A few days ago, I decided to make a special present for my girlfriend. I also thought this technique could be used by others that have the same plan, so here it goes. I will teach you some nice techniques that could improve your experience and also help you make a great gift.
Step 1
First of all, create a new document and fill it with black.
Step 2
Now import your 3D text and position it as you want. For making this text, I used Xara 3D. It is a very simple program that you can use. Next add some shadows to each letter.
Step 3
The thing I want to achieve here is to make some kind of colorful clouds behind the text. This technique is also known as "nebula," so it is most likely that you will know about this effect.
To do this we will use the Brush Tool first with a Hardness set to 0%. Make a new layer, and chose a blue color and paint behind the text.
Step 4
On the same layer, paint a red color over sections of the blue. Experiment to find the outcome you like best.
Step 5
Now use a yellow color and do the same as above.
Step 6
Now paint a white area as above.
Step 7
We will make it blurry now. Go to Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the Radius as you like.
Step 8
Now we need to make it look dustier. Create a new layer and fill it with black.
- Go to Filter > Render > Clouds
- Set its blending mode to Overlay
- Duplicate the layer
Step 9
I want to give the text faces a light neon look. For this we must select each letter face. Use the Pen Tool for this.
Step 10
Make a new layer over the L letter and call it L face:
- Press Ctrl-Enter (Command+Return on a Mac)
- Fill the selection with any light color
- Follow the settings below to add the effect to the letters.
Step 11
Now use the Dodge Tool, set the Exposure to 55%, and make the face of the letters lighter by brushing over them.
Step 12
Duplicate L face layer, remove the Effects and set it to Overlay.
Step 13
Use the same technique for all the other letters and don't forget to put each letter face over its letter so that you will keep the composition as you first put it together.
Step 14
Now I want to make a background. Go to the bottom of the layer list and make a new layer over the background layer.
Step 15
Select a dark pink color for the foreground and black for the background. Use the radial gradient:
Step 16
Use the Gradient Tool and make something like this:
Step 17
I don't want to see the clouds on that pink, so I will mask it using the Mask Tool.
Step 18
The image is almost finished. Now what we need to do is make some of the clouds and dust go over the letters so that they look more realistic. To do this you need to copy the clouds and dust layers and move them on top of all the layers.
Step 19
Merge them together and mask or delete some of it. As you can see in the example, I have masked most of it because I am going to make a smaller cloud and use it for this effect. I used Linear Light for the Blending Mode.
Step 20
Now I will explain how to make some really nice tentacles that you could use with this effect.
Make a new layer and call it "Green" because green is the color we will use here. Select a green color in the foreground (31b14a), and using the Pen Tool draw a path that you would like the tentacle to follow.
Step 21
Select the Brush Tool and make sure you select a small brush size. I chose 1 pixel. Use these settings to make the brush, and use a Pen Pressure effect.
Step 22
Now select the Pen Tool again, right-click (Option or Alt-Click on a Mac) and select Stroke Path.
Before you hit Ok on the screen that appears, make sure you check the Simulate Pressure.
This is what you should get:
Step 23
Now using the same path, you need to make some more strokes but this time modify the shape of the path a little and use different tones.
Something like this:
Step 24
Do the exact steps all over again at least 8 or 10 times starting from Step 20. But don't forget to use different tones of green and also modify the shape of the path.
When you are finished, you should get something like this:
Step 25
Now use the brush tool and simply draw over your path. Don't worry, you don't need to follow the path exactly. I use a tablet and this gives me more precision but this is not needed.
Next, using the brush tool do something like this:
Step 26
Now use these settings to make it shiny:
Step 27
In the end, mask the part of the tentacle behind the text.
Step 28
Make more tentacles using different colors and different shapes.
Here is my result:
Conclusion
In the end, you can add some more clouds or change the background with a nice texture or other color.
Happy Valentines!
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User Comments
( ADD YOURS )Pieter-Jan February 13th
Ooh my god, that looks amazing! How do you know all this stuff.
