The virtual medium has become so strong these days that every entrepreneur with a small business or a multi-national company is vouching for online advertisement and promotion of their business. Having a website is the basic step that makes people across the globe aware of your presence and gives them a medium to get in touch with you. There was a time when it was difficult to get products from different countries but not anymore thanks to the internet. But the question arises, how businessmen can ensure a strong virtual presence and profits via the website? How can a website pool in traffic? And most importantly, amidst so many websites of the same product; how can your website stand out of the crowd?
Let’s start with basics:
Always have a Wireframe: What is a wireframe? A wireframe is like a map or a blueprint that guides the web designer about the design and template of the website. This will help the designer arrange all the elements required on the website like the logo, color, theme, widgets, headers, footers, etc. Half of the work is done when one gets a wireframe ready and rest is all about execution. There are many vectors available that you can get at a reasonable price with the help of ByDiscountCodes.
Let your website tell your story: Every business has a story to tell and let your website narrate your story. Anyway, when viewers open a website they try to decode about the working and style of the business but it will be much easier and safe; if we let them hear what we have to say. In this way, we have all the controls on our business and it helps to create a positive impact. So when you are thinking about creating a website; think what kinda story you want your viewers to know? What kind of target audience you have in mind? Is the blueprint doing justice to your story? Accordingly, create a theme and set the tone of the site.
Be cut to the point: Gone are the days when people used to love reading essays. Now is the time when people want everything short and crisp. So how about creating a website which is visually appealing but not confusing. Create a homepage that is catchy but not chaotic. Opt for logo and images that does not make the viewers confused as this will not serve your purpose and make the viewers shift from your site.
Think out of the box: Don’t be a stereotype and change according to time. Innovation is the key to success in the digital world. You might not have something different to offer but if the presentation is different; it will make your website the most visited one.
To conclude, web designing is an art that can make or break your business. So while creating your website; it is essential to work on these key factors and hire a professional web designer who will help in creating a strong website.
Pierrick Calvez with, just maybe, a bunch of typographic advice that you’ve heard before. But this is presented very lovingly and humorously.
Repeating the basics with typography feels important in the same way repeating the basics of performance does. Gzip your stuff. Make your line length readable. Set far expires headers. Make sure you have hierarchy. Optimize your images. Align left.
Let’s repeat this stuff until people actually do it.
The breadth and depth of knowledge to absorb in the web performance space is ridiculous. At a minimum, I’m discovering something new nearly every week. Case in point: The Save-Data header, which I discovered via a Google Developers article by Ilya Grigorik.
If you’re looking for the tl;dr version of how Save-Data works, let me oblige you: If you opt into data savings on the Android version of Chrome (or the Data Saver extension on your desktop device), every request that Chrome sends to a server will contain a Save-Data header with a value of On. You can then act on this header to change your site’s content delivery in such a way that conserves data for the user. This is a very open-ended sort of opportunity that you’re being given, so let’s explore a few ways that you could act on the Save-Data header to send less bytes down the wire!
Change your image delivery strategy
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but images are often the largest chunk of the total payload of any given page. So perhaps the most impactful step you can take with Save-Data is to change how images are delivered. What I settled on for my blog was to rewrite requests for high DPI images to low DPI images. When I serve image sets like this on my site, I do so using the <picture> element to serve WebP images with a JPEG or PNG fallback like so:
This solution is backed by tech that’s baked into modern browsers. The <picture> element delivers the optimal image format according to a browser’s capabilities, while srcset will help the browser decide what looks best for any given device’s screen. Unfortunately, both <picture> and srcset lacks control over which image source to serve for users who want to save data. Nor should they! That’s not the job of srcset or <picture>.
This is where Save-Data comes in handy. When users visit my site and send a Save-Data request header, I use mod_rewrite in Apache to serve low DPI images in lieu of high DPI ones:
If you’re unfamiliar with mod_rewrite, the first line is a condition that checks if the Save-Data header is present and contains a value of on. The [NC] flag merely tells mod_rewrite to perform a case-insensitive match. If the condition is met, the RewriteRule looks for any requests for a PNG, JPEG or WebP asset ending in -2x (the high DPI version), and redirects such requests to an asset ending in -1x (the low DPI version). The R=302 flag signals to the browser that this is a temporary (302) redirect. Since the user can toggle Data Saver on or off at will, we don’t want to send a permanent (301) redirect, as the browser will cache it. Caching the redirect ensures that it will be in effect even if Data Saver is turned off later on.
