of this new group to Color Dodge. Create a new layer inside of the group and with the Brush Tool (B), select white for the color and paint some circles. Make sure that they are not blurry. To change the hardness of the brush, use the keyboard shortcut Shift + ]. Also reduce the layer's Opacity to 30%.

Step 20

Add another layer and paint some more circles, bigger this time. Also go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 40 pixels for the Radius. After that change the Opacity to 20%.

Step 21

Repeat the last step, this time however use 40% for the Opacity.

Step 22

Add another layer and reduce the size of the brush, the idea is to create some very small particles. Also, make sure that the brush is very soft, or go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur to soften the effect.

Step 23

With the Direct Type Tool (T), create a new layer with some text. I searched on the internet for some Christmas songs. Use a small font size and paste the lyrics. Paste as many time as necessary so the text covers the vertical size of the design.

For the font, I used a handwriting typeface. After that go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 1.5 for the Radius. For the Opacity use 35%.

Step 24

Add another text layer with the Direct Type Tool (T) and paste the lyrics again. This time use a bigger font size. Also, go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 1.5 pixels for the Radius. After that change the Opacity to 45%. Use the image below for reference of positions.

Step 25

Now add the word "Merry", right on top of the "m". Repeat pretty the same thing we did in the previous step, but use a much bigger font.

Step 26

Add a new layer on top of the others then with the Brush Tool (B) and a very soft brush, select black for the color and reduce the opacity to 50%.

Start painting the edges of the document. The idea is to make the edges really dark and to leave only the center iluminated. You can apply a gaussian blur to soften the effect even more.

Step 27

Just add your logo and then select all layers.

Duplicate them and with the copies selected go to Layer>Merge Layers. You also can use the keyboard shortcut to create a layer with all the layers merged. It's Command(mac) or Control (PC) + Alt + Shift + E.

Step 28

Select the Gradient Tool (G) and create a new gradient. For the colors use black, white and black. Use the image below for reference.

Step 29

With the merged layer selected go to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal All. Fill the layer mask with the gradient you have just created, exaclty like the image below. Also you can see how the layers are organized.

Step 30

Go to Filter>Blur>Lens Blur. Use the image below for the values. You will use the layer mask as source for the Depth Map of the lens blur. After you applied the lens blur, click with the right button of the mouse on the layer and disable the layer mask.

Step 31

Duplicate the Layer and go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur, use 4 pixels for the Radius.

Change the Blend Mode to Screen and the Opacity to 15%. That will make the effect a little bit brighter.

Conclusion

You can add some noise in the end just to add a nice printed feel to the image.

For this image we used basic filters and the brush tool, we also applied some of the techniques I have shown you during this year like for the 3D effect in Cinema 4D, it was the same I used to create the Water Text Effect, or the background of this design that is basically a bokeh effect.

The idea of the tutorials is to learn some techniques and not simply the end result we get, because the important thing is that you know how to create some effects and then will be able to apply them in different situations.

I hope you like the tutorial and I wish you a Merry Christmas.

Click on the image for full preview.

Download the Source Files

Download the Illustrator, Cinema 4D and Photoshop files used for this tutorial.

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Reader Tutorial: Extinction by Chanito

abduzeedo — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:50:17 +0000

We have a great tutorial sent by one of our readers, Chanito from Panama. In this tutorial he will show you how to create a good 3D type explosion with Adobe Illustrator, Cinema 4D and Adobe Photoshop. We will use basic tools to make this artwork. Good Luck!!!

For more information visit Chanito's Deviantart at http://chanito.deviantart.com/

Step 1

Open Adobe Illustrator and find the font that you want to use in your artwork, in this case I used Xirod Font and tweaked it a little. Make it outline and save it in Adobe Illustrator 8. (Cinema 4D just open vectors in this Adobe Illustrator version).

Step 2

Go to Cinema 4D and open your Illustrator file, when you open it in Cinema 4D you can see that it is inside of a group. You need to ungroup them and add the extrude NURBS to each letter of your word. Then when you have each letter with extrude you need to add lights (I used 2 area lights, in the front and the left side) and target camera (optional, you can use whatever you want).

