Creating 3D objects within Photoshop - Photoshop Tutorial

Importing models into Photoshop is great, but what if you need to make a new object from scratch? Photoshop has some very basic model creation capabilities that can help you make some custom 3D shapes. Let's see how it works. So, we've already got our reptiloid imported in. And, there's several ways to make some new objects to add to this scene. The easiest is to bring in a stock model that's built into Photoshop, so for this, let's make a new layer. Now, let's go into the 3D tab. Now, we can pick one of the preset meshes that come with Photoshop. Let's change this from cone to a cylinder. We're going to make this into a base for the reptiloid to stand on. Alright, click Create. Now, as it is, this cylinder is a little too tall to be a base. We're going to address that later on in the course. For now, we just want to have the object created. Now, let's do something a little different. Let's go back to our layers and let's make a new Type layer. So, I'm going to hit the Text tool, and we'll just come in here, click anywhere, and just type. Okay, let me make the text bigger, so I can read it. Just something nice and big. Okay, so this is going to be a little title on the base of the character. Okay, with this done, let's go back up to the Move tool. And now, let's convert this to 3D. So, let's go to Type > Extrude to 3D. Keep in mind that Photoshop now considers this a bunch of polygons rather than text, so if you want to edit the text, you'll have to delete it and retype it. Okay, so there's one thing I want to point out here, and that is that each one of these 3D models is on a separate layer. So, let's make sure that we're in the Move tool, and let's make sure that we've got 3D Rotate turned on. And, let's click and drag in our view port. Now, actually, one thing you'll notice is that we're only rotating around the model in one axis, so let me hit Ctrl+Z to undo that. So, when I typed in the text, I had Caps Lock turned on. I want to make sure I turn that off because that can mess up how some of the view port interactions work. Okay, so you'll notice that this 3D text is rotating completely independently of all the other objects, and that's because it's on a separate layer, you can see, over here. So, for example, we've got this cylinder and this, also, is on its own, individual layer. So, it's going to rotate individually, as well. So, that's how to make new objects in Photoshop. Granted, it's pretty basic. If you want to make anything complex, you'll be better off going to a dedicated 3D modeling program, but for quick and dirty extrusions and simple shapes, it actually does a pretty good job.