Image delivery with Save-Data turned on
Aren’t redirects bad for performance? Most of the time, yes. Redirects add to latency because it takes longer for a request to be resolved. In this instance, however, it’s a fitting solution. We don’t want to rewrite requests without redirecting them because then low-quality images get cached under the same URLs as high-quality ones. What if the user connects to a wifi network, turns off Data Saver, and return to the site at a later time? The low-quality image will be served from the cache, even when Data Saver is turned off. That’s not at all what we want. If the user isn’t using Data Saver, we should assume the default image delivery strategy.
Of course, there are other ways you could change your image delivery in the presence of Save-Data. For example, Cory Dowdy wrote a post detailing how he uses Save-Data to serve lower quality images. Save-Data gives you lots of room to devise an image delivery strategy that makes the best sense for your site or application.
Opt out of server pushes
Server push is good stuff if you’re on HTTP/2 and can use it. It allows you send assets to the client before they ever know they need them. The problem with it, though, is it can be weirdly unpredictable in select scenarios. On my site, I use it to push CSS only, and this generally works well. Although, I do tailor my push strategy in Apache to avoid browsers that have issues with it (i.e., Safari) like so:
<If "%{HTTP_USER_AGENT} =~ /^(?=.*safari)(?!.*chrome).*/i">
Header add Link "</css/global.5aa545cb.css>; rel=preload; as=style; nopush"
</If>
<Else>
Header add Link "</css/global.5aa545cb.css>; rel=preload; as=style"
</Else>
In this instance, I’m saying „Hey, I want you to preemptively push my site’s CSS to people, but only if they’re not using Safari.” Even if Safari users come by, they’ll still get a preload resource hint (albeit with a nopush attribute to discourage my server from pushing anything).
Even so, it would behoove us to be extra cautious when it comes to pushing assets for users with Data Saver turned on. In the case of my blog, I decided I wouldn’t push anything to anyone who had Data Saver enabled. To accomplish this, I made the following change to the initial <If> header:
This is the same as my initial configuration, but with an additional condition that says „Hey, if Save-Data is present and set to a value of on, don’t be pushing that stylesheet. Just preload it instead.” It might not be a big change, but it’s one of those little things that could help visitors to avoid wasted data if a push was in vain for any reason.
Change how you deliver markup
With Save-Data, you could elect to change what parts of the document you deliver. This presents all sorts of opportunities, but before you can embark on this errand, you’ll need to check for the Save-Data header in a back end language. In PHP, such a check might look something like this:
On my blog, I use this $saveData boolean in various places to remove markup for images that aren’t crucial to the content of a given page. For example, one of my articles has some animated GIFs and other humorous images that are funny little flourishes for users who don’t mind them. But they are heavy, and not really necessary to communicate the central point of the article. I also remove the header illustration and a teeny tiny thumbnail of my book from the nav.
Image markup delivery with Data Saver on and off
From a payload perspective, this can certainly have a profound effect:
The potential effects of Data Saver on page payload
Another opportunity would be to use the aforementioned $saveData boolean to put a save-data class on the <html> element:
With this class, I could then write styles that could change what assets are used in background-image properties, or any CSS property that references external assets. For example:
/* Just a regular ol' background image */
body {
background-image: url("/images/bg.png");
}
/* A lower quality background image for users with Data Saver turned on */
.save-data body {
background-image: url("/images/bg-lowsrc.png");
}
Markup isn’t the only thing you could modify the delivery of. You could do the same for videos, or even do something as simple as delivering fewer search results per page. It’s entirely up to you!
Conclusion
The Save-Data header gives you a great opportunity to lend a hand to users who are asking you to help them, well, save data. You could use URL rewriting to change media delivery, change how you deliver markup, or really just about anything that you could think of.
How will you help your users Save-Data? Leave a comment and let your ideas be heard!
All of us have a nostalgia sometimes for the past: for the people we knew, some places, or things. Living in a high-tech digital age, we can miss something like an old-fashioned grandma’s pitcher or an old toy you owned as a child. Because you still remember how it was broken and you still want to cry. Just don’t cry now—I still need you to pass this tutorial!
Wipe off your tears and think about… something like… like a retro TV standing on a cabinet. I will show you how to create such an illustration using basic shapes, some warp effects, and the Offset Path.
By the way, GraphicRiver has a good collection of retro items, so feel free to check its collection.
1. How to Create the Retro TV
Step 1
Open Adobe Illustrator and create a new document (File > New) with 850 x 850 px Width and Height. We will start to create a TV shape. Using the Rounded Rectangle Tool, create a light grey rounded rectangle. Set the fill color as shown in the image below. You do not need the stroke color for your rectangle—it’s only there for better visibility.