Step 3

Well, we have our 3D text and we need to add more details before we go over to Photoshop. We're going to duplicate our 3D object 8 times to make it editable and we are going to add explosion and shatter. You need to play with the settings to see how you want your 3D text to look like. Just apply 3 explosions and 3 shatters to it and make a preview, you will see where to add more details and where not to.

Step 4

Go to render settings and put these following settings. Make the render and save in 300 DPI TIFF format with Alpha Channel.

Step 5

Take the render into Photoshop, go to the Channels windows and choose the Alpha Channel. Make your selection, cut your 3D text and paste it in another layer. Then you can work just with your 3D text and after, with your background.

Step 6

We're going to create the background and paint some areas with dark blue. I used the basic soft brush and 50% opacity to achieve the effect that I wanted.

Step 7

Now we're going to add more details to the background and we also need to create some highlights behind the 3D text to make it stand out.

Step 8

Time to add some color to our 3D text. You can do this in different ways. I just used the basic soft brush and painted over the 3D letter and made some masks.

Step 9

We need to do a special effect to apply in front of our 3D letters. To do this, choose the Gradient Tool and change the mode to Difference. Make gradients in different directions. After, select the text and make a layer mask in this effect layer. Change the blend mode to Soft Light and Opacity to 70%

Step 10

Next, select the 3D text, go to Modify - Contract and use 10 to 20 pixels. Delete then deselect and go to Effects - Blur - Motion Blur use Angle: 15 and Distance between 60 to 70 pixels.

Step 11

Now we'll add more detail to our 3D text. Choose a good splatter brush and paint wherever you want. To generate the back of the explosion you need to add broken glasses behind text. (http://psdtuts.s3.amazonaws.com/208_Break_Down/pieces.png). Add some highlights to make it stand out.

Step 12

Add some shadows inside of the 3D text with the Polygonal Lasso Tool and the Gradient Tool in Black to Transparent.

Step 13

Now add some crack brushes in the 3D text to make the explosion more real. Put a crack on the letter you want to brake, in my case, the x.

Step 14

Add highlights on the border of each letter to give it a real explosion feeling. To create the beginning of the explosion add a mini explosion brush to the inside corner of the x.

Step 15

Make some lines and flares in the explosion point in different ways. Use different colors to give it a great look.

Step 16

Add the broken glass image on top of your 3D text and change the Blend Mode to Overlay. Duplicate it, go to Edit - Transform - Flip Horizontal and change the Blend Mode to Normal.

FINAL

This is the final image. Hope you enjoyed this tutorial!

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Stylish Light in Cinema 4D and Photoshop Tutorial

abduzeedo — Mon, 04 May 2009 10:01:49 +0000

Following my Cinema 4D tranining I started playing with lights and illumination. It's amazing what we can do using Global Illumination. We can turn a simple scene into a very realistic render with complex light and shadows. Also, I've used Adobe Photoshop to add some post production effects.

In this tutorial I will show you how to create a scene inspired by those gangster movies and of course the great depthCORE chapter NOIR. We will use Cinema 4D to create the scene and then in Photoshop we will add the gangster and other effects.

Step 1

Open Cinema 4D and click on the Draw Freehand Spline (1). Type the word you want to use. In my case, I wrote "Light". Also adjust the scene perspective using the the window icons (2).

Step 2

With the spline text created, we need to make a solid 3D object from it, to do that, let's use the Extrude NURBS tool. Click on Add HyperNURBS Object and select Extrude NURBS (1). Then move the text layer into the ExtrudeNURBS object in the Objects panel. For the Extrude setting, use 0, 0 and 72m for the movement (2).

Step 3

Let's create the scene now, click on the Add Cube Object. Then go to Function>Make Editable. After that, with the Scale Tool (T) make the cube much bigger, it will be the room where the light text will be inside. Use the image below as reference.

Step 4

Now we need to create a door where the light will come from. To do that add other cube, move it like in the image below.

Step 5

Click on the Add Array Object(1) and select the Boole object (1). Then you will have to move the Box and the Door objects into the Boole Object (2), the process is the same as we did to extrude the text. In the Object Properties change the Boolean Type to "A without B". The order of the objects in the Boole object is very important: make sure that the Box is over the Door layer.

