You might be familiar of 3D graphics applications like 3D Studio Max, Maya, Xara 3D etc. These are used to create 3D Text, but they all have some drawbacks. These are complex 3D Softwares, so a normal user finds them difficult to use and navigate with ease. They also need to be procured and installed on your system separately. So why do you need them when you require are less? You can create nice looking 3D effects with Adobe Photoshop.

Although Photoshop is a 2D image editing tool, you can create text that looks like 3D with minimal expertise. In fact, this is exactly what we’re going to focus on and show you in this tutorial.

We will learn to write ‘Chocolate’ in real moulded chocolate. To kick things off, create a new file in Photoshop. We used 530 x 192 pixels for dimensions but this can of course be anything of your choice.

With the text tool, type the text you would like to work on. Select a font with a bold look, it looks better in 3D.

Using a transform mode (Ctrl + T) make the text slanting using the nodes. Use ctrl+drag on the nodes to adjust in perspective mode.

This layer will work as the front of your 3D Text, so now we must create an extruded look. To duplicate the layer, press Shift+Down Arrow to bring the new layer 10 pixels down.

Select the lower layer and press Ctrl+Alt+Up Arrow 9 times. It will create 9 new layers moving each layer up by 1 px. This gives our object a 3D depth look.

To differentiate the first layer and give it a more refined look, we will apply some effects to it. Open the layer effects on the first layer, check ‘Bevel and Emboss’. Use the following settings

Under Bevel and Emboss, also check Contour and use following value

Also give Drop Shadow effect with these values

Your image will now hopefully look something like this

Lets add a reflection effect. Select all the layers below the front text and merge them (Press Ctrl+E). Duplicate the merged layer and give the new layer 20% opacity. Bring down the transparent layer by pressing Shift + Down Arrow for 10 pixels. This will work as a reflection. There are many ways to add a reflection to your text; you can check other tutorials for more advanced reflections.

Almost Done, if you want, you can also add a gradient fill to the background for better presentation!

Might also be worth checking out the 80 best Photoshop Text Effects on the web.

Click any shape you want. Make for instance a circle, remember to hold down shift to make a perfect shaped circle. You can use any colour you want for this tutorial. Once you have this, look in your layer palette, right click the image you created and select “layer transparency”. Create a new layer without deselecting, go to select -> modify -> contract -> contract by 3 pixels.

Now, in select a darker colour than the one you have for your shape (as mentioned, you can use any colour for this one). Now switch to the gradient tool and use gradient to transparent. You can either go up or down over your picture, it’s probably easier and wiser to go up. This will add the volume to the shape you created.

Once you have this, deselect (ctrl+d) - now do the same thing all over again. Right click on the first image, select layer transparency, create a new layer - put this layer on top. Then select the marquee tool, but make sure to use the elliptical marquee tool, the third option is to select “subtract from selection”. This will make sure that it’s going to subtract anything you’re going to select instead of adding it. Then go to Select -> Modify -> Contract by 5 pixels.

To make it smoother, we’ll right click on the selection, while holding the lasso tool - use feather and 10 pixels. Fill this with white (or any brighter colour from the one you chose originally), using the paint bucket as you normally would.

When we have the base for this, we’ll create a new layer - select the elliptical marquee tool again and set white as your foreground colour. Then create a circle on top of your shape. It’s easier to make a circle, but it could really be any shape - oval or so would also work in this example. As the white is the foreground colour, set foreground to transparent using the gradient tool and go from up to down over your shape.

Once we have this done, it’s more or less finished - all we have to do now is link the layer by selecting them and then select “merge linked” from the layers palette.

And that’s it really! You’ve now created a glass effect to your circle.

You can also spice this up by adding a glass reflection. You’d then duplicate the layer and flip it upside down, set the opacity to 50% or so, and then use the erase tool (again using opacity maximum 60%). That’d make the final result look something like this instead.