Next, we will apply the Inflate effect to this rounded rectangle. Go to Effect > Warp > Inflate. Enter the options you see below. Expand this shape (Object > Expand Appearance).
Step 2
Now we will make a smaller copy of the transformed rounded rectangle placed exactly in the middle of the original one. While keeping the shape selected, go to Object > Path > Offset Path, enter the negative number -9, and press OK. You will get a smaller copy of the shape in front of the original one. Change the color of this copy as shown in the image.
Next create a smaller copy of this shape. Select the second copy and again, go to Object > Path > Offset Path, and enter the negative number -4. Change the color of the smaller copy to dark grey.
And finally, using the same method, make the smallest copy of the shape, which will have the Offset Path -2. You should have four shapes in total.
Step 3
Now let’s create the screen for the TV. Create a copy of any grey shape and place it in front. Make it smaller, and change the color to a darker shade. Next create a smaller copy of this shape: select the shape, go to Object > Path > Offset Path, and enter the negative number -2. Change the color of the created copy to a bluish grey.
Step 4
Let’s give our TV screen more volume. Create an ellipse by using the Ellipse Tool (L), which overlaps the bluish shape. The color of this ellipse does not matter, as it is used as a cutter.
Now make a copy of the bluish shape in front (Control-C, Control-F) and, while keeping it selected with the overlapped ellipse, press the Minus Front button on the Pathfinder panel. This action leaves us with the part of the ellipse in front of the bluish screen. Finally change the color of the upper part of the screen to a lighter color.
Step 5
Let’s add a speaker to our TV. Create a small dark grey circle (for an even circle, use the Ellipse Tool (L) while holding down the Shift key). Select this circle and while holding the Shift and Alt keys, drag it to the right. This way, you’ll create a second copy of the circle, which will be horizontally aligned.
While the newly created circle is selected, press the Control-D buttons three more times to repeat the previous step and create a group of circles exactly the same distance from each other.
Now select the line of circles and while holding the Shift and Alt keys, drag them down. And again, press the Control-D buttons to repeat the previous step. Do this as much as you need to get a result close to the one presented below.
Step 6
In order to move the objects with more precision, we need to enable the Smart Guides. So, let’s go to View > Smart Guides (Control-U). Draw a circle with grey fill color and no stroke color. To make an even circle, use the Ellipse Tool (L) while holding down the Shift key. Create a copy of this circle in front (Control-C, Control-F), make it smaller, and be sure it stays exactly in the middle of the original one. For the smaller circle, change the fill color to the light grey.
Next, using the Rectangle Tool (M), create a grey rectangle and place it exactly in the middle of the circle. Create a copy of this rectangle in front (Control-C, Control-F), decrease its width (using the Selection Tool (V)), place it exactly in the middle of the original one, and change its color to the light grey.
Step 7
Now place the manual switch on the right side of the TV. You can slightly rotate it to the side, to have the rectangle not precisely in the vertical position. To highlight this manual switch, we will create a dark grey circle behind it. After that, create a copy of the manual switch together with the highlighting and place it below, as shown in the image. The second copy of the manual switch can be slightly rotated in a different direction.
Step 8
Now we will create the antenna. Let’s start by drawing a thin, vertically oriented, light grey ellipse. Using the Direct Selection Tool (A), move its left and right anchor points down. Create a small circle and attach it to the sharper end of the ellipse as shown in the image below. Make a copy of it to have an another antenna (Control-C, Control-V). Add an oval on the bottom.
And again, you do not need the stroke color because it is only there for better visibility.
Step 9
Place our antenna on top and behind the TV (Control-X, Control-B). As the outer shape of our TV does not have any stroke color, we need to emphasize that the antenna is behind and is separated from the TV. Therefore, create a very thin horizontal oval and place it on the line of intersection between the antenna and the body of the TV.
Step 10
Now let’s create the TV legs. First create a grey rectangle, and then take the Direct Selection Tool (A) and move the two lower anchor points to the left. The lower anchor points should be closer to each other than the upper anchor points are.
Step 11
Place the TV leg in its place. To make another leg, select the left leg, right-click > Transform > Reflect, and then choose Vertical, Angle 90 degrees, and press Copy. Move the copy of the leg to the right. Our retro TV image is ready!
2. How to Create the Cabinet
Step 1
Of course, in past times, TVs were heavy and quite large. They were not hung on a wall, but placed on cabinets or tables. Therefore, today we will place our TV on a cabinet.