( )Andrei Constantin February 13th
Just in time for the Valentine’s
( )Hope my gf will like this
GeminiArt February 13th
wow…this is greattttttttttttttt….
thanks man
( )Daniel February 13th
Hey! I am making this right now. Looks great, but lol, when i saw your file name.. i was LOL!!! haha
- “Creating an Amazing Gift for a special person (wait!) .PSD! ” lol thats the title. Funny
( )Constantin Potorac February 13th
very very nice…indeed a special present for me ;))
( )Ana-Maria February 13th
‘very very nice…indeed a special present for me ;))’..sorry :-s that was me - the girlfriend
( )Constantin Potorac February 13th
:))…
The message above is from my girlfriend. She forgot to change the name so don’t mind that.
( )giackop February 13th
nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo my trial for xara3d expired yesterday…………….
nooooooooooooooooooooo
anyway the tutorial is AMAZING!!
( )Deniece February 13th
uber cool! love the text!
( )Michaël February 13th
I don’t have any Stroke Path?!?
- Pen Tool
- Freeform Pen Tool
- ..
- ..
- Convert to anchor point
I don’t understand the step 22.
( )Markus February 13th
Awesome! It looks like Nik Ainleys art!
Thanks! 
1. But can i use Illustrator to create the 3D text?
2. Do you use Blendingoptions to add shadows? (Step 2)
( )Constantin Potorac February 13th
Yes well if I am not wrong Nik Ainleys was the first one to come up with this 3D text.
1. Yes you can use Illustrator to make the 3D text. But the results I think will be a bit different as Xara 3D and Illustrator are 2 very different programs.
2. Yes I have also added the shadow for each letter.
( )Gurv February 13th
Xara 3D doesn’t exist for Mac and you are on a Mac… how did you do ? Any same software on Mac ?
( )Sean Hodge February 14th
I really like what you did with the brush tool inside the letters. Especially the brush work going through the A. I can’t believe I forgot my tablet in the states when I moved down to Venezuela. I won’t be going back for a few months. I’ll have to mouse this when I practice it. Thanks.
( )Gen February 14th
Hey Constantin,
great tutorial. How did you use Xara if you’re on a Mac? (well at least your screen caps are from a mac) Is there a mac version? I looked on their website and it didn’t list Mac in the system requirements.
Does any one know of a Xara3D equivalent for Mac?
( )Kevin Levain February 14th
Another cool tuts…
About the 3d text, you can use the 3d effect in illustrator
( )Zubeir February 14th
Add some brushes to the sides of the text.
Swirly decorative ones and you have a real Nik Ainsley effect
Nice tutorial. Horrible font selection though.
( )Markus February 14th
Okay! Thanks for the answers
( )Giancarlo.D February 14th
Really great tutorial. I was looking for something like this. Thanks for sharing.
( )Giancarlo.D February 14th
Sorry for the double post, but could someone tell me the name of the font?
( )Constantin Potorac February 14th
Get another one Sean. Tablets can be so helpful sometimes. 
( )Ignacio February 14th
Best tutorial ever on this site.
( )Jon February 14th
Awesome freaking tutorial. Congrats!
( )Constantin Potorac February 14th
Freaking thanks. :))
Interesting blog by the way.
( )Ryan February 14th
Nice use of Nick A’s tutorial. Though, for Valentines day, don’t you think this is a little dark? Maybe something a little more uplifting. Good tutorial none-the-less.
( )tilou February 14th
hello
it’s great!!
but For the word, you have done letter by letter for this purpose?
XARA or fact this provision alone?
sorry but i’m french
( )marakameto February 14th
Amazing stuff Great job!!!
( )xfader February 14th
ShinyBinary style.
( )Dranixolf February 14th
simply H-O-T HOT
( )Constantin Potorac February 14th
Could not find Nick’s tut but I definitely was inspired from his work and other’s that made some similar stuff like his. Look at these:
http://matemute.deviantart.com/art/Detroit-Colored-76797980
http://edin187.deviantart.com/art/jplanet-68450912
http://jesar.deviantart.com/art/Glitch-56488314
The first time I saw Ainley’s work was I think one year ago or so. I was very impressed and wanted to learn how he did it. So, a month ago I started making some documentation and read some forums and blogs to find out how he does it and the result of the search is the one you see.
If you want to see a different version that I have made for myself Go here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22636934@N07/2263493954/in/pool-psdtuts
Hope this tutorial helped you guys because when I needed this kind of tutorials I could not find one.
