3D Tutorial 02 Grunge Finish artSavant

Tutorial 02: Making 3D Grunge Type

There are several different ways to create 3D type in 2D programs like Photoshop. This particular tutorial will tell you how to create 3D-looking type and a grunge effect. This tutorial builds on the actions of the previous tutorial for making chrome type. The steps that are the same are noted below. All you need to start is a basic understanding of how to use the software tools. The ones used here happen to be Freehand 3.0 and Photoshop 3.0.

Prepare Your Text

Refer to Tutorial01.

Prepare Your Channels

Refer to Tutorial01.

Let's Make a Texture. Not.

Refer to Tutorial 01 for basic information on bump maps. Bump maps might also be useful in this tutorial since they are often used to create corrosion. However, we will use the Noise filter in the following steps to create a similar effect. So this step is very easy: you're all done.

Prepare Your Layers

Refer to Tutorial01 for the first three paragraphs of this step.
The fourth paragraph on making the Environs layer is the one that differs for this second tutorial. Here we separate the brilliant from the dull--metallurgically speaking.

For this tutorial's "Environs" layer, choose Edit/Fill from the menu. Select Black for Use, 100% for Opacity, and Normal for Mode. Don't be scared if everything disappears. It's just hiding. Besides, you have been saving as we go along, so you're safe. (If you have chosen by default to create new documents with a white, rather than a transparent, background, you will replace it here with the black. The tutorial has been tested both ways.)
Double click on the Foreground color box to pick a green-grey, also known as verdegris. You see this color beneath the bird droppings on old bronze statues out of doors. Use the airbrush to paint the verdegris on the layer, leaving some black area for soot. Now choose an dirty tan shade and paint in the rust. Leave about half the space black between verdegris and rust. Save your work.
From the menus choose Filter/Distort/Wave and choose Square for the Type option. Then give it a Gaussian Blur with a radius of 5.

Now we're ready for more corruption.

Before you do this next step, you may want to make a copy of the Environ layer to use in an alternate version discussed later.
In the palette showing the Layer names, select the "Environs" layer and drag it onto the little icon that looks like a document. When you are done, click on the little eye to the left of the name to make it invisible for now.
Click on the original "Environs" layer to make it active. From the menus choose Filter/Noise/Add Noise. Choose Uniform for the Distribution option. Check the box next to Monochromatic (otherwise, the noise will be multi-colored). The example uses a noise Amount of 100, but this varies with the final size of your piece. Click Okay. Load the "Trim" channel selection. Hit delete. Deselect.

Layer the Layers

We're ready for some final adjustments. Let's start with the "Shade" layer in the Layers Palette. Activate this layer click on the palette's pull-down menu in the upper left. Change Normal to Multiply and adjust the Opacity until you think it looks good. In the example it's set at 90%. The Multiply state adds the shadow's darkness to the "Form" layer's darkness.

Corroded Variation
Next, make the "Environs" layer active and choose Multiply. Adjust the Opacity to your taste. In the example, the setting is 75%. Notice the difference between using the Multiply state here instead of the Overlay state.

Now you have the finished alternate corroded variation.

Tarnished Variation
You can have yet another alternate version that is tarnished rather than corroded by using the copy you made of the "Environs" layer in Tutorial 02, (You did make it, didn't you?)

Here is the finished alternate tarnished variation.

Ready to Show

When you have everything as you like it, File/Save the document. This is your Master file. From it you can create your choice of the corroded or the tarnished image by doing the following.
From the menu, choose File/Save A Copy, with these options selected: Flatten Image and Don't Include Alpha Channels. The copy will be your Final version. Save it as a TIF file using LZW compression.
Now you can print this final version to a color printer or send to a service bureau for film. If you want to use the image on the web, then choose from the menu Image/Image Size, and change the dpi to 72; make sure the measuring units are in something other than Pixels.

What is Next Month's Tutorial?

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