Let’s start with a brown rectangle (Rectangle Tool (M)). To make a darker rectangle inside the brown one, again we will use the Offset Path: while keeping the brown rectangle selected, go to Object > Path > Offset Path and enter Offset -10 px. Change the color of the created rectangle to dark brown.
Again, select the dark brown rectangle and go to Object > Path > Offset Path and enter Offset -3 px. Now, change its color to another shade of brown.
Step 2
Let’s add a texture to the doors of our cabinet. Create a very thin, light brown ellipse, which should fit into the smallest rectangle. The Smart Guide, which you activated in one of the previous steps, will be really useful here. Place the oval inside the smallest rectangle on the left side.
Make a copy of this ellipse horizontally aligned (drag it to the right while holding the Shift and Alt keys). Now use the Control-D buttons to repeat the action as many times as necessary to fill the rectangle.
Step 3
To make two doors for our cabinet, create a thin darker brown rectangle and place it in the middle of the cabinet, as shown in the image below.
Step 4
To make the handle, create a brown even circle. Create a copy of this circle in front (Control-C, Control-F), and make it smaller. Be sure it stays exactly in the middle (use the Smart Guides). Now, change the color of the newly created circle to a lighter brown. Make a third copy of the circle, but this time just a little smaller than the light brown one (Control-C, Control-F). The color of the third smallest circle will be slightly darker than the second one.
For your convenience, group all the circles together (right-click > Group). These three circles will be our handle. Place the handle on the left door. When shrinking it down, make sure to hold the Shift button. Make a copy of the handle for the right door: hold the Shift and Alt keys and move the handle to the right.
Step 5
The legs of our cabinet will be made in a similar way as for the TV. For that, create a brown rectangle, and then while using the Direct Selection Tool (A), move the two lower anchor points to the left. The lower anchor points should be closer to each other than the upper points are. Place the leg on the left side of the cabinet.
Finally, make another leg: select the left leg, right-click > Transform > Reflect, choose Vertical, Angle 90 degrees, and press Copy. Move the copy of the leg to the right. Our cabinet is ready!
3. How to Create the Background
Step 1
Create a blue square 850 px Width and Height, by using the Rectangle Tool (M). First, take the tool, and then click on your artboard and enter the necessary options.
Step 2
To add some dimensions to the scene, create a darker ellipse in the bottom part of the square.
Step 3
Finally, place the created TV and the cabinet in front of the background. However, it will be easier to put the background behind all the objects (Control-X, Control-B).
4. How to Create the Jar of Flowers
Step 1
Now we will add a pretty bouquet of flowers in a mason jar! To make the jar, we will start with a grey rounded rectangle. Remember that the stroke here is for better visibility.
Add a small rectangle on the upper part of the rounded rectangle and another small horizontally aligned rounded rectangle on top as the neck of the jar. Unite these shapes using the Unite button on the Pathfinder panel.
Step 2
To add some water in the jar, create another copy of the shape of the vase by using the Offset Path (enter the value as -6). You will get two copies inside one another.
Now lower the opacity of these two copies: on the Appearance panel (Window > Appearance), you have to click on the word “Opacity” and in the pop-up menu, decrease its Opacity to 50%.
Now we will cut away a part of the inner shape. For the cutter, create a rectangle with any fill color you want. Make sure that the rectangle overlaps the top part of the inner shape. While keeping these two shapes selected, press the Minus Front button on the Pathfinder panel. We will end up with the bottom part of the shape, which will represent water in the jar.
Step 3
Place the jar on our cabinet near the TV.
Step 4
Finally, add some flowers into our jar. You can find out how to create these flowers in one of my previous tutorial. Place your flowers behind the jar. You’re done!
Conclusion
And we are finished! Well done! I hope you enjoyed learning some of the processes and shortcuts during the creation of this image in Adobe Illustrator. As always, feel free to share your project and ask questions in the comments section below. Happy designing!
This is just a random idea, but I can’t stop it from swirling around in my head.
Whenever I need to style a form on a fresh project where the CSS and style guide stuff is just settling in, the temptation to reach for a mini form framework is strong. Form elements are finicky, have little cross-browser issues, and are sometimes downright hard to wrassle styling control from.
This idea, which I’m just now managing to write about, but haven’t actually done any work toward, would be this mini form framework. Maybe something like „Boilerform”, as Dave jokingly suggested on an episode of ShopTalk.
I imagine it something like this:
It would have basic form styling to organize form elements, not unlike something like Foundation forms.