Step 6

This is the most important part of the tutorial, we'll play with the illumination. Let's add a light, in this case, I'm gonna use a single one. Click on the Add Light Object. The kind of light we're about to use is Omni. You will have to position the light to make sure that it will lit up the room the way we want. Render a few times until you have it in the right position, or use the image below for reference.

Step 7

For the light settings I've used 140% Intensity and selected the Amient Illumination. For the Shadow use Area and for the Visible Light use Visible.

Step 8

This is a regular render, without Global Illumination. It's impossible to see the walls and the light text.

Step 9

Go to Render>Render Settings. In the Render Settings box, select the Global Illumination option. Let's just increase the Primary Intensity to 120%. Now Render the scene and compare. Even though the render will take lnoger, the result is much better.

Again in the Render Setting box, go to Output and select the Preset: Screen>1920x1200. Render and save the image.

Step 10

Open the render scene in Photoshop and go to Layer>Layer Style>Pattern Overlay. For the Pattern, select the Light Marble 200x200. Also, change the Blend Mode to Overlay and the Opacity to 70%.

Step 11

Let's use an image from iStockphoto.com, you can download it at http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-3201285-gangster-silhouette.php. Place the image in front of the door like the image below.

Step 12

Duplicate the layer and then go to Edit>Transform>Distort. Adjust the perspective following the perspective of the light. Use the image below as reference.

Step 13

Convert the shadow layer to Smart Objects. Then go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 5 pixels for the radius.

You will notice that in the shadow layer in the Layer Palette there's a white thumbnail inside the layer, the name is "Smart Filters". That thumb behaves exactly like a regular mask, but for the filters. So select the Gradient Tool (G) and black and white for the colors. Then fill the thumb with the gradient. The black part will hide the fliter while the white will show it. That way we can make the shadow more blury as far as it gets from the guy.

Step 14

Add another layer and go to Filter>Render >Clouds. Change the Blend Mode to Screen and the Opacity to 20%. After that, with the Eraser Tool (E) delete almost the whole layer, just leave the clouds near the door. Use the image below for reference.

Conclusion

The idea behind this tutorial was to share with you some of my experiments while I'm learning and practicing Cinema 4D. The image is inspired by the depthCORE chapter NOIR which had only black and white images and some had the gangster subject. But again, the purpose of the image was to test the global illumination feature in the Cinema 4D. In Photoshop we added a few nice effects. Hope you liked it ;)

Click on the Image for Full Preview.

Another Version

You can play with some colors to create a cartoon style.

Download the Files

Click here to download the files used for this tutorials.

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Incredibly Realistic Water Text in Cinema 4D and Photoshop

abduzeedo — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 02:11:13 +0000

Yesterday it was raining and I decided to create a water effect. I didn't know what to do then I saw the desktop wallpaper I'm using, a image from the depthCORE Heist chapter created by Sumeco that we used of the Wallpaper of the Week 43. To create the effect, I had to use Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and Maxon Cinema 4D.

So, in this tutorial I will show you how to create a water text effect. Even though it might look compex it's a very simple effect. We will use Illustrator for the text, then Cinema 4D to make it a 3D text and Photoshop to mix the 3D with some real photos to create a nice and realistic result.

Step 1

The first thing to do is create a hand writing with the text you want to use for the effect. I used Adobe Illustrator to write the text. Using the Pencil Tool (N), double click its tool icon to open the Pencil Tool Option. Use 10 pixels for the Fidelity and 50 % for the Smoothness. Save the Illustrator file, we will import it in Cinema 4D.

Step 2

Open Maxon Cinema 4D and go to File>Merge. Select the Illustrator file to import it.

Step 3

Let's edit the path just to add a bit of depth to it. In Illustrator we have a simple 2D path, now we can move in a 3D enviroment and that will give a nice effect. Select the Point Tool (1) and the just click and with the Move Tool (2), move the points, use the Axis arrows to make sure you are moving to the right direction and axis.

Step 4

After you finish editing the path, add a rectangle. To do that click on the Draw a Freehand Spline icon (1) and select Rectangle (2). In the Attributes panel change the width and height to 30m, select Rounding and use 3m for it (3).

