Create a 3D Retro Text Effect Using Layer Styles in Adobe Photoshop

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Final product image
What You'll Be Creating

This tutorial will show you how to use layer styles, smart objects, and some other basic elements in Adobe Photoshop to create a simple, retro looking, 3D text effect.
The following assets were used during the production of this tutorial:
Create a new 800 x 600px document, and duplicate the Background layer.

Duplicate the Background Layer

Double-click the Background copy layer to apply a Gradient Overlay effect using the following values:
  • Check the Dither box
  • Style: Radial
  • Scale: 150%
  • Create the Gradient using the colors #c8c5b8 to the left and #aaa593 to the right.

Gradient Overlay

This will create the background gradient.

Background Gradient

Duplicate the styled Background copy layer, and then right-click the new copy and choose Rasterize Layer Style.
If you're working with CS6 or earlier versions of Photoshop, you'll need to group the layer (Layer > Group Layers), and then merge the group (Layer > Merge Group) instead.
Set the Foreground color to #c8c5b8 and the Background color to #aaa593.

Noise Layer

Go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise, change the Amount to 5 and the Distribution toUniform, and check the Monochromatic box.

Add Noise Filter

Change the Background copy 2 layer's Blend Mode to Darken. This will add subtle noise to the background gradient.

Noise Layer Blend Mode

Click the Create new fill or adjustment layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel and choose Levels.

Levels

Change the Shadows value to 72, the Gamma to 1.05, and the Highlights to 236. This will adjust the coloring of the background.

Levels Values

Create the text in All Caps using the font Freshman Normal. The Size is 125 pt, the color is #43a0a8, and the Kerning is set to Optical.

Create the Text

Duplicate the text layer and drag the copy layer below it.

Duplicate the Text

Enter the Free Transform Mode by going to Edit > Free Transform (Command-T). Tap the Right Arrow Key once, and then tap the Down Arrow Key once as well, to move the copy text one pixel to the right and one pixel downwards. Then hit the Returnkey to accept the changes.

Transform the Text

Press the Option-Command-Shift-T (Alt-Ctrl-Shift-T for Windows) ten times to duplicate the layer with the transformation to create the 3D extrusion.

Create the 3D Extrusion

Select all the copy text layers, and change the text color to #c7b299.

Change Copy Text Layers Color

With all the copy text layers still selected, go to Filter > Convert for Smart Filters. Rename the smart object's layer to 3D Extrusion, duplicate it, drag the copy below it, and rename the copy to Shadow.

Creating the Smart Objects

Double-click the original text layer to apply the following layer style:
Add a Stroke with these settings:
  • Size: 2
  • Position: Inside
  • Color: #f2eee1

Stroke

Add an Inner Shadow with these settings:
  • Color: #464646
  • Opacity: 100%
  • Uncheck the Use Global Light box
  • Angle: 129
  • Distance: 5
  • Spread: 50
  • Size: 2

Inner Shadow

Add a Pattern Overlay with these settings:
  • Blend Mode: Soft Light
  • Pattern: Fine diagonal lines
You can actually try the other patterns in the set as well—some of them look really cool.

Pattern Overlay

This will style the main text layer.

Styled Text

Double-click the 3D Extrusion layer to apply the following layer style:
Add a Bevel and Emboss with these settings:
  • Technique: Chisel Hard
  • Size: 13
  • Uncheck the Use Global Light box
  • Angle: 82
  • Altitude: 11
  • Check the Anti-aliased box
  • Highlight Mode - Opacity: 0%
What you're doing here is changing the Bevel and Emboss's Angle and Altitudevalues to create a 3D shading based on the extrusion's angle.

Bevel and Emboss

Add a Contour with these settings:
  • Check the Anti-aliased box.

Contour

Add a Color Overlay with these settings:
  • Color: #265559
This is the part where you choose the extrusion's color, so feel free to change it up if you like.

Color Overlay

You can see how this creates the illusion of a flat 3D effect just by using a couple of effects. You can of course further enhance the result you get by adjusting the shadow for the corners that need adjusting.

Styled 3D Extrusion

You can also pick the Move Tool and move the 3D extrusion a tad upwards if you like. Just take the time to work with the result you get if you feel like it.

Adjusting the 3D Extrusion

Select the Shadow layer, then go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. Change the Angle to-55 and the Distance to 20. You need the Angle value to match the 3D extrusion's angle.

Motion Blur

Change the Shadow layer's Blend Mode to Multiply, and then use the Move Tool to drag the shadow and move it around until you like how it looks.

Motion Blur Blend Mode and Position

Click the Create new fill or adjustment layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel and choose Hue/Saturation.

HueSaturation

Click the Clip adjustment to layer icon at the bottom of the Properties panel, and change the Saturation value to -65.

Adjust Saturation

In this tutorial, we created a gradient background and used the Add Noise filter to add a subtle noise effect to it.
Then we created the text, duplicated it with a transformation to create the 3D extrusion, and converted the copy layers into Smart Objects to create the shadow layer as well.
After that, we styled the text and the 3D extrusion layers to achieve the 3D retro effect.
Finally, we created the shadow using the Motion Blur filter, adjusted its layer's Blend Mode and color, and moved it around to achieve the final result.
Please feel free to leave your comments, suggestions, and outcomes below.

TDasany

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