It would account for cross browser issues, not unlike normalize.css.
It would include strongarming styling control over form elements, not unlike WTF, forms?
It would include native browser form validation stuff, including UX improvements via native JavaScript API’s, not unlike Validate.js.
I think there is value in combining those things into one thing, but doing so…
With a light touch, being as unopinionated about the final styling as possible
I probably don’t have time to head up a project like this, but I wouldn’t mind helping connect humans who also see value here and wanna give it a shot.
„Sometimes I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry.
It merely astonishes me. How can anyone deny themselves the pleasure of
my company? It’s beyond me.” — Zora Neale Hurston
Art unites us all, with an array of styles as diverse and unique as our heritage.
In this next part of our Art History series, we turn to the Harlem Renaissance, a 20th-century cultural and creative movement giving African Americans the platform to voice their stories through several artistic mediums.
The Harlem Renaissance
What if you were free?
Art is a humbling reminder of history. Though they were considered free, African Americans waited for a new life outside the borders of southern racist ideologies after the American Civil War.
In turn, a new wave of dreamers migrated to the west, midwest, and northeastern US states in hopes of economic stability.
As the years progressed, the families of these great migrators gave way to the stunning artists and intellectuals of the 1920s. Today we honor a few of their legacies by taking a look at their incredible styles.
Sculptors
Her sculpture of President Franklin D. Roosevelt inspired the dime. Selma Burke was an extraordinary American sculptor whose sculptures influenced many during the Harlem Renaissance. Her style consisted of remarkable busts and wooden sculptures of maternal subjects.
Similarly to Selma, artist Augusta Savage created small clay sculptures of animals as a child. Even early on, her work was impressive. She later went on to create realistic busts of several notable figures during the Harlem Renaissance like W.E.B. Du Bois and more.
Laura Wheeler Waring was an African-American artist and educator for more than 30 years. She specialized in textural oil paintings of unknown African Americans and notable Harlem Renaissance figures.
This portrait of civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois landed her major recognition within the movement. In turn, she went on to create many more portraits of important leaders and activists.
In the Migration Series (at the top of this post), artist Jacob Lawrence depicted colorful portrayals of the Great Migration. He used flat visuals and bright colors to abstract the material as a result of his influence of Mexican muralism.
While the Harlem Renaissance is believed to have disappeared during the late 1930s, its influence would affect generations of black and brown artists to come.
These artists explored minimalist and abstract elements in their work, influenced by Pablo Picasso and others. Many even attributed Cubism to their early inspiration for working in design.
Early on in her career, graphic artist Elizabeth Catlett crafted wooden sculptures depicting the female experience. Her work revolved around Afrocentric themes which explored the human condition.
But if you were a designer during the 1930s then perhaps Aaron Douglas would have inspired you.
His work showcased a unique abstract style. Painting silhouettes of
African American men and women, he communicated scenes of social life and
struggle.
For our last artist, we’ll take a look at the extraordinary work of Charles Alston. An illustrator, painter, and sculptor, Charles contributed greatly to the rise of the modernist art styles in African-American work during this time.
His illustrations were usually of presidents, musicians, and prominent activists, but he also explored many other mediums in an effort to improve his skills.
Though the movement came and went as a result of the Great Depression, the Harlem Renaissance continues to be an inspiration for artists even today. Its wide range of culture and influence is a
true testament to
the evolution of art. And I hope you continue to learn more about these
amazing timelines on your own.
For more stories from the Harlem Renaissance, dive into the links below for further reading. And
join me next month when we discuss Cubism.
Whether you know how to code, regularly install websites with WordPress or other CMSs, or you are just a beginner with website creation, every website creation could start with this question: would it be easier and more productive to use a free website builder to do the job?
Free website builders for beginners
For a beginner, there is no question in my mind, they should just go to Wix directly if they want to get their project up-and-running quickly.
Fastest learning curve
I’ve had friends coming to me for a quick WordPress website. I installed it for them, but they struggled to manage it, not mentioning that they had no power over the design aspects. So, I referred them to Wix, and they were up with a new website in a matter of hours, completely in control of the look-and-feel and of the features. Why is that so easy? Because of the great product UX and the drag and drop interface.
Powerful features for the technically not savvy
If you have never created a website, some website features are truly out of your reach, at least on the short-term. If you prefer to focus on creating your business and running it instead of learning web design, you should go for Wix and enjoy the ability to simply create image galleries, e-commerce sites, parallax effects, email marketing campaigns,… and much more!