( )Memiux February 14th
amazing, thanks
( )Colin February 14th
maybe this’ll get me a girlfriend….
( )Shane February 14th
Blimey - I don’t look at the site for a few days, and then a few tutorials pop up at once! Great stuff.
These are really inspiring - love ‘em.
( )Constantin Potorac February 14th
Colin you kill me :))))
( )Mohammed February 14th
woow woow wow!
( )Tom February 14th
Is there an open source program that does something similar to the xara3d? I’m an educator and like free stuff to be able to install and have my students use!
( )Ben Jacob February 14th
Wishes tot you all…
( )moeed February 14th
lots of techniques, but the end result is not impressive. it just doesn’t feel valentine-ish… black bg? red is the color for vday.
( )Dan Ryan February 14th
is there a xara 3d for os x? or another program that does 3d text well for os x?
( )Mike February 14th
Double that question regarding Xara 3D for mac or similar?
( )Constantin Potorac February 14th
tilou
I made letter by letter for this and after that saved them as PNG and imported them into Photoshop. After you do this you will need to arrange them as you wish.
Hope this helps.
( )Markus February 14th
It’s a very long tutorial.. But anyways.. A very nice tutorial
( )B-Ren February 15th
Thats sweet!
( )And super long…
Heyhey February 15th
*cough*
http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/tutorials/index.cfm?featureid=1617
( )Abhi February 15th
Best photoshop tutorial i have ever read.
( )ZAFAR AHMED February 15th
AWESOME BROTHER,U DID A GREAT WORK,THANKS FOR SHARING,
( )Tama February 15th
I’d be nice to know if there’s a similar program for Mac, or to know HOW did you used Xara3D on a Mac!
( )please, answer…
Constantin Potorac February 15th
Hey Tama,
Well as you might know Mac’s can also run Windows.
But if you want to know about a similar program you could use Cinema 4D. But this one is different and more difficult.
( )Tama February 15th
So you used Winzozz, ok thanks!
( )I don’t think I’m gonna install cinema 4d on my mac…. maya is enough!
Pedro February 15th
you know i couldnt open the link for Xara.com…. why’s that? ma friend could…
( )well the tut is exellent aniway i’m trying it as soon as i get a 3d program
Jonathan Solichin February 15th
Cool! i’ve always wondered how people did this. Thumbs up
( )Ben Gribbin February 15th
holy moly, thats immense, well done
( )Constantin Potorac February 16th
Thank you guys.
( )tilt February 16th
umm for the xara3d i can’t import those files, it says its the wrong type of file, help, but other than that really well done
( )Qw3rTy February 16th
http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/tutorials/index.cfm?featureid=1617
( )RAFi February 17th
It looks like cheaper version of Shinybinary.com.
( )J-c February 17th
can you give me more precisions on the step 8? i don’t understand how to do the cloud. can you help me please?
( )Constantin Potorac February 18th
Tilt: In Xara 3D Save As PNG and after that import it into Photoshop.
( )J-c February 18th
I want to know how doing more precisely the effect of clouds
( )J-c February 18th
please XD
( )J-c February 18th
And can you tell me the name of the font that you use for the example?
( )Chris Laskey February 18th
Glad to see the “Holiday Card” Theme continue on PSD Tuts. Even though I didn’t follow this one for valentines day, I look forward to the future ones.
( )some February 20th
Copying badly Nik Ainley’s style…. ok, you said you did some research n you were inspired by him. But there’s almost the same tut by himself @ computerarts ?! wtf even used the same xara 3d style…. The level here is dropping as I’m browsing the latest tuts.
I like the paths tho’ the other is crap.
( )Micah Sedmak February 20th
little bummed you didn’t show how to do the clouds at the very end that go over the letters.
( )zoel February 20th
hmm like http://shinybinary.com/ greats jobs!
( )kyle February 22nd
cool, i really appreciate you posting this….im learning a lot….
( )mitxoai February 22nd
Oh no ! very beautiful ^^ … i like it … Thanks for share it …
( )Toan February 22nd
ugly
( )AnaStars February 23rd
Really beautiful work.