Step 5

Even though it might look a complicated, this step is quite simple. Click on the Add HyperNURBS Object icon and select Sweep NURBS (1). In the Objects panel you will have the 3 object layers, the Zee path, the rectangle and the Sweep NURBS. Move the path and the rectangle into the Sweep NURBS objects (2). Then in the Attributes panel use the image below for reference (3), but make sure that you change the Rotation.

Step 6

Now let's add a melting effect. Click on the Add Bend Object (1) and then select Melt (2). Again, drag the melt layer into the Sweep NURBS layer, (3) it wil be right below the Zee path. With the Melt Object selected go to its Attributes panel and play with some values. There isn't any fixed value, they will depend on the size of your text path. You can use the ones I used from the image below (4).

Step 7

The object is getting quite nice, but there's still some adjustments to be done. Let's make it a little smoother and then add a nice water texture. So click on the Add HyperNURBS Object icon and select HyperNURBS (1). In the Objects panel click and drag the Sweep NURBS group of layers into the new HyperNURBS layer (2). In the Attributes panel for the HyperNURBS object change the Subdivisions to 3 and use Linear (R7) for the Type. Render the Perspective View to see how it's looking. Tip: Change the angle and distance of the view by dragging the icons on the top right hand corner of the preview window.

Step 8

The material we will use to create the water is very important. In the Material Panel go to File>New Material. Then double click on the material icon to open in a new window. Select the Color, Luminance, Transparency, Bump and Specular. Use the image below for values and settings references. TIP: for the BUMP click on the arrow button next to Texture, click on it and select Surfaces>Water. That will use a water map for the Bump.

Step 9

Click on the Add Light icon and add 2 new lights. Both will be Omni but make one 100% intensity and the other 50%. For the Shadow select Shadow Maps (soft). Then move the 100% intensity light to the top of the object (1) while the other light move to the bottom and behind the object(2). Render the Perspective view to see how it's looking. It's supposed to be alright and ready to be exported.

Step 10

Go to Render>Render Settings and select the Save option. Select Alpha Channel, Straight Alpha, and Separate Alpha. For the Output select Scree>1920x1200 pixels. Then just go to Render>Render to Picture Viewer. After that save it and let's go to Photoshop.

Step 11

Open Adobe Photoshop and the image rendered in Cinema 4D. The first thing to do is to go the Channel palette and then holding Command(MAC)/Control(PC) click on the thumbnail of the Alpha 1 to load the channel as selection. After that go back to the Layer Palette and select the layer and go to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal Selection.

Step 12

With a very soft rounded brush and black for the color, paint over the mask to hide more parts of the image, use the image below for reference. We will place now some real water photos to give a very realistic feeling to the image.

Step 13

Over at http://sxc.hu search for water splash and download the photos of water with black background, below I showed the ones I used. Place them in your design and always use Screen for the Blend Mode, that way the black will be transparent.

Step 14

Start copying some parts of a photo and place them in the areas of the image we had hidden.

Step 15

Keep adding the small splash. You can go to Edit>Transform>Warp to change some forms, also with the Eraser Too (E) delete some areas of the splash to make it look real. It's all about details.

Step 16

Now add the big splash, for me it's easier that way because it's easier to avoid overload the image with elements. Again make sure you use Screen for the Blend Mode.

Step 17

Select all layers and group them. Duplicate the group and go to Layer>Merge Group. Then go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 20 pixels for the Radius. After that change the Blend Mode of the layer to Screen as well. The blur with the blend mode will add a nice glow effect, however it's going to be necessary to reduce a bit of the brightness and increase the contrast. Go to Layer> New Adjustment Layer>Brightness and Contrast. Use -75 for the Brightness and 40 for the Contrast.

Conclusion

Just add you logo or any text and that's it, we're done. Because of the beautiful outcome,you make think it's a very complicated effect, but the process is quite simple. Probably there are ways to do the text using only the blend tool in Illustrator and not use Cinema 4D but it's always good to know how to use 3D tools. As I said, the process is all about matching photos with a 3D object. I hope it can help you because it helped me a lot in my endeavour to learn more about 3D.