Free website builders for web professionals
For web professionals, it’s another story. They are often comfortable with most web technology and able to get a WordPress site running within a day. However, there are plenty of good reasons to go for Wix on specific projects.
Templates updated with the latest technology
This is one of the best featured, you can get plenty of very professional html5 website templates in a couple of clicks, no need to learn the latest technology to apply some trendy effects. If you are like me, you are regularly confronted to choosing the right technology for each project, and sometimes you have to learn new things for a low-budget project. If the money doesn’t afford your design education, don’t go for it and choose Wix for your client.
Back-end constantly updated
This is another important point. Clients often don’t want to pay too much for maintenance work, and that work is not very interesting for you anyway. In those cases, Wix will be the best option, as the company is filled with engineers constantly working on implementing the latest technology or optimizing the servers.
If you have been maintaining at least one website and tried to update it to be successful during the past five years, you know that you must regularly stay up-to-date on the technological side. For example, all site must be SSL-ready by October 1st, 2017, or they will be penalized by Google in the search results and will be displayed as potentially dangerous on Google Chrome. This may not sound like much for you, but it’s a big deal to handle for many website owners.
Stop focusing on technique
Let’s say you are helping a bar, a medical facility, or a consultancy firm, with their branding, design and marketing. Do you really want to spend hours on aligning some CSS boxes, installing WooCommerce, setting up contact forms, or upgrading the PHP version? Of course you don’t, you don’t want to go through all that frustration, because you would rather focus on what really matters and what you are good at: designing. Believe me, it will make your life much less stressful.
Do you really need to choose between React.js, Node.js, Angular.js, or Whateverthehell.js? No you don’t, getting the effects you want to work quickly is more important than being able to understand every javascript library. Of course you can still learn Angular.js, and use it on some of your projects, but it should not hold you back when you can do it the Wix way.
E-commerce made easy
Despite large progress made by CMSs creators, you still require quite a big amount of time to set up an e-commerce site, even if you use Magento or WooCommerce. These two systems are now quite user-friendly, but they need a technical setup that can become a nightmarish process, especially when it comes to accepting payments or customizing anything. These systems are also notoriously often updated, and it’s more complicated than upgrading a simple CMS.
Luckily, Wix comes with a powerful store system that makes setting up an e-commerce site easier than ever. Unless you have a complex business that requires very advanced functionality, WixStores got you covered.
Conclusion
Over time, designing websites has become more and more complex, with advanced technologies to handle if you want to add features and stay up-to-date with the latest technology. The free website builder Wix is the perfect solution for a website if your reasons for creating a website are purely goal-oriented.
This tutorial will show you how to use Photoshop’s 3D tools and settings to create a spiky text effect with text and preset meshes, as well as a few textures, adjustment layers, and filters. Let’s get started!
Create a new 1000 x 850 px document with a white background.
Create the text in All Caps using the font Squada One. Change the Size to 250 pt and the Tracking to 150.
Step 2
Go to 3D > New 3D Extrusion from Selected Layer.
2. How to Work With the 3D Scene
Step 1
To access the 3D mesh settings and properties, you’ll need to open two panels: the 3D panel and the Properties panel (both found under the Window menu).
The 3D panel has all the components of the 3D scene, and when you click the name of any of those, you’ll be able to access its settings in the Properties panel. So make sure to always select the tab of the element you want to modify in the 3D panel before you change its settings in the Properties panel.
Step 2
If you select the Move Tool, you’ll find a set of 3D Modes for it to the right of the Options bar.
When you choose one of those, you can then click and drag to perform changes (on the selected element in the 3D panel).
Use those modes to change the Current View into an angle you like.
3. How to Adjust 3D Mesh and Cap Settings
Step 1
Select the text mesh tab in the 3D panel, and change the Extrusion Depth in the Properties panel to 55 px.
Step 2
Click the Cap icon at the top of the Properties panel. Change the Sides to Front and Back, the Bevel Width to 5%, and the Contour to Half Round.
4. How to Create a 3D Cone Mesh
Step 1
Create a new layer on top of the 3D layer, fill it with White, and name it Cone.
Step 2
Go to 3D > New Mesh from Layer > Mesh Preset > Cone.
Step 3
Select the Current View tab in the 3D panel, and choose the 3D text layer’s name from the View menu in the Properties panel.
Step 4
Select both 3D layers, and go to 3D > Merge 3D Layers.
5. How to Scale 3D Meshes
Step 1
Select the Cone mesh tab, pick the Move Tool, and use the 3D Axis to scale the cone into a size you like.