( )I used Blender on Mac. http://www.blender.org for 3D work. Open source + free. Script friendly.
It’s not intuitive, but with the tutorial, things move along quickly.
tilt February 24th
for step 8 ppl, i made a new layer, went to filter, went to render- clouds. when that was done i right click on they layer and go to blending options and from the drop down menu you select overlay. After that i copyed the could layer and it looked fine.
( )Bender February 25th
A horrible, horrible mutilation of Nik Ainley’s (shinybinary) original tutorial.
A shameless ripoff. The link has been posted above several times.
Can’t believe you’re taking people’s credit for something you know you didn’t make.
And making excuses too, couldn’t find instructions when you searched for them. Hah! It’s the first link when you search for a shinybinary tutorial.
Unbelievably arrogant ripoff.
You just added some random horrible crap to make it look original. You should be ashamed of yourself. And I know you know full well you ripped it off. Dick.
And by the way this looks absolutely garbage.
( )Constantin Potorac February 26th
I am sorry to make you feel this way Bender but at least have some respect for the community here and watch your language.
As for this tutorial. The great artist Nik Ainley was my first inspiration to do this and some more.
Thank you and I hope next time you watch your temper.
( )i object February 27th
just to add to benders statement and your denying have you asked nik ainley if you coult post this ?
( )since this is not just showing how something is done this is showing how his work is done
exact same font even that just shows lack of originality :O
if you have respect for the works of someone then ask permission
ctraxX February 27th
very beautiful
( )Husam Elfaki February 28th
Wow, honestly, Bender.
He has already mentioned he was inspired by Nik Ainley, and he wanted to know how to do it. He wasn’t being selfish, he wanted everybody else to learn something or at least take a step towards it. I’m definitely sure that Nik Ainley would never have a problem with a tutorial like this, considering he published his own tutorial in Advanced Photoshop Magazine already.
This was designed to be a step up to help fellow designers, and he was being original so that it wasn’t a 100% lift of Nik’s style.
Hopefully you can understand that designers need a lot of help, this was one of them.
He isn’t taking Ainley’s credit, Constantin made this himself so it wasn’t a rip-off, it was an inspired technical study into Ainley’s style.
You know and I know it doesn’t look like total garbage. Grow up, dick.
( )Bender February 28th
Husam, my problem is not with a tutorial that shows how to emulate some great artist’s work.
My problem is he copied Nik Ainley’s _tutorial_ and then had the balls to claim he had searched for a tutorial but hadn’t found one. That this tutorial is all his own concluding. And at the same time he even uses the same exact unheard of 3d program mentioned in Nik’s tutorial.
And just to be frank, it really is pretty damn awful. No where near the usual level of tutorials on this site. Fine if you like it.
( )Constantin Potorac February 28th
Don’t argue guys. Bender has a different opinion. Leave it be.
I took a look into your work Husam Elfaki and I think you should write some tutorials. You really made some great effects and use great colors. :p
( )josiepop March 9th
wanted to try this tut sooooo bad i downloaded the xara demoversion, but how do I seperate the letters?
( )Shan March 10th
Ok everyone stop fighting and can you PLEASE tell me what is the name of the font used? Thank you!
( )djolebest March 10th
damn I would like to do something like that but I didnt know how to use the fu***ng 3D program(just like a noob) XD
( )Bruno March 11th
Very cool…nice effect! thanks for the post!
( )Constantin Potorac March 12th
josiepop: you need to make each letter at a time.
( )Constantin Potorac March 12th
the fonts used are VOMZOM and another one that I can’t remember, sorry. Get it from here: http://www.dafont.com/vomzom
( )Dylan April 12th
Step 8 doesn’t work for me. It makes more of an ugly neon effect and deletes most of the brushing…
( )anti-gravity May 3rd
how can i have the letter without the background in “XARAâ€â€¦ or did you erase in photoshop…. (its a lot of work if thats how you did it). maybe im missing something…
another.. save it PNG in XARA but i could not open it in photshop as PDF
( )rimka May 11th
Thank You for this TUT. Like you, i was impressed by the work of Nik ainley and i was curious to lnow HOW he did made that!!! and thanks of you and other guys, Now, i know. It gives me an idea. the idea to know that nothing is impossible to do.