Version 2

To add some color to the image just add a Gradient Overlay via Layer Styles to the layer we applied the Gaussian Blur in the Step 17. Use Multiply for the Blend Mode of the Gradient Overlay then.

Download the tutorial Files

Click here to download the files used for this tutorial

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Creepy Ghost in Photoshop and Cinema 4D

abduzeedo — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 12:34:57 +0000

A few weeks ago, I created an image for the Halloween Wallpaper of the Week. It was an image of a ghost flying around, and that ghost I did when I was playing with Maxon Cinema 4D, a 3D app from Maxon, very cool and kind of easy to learn. Of course I had a help from Lynda.com where I was doing their Cinema 4D course. So I decided to write the tutorial just to share a bit of what I learned.

In this tutorial I will show you how to create a nice ghost using Adobe Photoshop mixing an image created in Cinema 4D with some photos. The process is easy and I will also show you how to use the Cloth feature in Cinema 4D.

Step 1

Create a new document in Photoshop, I used 1920x1200 pixels as usual. After that select the background layer and go to Layer>Layer Styles>Gradient Overlay. Use Radial for the Style and Black and a Dark Brown for the color.

Step 2

In this step I used a photo from sxh.hu, you can download it at (http://www.sxc.hu/photo/641457). After that change the Blend Mode to Overlay and use 90% for the Opacity.

Step 3

With the Brush Tool (B), use black for the color and a very soft brush, a regular one. Paint the end of the corridor. Use the image below for reference.

Step 4

Here I used Cinema 4D to create the base for the ghost. Cinema 4D has a fantastic Cloth engine that allows us to create clothes very easily. To show that instead of images I have a small video. Basically I created the cloth and render one frame that I thought was the best for what I wanted.

Cloth in Cinema 4D from fabio sasso on Vimeo.

Step 5

After the Cinema 4D I render a frame that thought was really good. Below you can see the image and, also you can download it here.

Step 6

With the Eraser Tool (E) create 2 eyes in your ghost.

Step 7

With the ghost layer selected go to Layer>Layer Style>Color Overlay. Use green (#87A261) for the color and Overlay for the Blend Mode. Also change the Opacity to 70% and the Fill Opacity to 75%.

Step 8

Duplicate the ghost layer and add a Outer Glow with the Layer Styles. Use Screen for the Blend Mode, 100% for the Opacity, Yellow for the color, and 30% for the Size. For the Layer's Opacities use 20% and for the Fill Opacity change it to 0.

Step 9

In this step I used another photo from sxc.hu, you can download it at (http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1078716). Place the skull in the document. Resize and rotate it until you align the skull's eyes with the eyes of the ghost. After that change the Blend Mode to Color Dodge and the Opacity to 35%. Also with the Eraser Tool (E) use a very soft brush and delete some areas of the skull to make it fith with the ghost cloth.

Step 10

For the ghost's eyes create a new folder in the Layer Palette and rename it to eyes. Change the folders Blend Mode to Color Dodge and add a new layer inside this folder. With the Brush Tool (B), select a very soft brush and white for the color. Then start painting the eyes. Because of the Color Dodge, the white will get a very nice glowing effect.

Step 11

Create a new layer and go to Filter>Render>Clouds. Use black and white for the background and foreground colors. After that just change the Blend Mode to Color Dodge. Also with the Eraser Tool (E) you can erase a bit of the clouds in front of the Ghost.

Step 12

Once again lets add another photo just to create a nice horror style. You can download it at (http://www.sxc.hu/photo/422276). Just place the image in your documen and with the Eraser Tool (E), erase some areas to make the image match with the rest of the design and change the Blend Mode to Screen. The idea is that this image will be hardly noticed but it will add a nice atmosphere to the image.

Conclusion

You can add another texture on top of all layers. I added one from sxc.hu (http://www.sxc.hu/photo/947335) and used Soft Layer for the Blend Mode with 40% opacity. The idea of this tutorial was to show a bit of Cinema 4D. I'm still learning and loving this app. There are lots of sites with nice tutorials for Cinema 4D on the web, and this effect of Cloth I learned from Lynda.com when I had access to their library. I highly recommend that you visit Lynda's site and subscribe to their courses. It's very useful indeed.

Click on the image for full preview