The arrows at the ends of the axis move the mesh, the part below them is used for rotation, and the cubes are used for scaling. The cube in the center is used to scale the object uniformly. All you need to do is click and drag the part you want to use.
Step 2
You can also click the Coordinates icon at the top of the Properties panel to use numerical values.
Click the Scale icon and uncheck the Uniform Scaling option if you don’t want to scale the cone uniformly.
Step 3
We need to achieve a long thin cone, so the Y Scale value needs to be larger than the other two.
The final overall size is up to you to decide, based on how many cones you plan on adding and the size you’d like them to be.
6. How to Use Different Camera Views
Step 1
After creating the cone you want to use, it’s time to duplicate and place it all over the text.
To help you to place the cones more precisely, you can use the different camera view options.
Select the Current View tab in the 3D panel, and choose Front from the View dropdown menu in the Properties panel.
Step 2
After you choose a camera view, you can zoom in or out, or move the scene around using the Move Tool’s 3D Modes.
Once you get a clear view of the part of the text you want to work on, select the cone mesh tab and place it wherever needed.
You can initially use the 3D Axis, and then you can use the Coordinates values to get a more precise result.
Step 3
Another helpful camera view is the Top view. It will help you place the cones along the extruded part.
7. How to Instance Objects
Step 1
Right-click the Cone mesh tab, and choose Instance Objects.
This will create a linked copy that reflects the changes made to the original mesh, like the material settings, for example.
Step 2
Move the copy along the Z Axis to push it behind the original cone.
Step 3
Instance as many objects as needed to cover the extrusion behind the original cone.
If the cone needs resizing to fit within the extrusion area, use the Coordinates values to scale it, and apply the same values to the copies.
Make sure to end up with an evenly spaced line of cones along the extrusion of the text.
8. How to Create a Spiky Effect
Step 1
Select all the Cone mesh tabs created, right-click any of them, and choose Instance Objects. This will duplicate all of them together, and you can transform them as a unit as well.
Use the camera views, 3D Axis, and Coordinates values to move and rotate the copies next to the original meshes.
Step 2
Instance and move as many cone meshes as needed to place spikes all over the text.
Step 3
Once you’re done, you can select a random cone mesh and change its Y Scale value to make it longer.
Step 4
Use the different camera views to adjust its position after scaling it.
Step 5
Repeat that to scale up a couple of other random cones.
9. How to Create a Metallic Cone Material
Step 1
Select the Cone_Material tab in the 3D panel, click its Diffuse texture icon in the Properties panel to choose Replace Texture, and open the 9.jpg image from the Metal seamless textures pack.
Step 2
Click the Diffuse texture again, and choose Edit Texture.
Step 3
This will open the texture file. Add a Solid Color fill layer, use the Color#ffae21, and change the layer’s Blend Mode to Linear Burn.
Save and close the file.
Step 4
Use these settings for the rest of the values (the color values used are in RGB):
Specular: 191, 191, 191
Shine: 80%
Reflection: 50%
Roughness: 3%
10. How to Save 3D Materials
Step 1
Click the Material Picker box, click the pop-up menu icon, and choose New Material.
Step 2
Type Cone_Material in the Name field, and click OK. This will add the material to the picker so that you’ll be able to reapply it later on.
11. How to Create a Front Inflation Material
Step 1
Select the text’s Front Inflation Material tab, click its Diffuse texture icon, and choose Load Texture to open the 15.jpg image from the Metal seamless textures pack 5 pack.
Step 2
Click the Diffuse texture icon again, and choose Edit UV Properties.
Step 3
Use any Tile values that you like and click OK.
Step 4
Use these values for the rest of the settings:
Specular: 100, 100, 100
Shine: 50%
Reflection: 5%
12. How to Add a Bump Effect
Step 1
Click the Bump folder icon and choose Load Texture to open the 10.jpg image from the Metal seamless textures pack 5 pack.
Step 2
Change the Bump value to 25, and edit its texture’s UV Properties to match the Diffuse’s.
Save the material once you’re done.
Step 3
Select the text’s Extrusion Material tab, open the Material Picker, scroll down to the Front Inflation Material’s icon, and click it to apply it to the Extrusion Material.
13. How to Adjust More Material Settings
Step 1
Select the text mesh tab, and change its Texture Mapping to Tile.
Step 2
Select the Extrusion Material tab again, and edit its Diffuse and Bump textures’ UV Properties as needed.
Step 3
Select both Bevel Material tabs, and apply the Cone_Material to them. Also, apply the Front Inflation Material to the Back Inflation Material.