I don’t think that you copied Nik Ainley, You are just inspired , ’cause Nik Ainley uses decorative and floral designs and you don’t. So..
Good Work and thanks for the share. I’ll try it soon (I hope)
( )Noor June 16th
HI NICE TUT! THANK YOU FOR SHARING……..IM A NEW USER AND I HAVE A QUESTION HOW TO I IMPORT THE TEXT FROM 3DXARA TO PHOTOSHOP….CAN U PLZ TELL ME THANK YOU!!
( )Toply June 17th
just looking through some old some tutorials and came across this. Can’t believe PSDtuts posted this cos its pretty much a copy and paste of Nik Ainleys tutorial here: http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/tutorials/index.cfm?featureid=1617&pn=5
If I remember correctly another guy did a tutorial same as Nik ainleys and it caused a riot and got deleted, whats up with this?? In my opinion this is worse than the other guy because the result is exactly the same,same font etc, just not as good. Why couldn’t PSDtuts just post the link to Niks tutorial rather than get someone to rip it off.
I’d rather see this deleted and replaced with a link to niks tutorial because I followed both and the result I got from Nik’s was ten times better. Just had to voice my opinion.
( )Susan June 28th
Just checked Nik Ainleys tutorial here:
http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/tutorials/index.cfm?featureid=1617&pn=5
Personally, I like this one better. It’s all personal taste and preference.
( )paul July 2nd
How to make step 21? I can’t figure out how to make a line like in example. End of line smoothly disappear. I took hard round 1 pixel brush. in my settings minimum roundes is available when Roundness Jitter is minimum 1%. I realy appreciate your help. paul
( )Mansoor July 24th
Thanks for Posting.
( )Great Tut.
VivaTheBoss August 6th
really pretty!! I would like to know in Xara 3D which is the form of used style and also the police ( FONT ) thank you!
( )liko August 11th
very fantastic! what a pity, i dont get the xara 3D
( )Tony August 28th
Hey there,
great tut. !!!
Where can I get Xara3D 6 for mac ?
I really like to buy that programm.. but I just found it for Windows 2000/XP ..
greetz
( )tony
nicole Larrondo August 31st
How can I download the photoshop What is this?
Someone would be so kind of darmelo
Pofabor
We thank him for much
( )Domini November 20th
Hi, awesome tutorial!
But how do I get the text from XARA to photoshop? I tried exporting it and saving it as PNG with a white background but is there anyway to better import it and transparent?
THANKS!
( )Eric Shafer December 2nd
Linked back to from here: http://www.presidiastudios.com/blog/valentines-day-3d-text-effect/
( )A.P December 11th
Brilliant as always.. i like how you have used the cloud filter.. you have got the little clouds in the final pic.. really cool, just can’t seem to do it myself!
( )ciromanzar December 16th
It’s too great to be true,
I’ll try to do it later
ciro, from Argentina
( )Amy December 16th
wow, you are arrogant
( )Yamaniac January 5th
for guys who are arguing here… What is wrong in taking a few inspirations? Nobody is a leonardo davinci here. We are all here to learn and be a part of this community.. If you don’t like anything here. Just leave and please don’t leave your stink here…… As they say “Empty vessels make more noise”…. Nice tut by the way… Loved it
( )sigma9o9 January 6th
one word, really nice !!!
( )Fokas January 13th
awsome tutorial… I gave it (my result) to my girlfriend and she loved it…
thanx to you m8!!! take care and keep ‘em coming…
( )Fokas January 15th
See my result here…
( )http://flangous.deviantart.com/art/Valentines-Day-Card-109539965
Dora April 4th
That is “FABULOUS”!! WOW!!
Now let me try it….let’s if I can follow the tut!! LOL!!
Do you have anymore tuts like this one?
I am oh so new to Xara!!
( )Ministry April 30th
MY try with Xara
( )Ministry April 30th
my try with Xara and Photoshop
( )Kirixa June 13th
You are a genius my friend @_@
( )<3
sunny June 25th
nice……………………..!
( )Kate July 3rd
I don’t know why is everybody bitchin’ about the tutorial, I love it.
and keep up the good work.
( )Thanks for sharing