14. How to Adjust a 3D Scene’s Lighting and Render It
Step 1
Select the Infinite Light 1 tab, and change its Intensity to 60% and its Shadow Softness to 30%.
Step 2
Use the Move Tool or the Coordinates values to move the Infinite Light until you get a result you like.
Step 3
Select the Environment tab, click the IBL texture icon, choose Replace Texture, and open the Living Room image.
Step 4
Change the Intensity to 50%, and move the image around to get a result you like.
You can go back and forth between the Infinite and Environment lights, and change their settings or move them around, until you achieve the result you want.
Step 5
Place the Modern wood texture background design image below the 3D layer, rename its layer to Background Texture, resize it to fit within the document, and adjust the 3D scene’s camera angle accordingly to choose a final camera view.
Don’t worry about any empty areas that appear as we will crop them later on.
Step 6
Once you like the final result, go to 3D > Render 3D Layer. The rendering might take a while, but you can stop it any time by pressing the Esc key.
After the rendering is done, right-click the 3D layer and choose Convert to Smart Object to avoid making any accidental changes.
15. How to Apply a Texture Overlay
Step 1
Place the Concrete rough texture image on top of the 3D layer, rename its layer to Texture Overlay, change its Blend Mode to Color Burn, resize it as needed, and right-click it to choose Create Clipping Mask.
Step 2
Double-click the Texture Overlay layer to get the Layer Style box.
We are going to adjust the Underlying Layer sliders under the Blend If section. Press-hold the Option key, and click-drag the left slider to split it. As you move the slider’s ends, you’ll notice how the texture starts to blend better with the text. What this slider does is protect the darker areas of the text from being affected by the texture.
16. How to Adjust a Background Texture
Step 1
Select the Crop Tool, uncheck the Delete Cropped Pixels box in the Options bar, and drag the sides of the bounding box to get rid of any empty areas outside the background texture image.
Hit the Return key to apply the crop.
Step 2
Select the Background Texture layer, and go to Image > Adjustments > Levels. Change the Output Levels’ Highlights value to 147.
Step 3
Go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation. Change the Hue to -13, the Saturation to -31, and the Lightness to -40.
Step 4
Double-click the Background Texture layer to apply a Color Overlay effect with these settings:
Color: #655d52
Blend Mode: Overlay
17. How to Add a Vignette
Step 1
Create a new layer on top of the Background Texture layer and name it Vignette.
Select the Brush Tool, and set the Foreground Color to #b7b7b7.
Step 2
Change the Vignette layer’s Blend Mode to Linear Burn and its Opacity to 70%.
Pick a big soft round brush tip, and change its Opacity value in the Options bar to 10%. Paint around the document to add the vignette. You can change the Opacity values if you want a more subtle outcome.
18. How to Add a Quick Dodge and Burn
Step 1
Add a new Curves adjustment layer on top of all layers, and select its mask’s thumbnail.
Step 2
Go to Image > Apply Image. Set the Layer to Merged, the Channel to RGB, and the Blending to Linear Burn.
Step 3
Change the Curves layer’s Blend Mode to Luminosity, and drag the curve’s center slightly upwards to brighten the lighter areas a little bit.
Step 4
Duplicate the Curves layer, and drag the curve’s center slightly downwards to darken the darker areas.
In order to affect the darker areas, you need to invert the mask. So click the mask’s thumbnail, and press Command-I.
19. How to Apply High Pass and Noise Filters
Step 1
Create a new layer on top of all layers and name it High Pass.
Press the Shift-Option-Command-E keys to create a stamp, and change its Blend Mode to Soft Light.
Step 2
Go to Filter > Other > High Pass, and change the Radius to 1.
Step 3
Create another new layer on top of all layers and name it Noise.
Go to Edit > Fill, change the Contents to 50% Gray, and click OK.
Step 4
Convert the Noise layer to a Smart Object, and change its Blend Mode to Soft Light.
Step 5
Go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise, change the Amount to 3 and the Distribution to Uniform, and check the Monochromatic box.
Step 6
Duplicate the Texture Overlay layer, drag the copy on top of all layers, and change its Opacity to 50%.
Congratulations! You’re Done
In this tutorial, we created 3D text and cone meshes, adjusted their settings, and created their materials.
Then, we adjusted the lighting, added a background, and rendered the 3D scene. After that, we used textures, adjustment layers, and layer styles to adjust the coloring and contrast of the effect.
Finally, we used high pass and noise filters to finish off the effect.
Please feel free to leave your comments, suggestions, and outcomes below.
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