The marble/rose gold combination is one of the popular minimalist trends, and it is almost everywhere from home decor to stationery, cookware, etc. This tutorial will show you how to use Photoshop's shapes, along with 3D tools and material and light settings, to create a marble and rose gold text effect. Let's get started!
This text effect was inspired by the many Layer Styles available on GraphicRiver.
Tutorial Assets
The following assets were used during the production of this tutorial:
- Kaiju font
- marble by austrich
- Seamless Gold Texture by O-O-O-o-0-o-O-O-O
- Home Design Interior by milivanily
- NaturePlants0086 Image 1 - Masked (Small)
1. Create the Background and the Text Shape
Step 1
Create a new 1000 x 750 px document.
Click the Create new fill or adjustment layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel, choose Solid Color, and use the Color#e8e4e1.
Step 2
Create the text using the font Kaiju, and set the Size to 250 pt.
Step 3
Right-click the text layer, and choose Convert to Shape.
2. How to Create the Subtract Shape Layers
Step 1
Rename the text shape layer you have to Marble, duplicate it, and rename the copy to Rose Gold.
Step 2
Pick the Pen Tool, set the Foreground Color to Red, and choose the Shape option in the Options bar.
Then, draw a shape that covers the part of the text you want to be rose gold.
Press-hold the Option key to add each new shape to the same shape layer when you create it.
Step 3
Duplicate the red shape layer, and place the original on top of the Marble layer and the copy on top of the Rose Gold layer.
Then, hide both the Marble and the original red shape layers by clicking the eye icons next to their layer tabs.
3. How to Move a Shape's Anchor Points
Step 1
With the copy red shape layer selected, pick the Direct Selection Tool.
What you need to do next is make the red shapes cover the other part of the text.
To do so, Shift-click the anchor points on the outer part of the shape, which means the ones that are not on the axis you want to flip the shape on.
Step 2
Click-drag one of the selected anchor points to the opposite side, to cover the other part of the text shape.
Step 3
You can then click-drag individual anchor points to adjust the resulting shape.
Step 4
Repeat that for the rest of the letters you have.
4. How to Subtract Shapes
Step 1
Make all the shape layers visible, and select the Rose Gold and the red shape layer on top of it.
Step 2
Go to Layer > Combine Shapes > Subtract Front Shape, and rename the resulting layer to Rose Gold.
Step 3
With the Direct Selection Tool active, click the Path operations icon in the Options bar, and choose Merge Shape Components.
Step 4
Repeat that for the Marble layer and its red shape layer.
5. How to Create 3D Layers
Step 1
For each of the shape layers you have, select it and go to 3D > New 3D Extrusion from Selected Path.
Step 2
Select both 3D layers and go to 3D > Merge 3D Layers.
6. 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.
7. How to Modify 3D Mesh Settings
Step 1
Select both 3D mesh tabs in the 3D panel, and change the Extrusion Depth in the Properties panel to 50 px.
Step 2
Select the Marble mesh tab, and click the Cap icon at the top of the Properties panel. Change the Sides to Front and Back, the Bevel Width to 2%, and the Contour to Half Round.
8. How to Create a Marble Material
Step 1
Select all the Marble Material tabs, and use these settings:
The color values used in RGB are:
- Specular: 217, 217, 217
- Shine: 30%
- Reflection: 10%
- Bump: 10%
Step 2
Select the Marble Front Inflation Material tab, and click its Diffuse texture icon and choose Replace Texture to open the marble image.
Step 3
To see things more clearly, click the Infinite Light 1 tab in the 3D panel and change its Intensity to 35% and its Shadow Softness to 30%. Then use the Move Tool to click-drag the light and move it around until you can see the texture.
Step 4
Click the Diffuse texture icon again, and choose Edit UV Properties.
Step 5
Change the Tile values until you like how the texture looks.
9. How to Reapply a Material Texture
Step 1
Select the remaining Marble Material tabs, click the Diffuse texture icon, and choose the marble texture name from the list.
Step 2
Select the Marble mesh tab, and change its Texture Mapping to Tile.
Step 3
After that, you can modify the UV Properties for each material separately to get a result you like.
10. How to Create a Rose Gold Material
Step 1
Select all the Rose Gold Material tabs, click the Diffuse texture icon, and choose Remove Texture.
Step 2
Use these material settings:
The color values used in RGB are:
- Diffuse: 238, 107, 77
- Specular: 217, 157, 143
- Shine: 70%
- Reflection: 35%
- Bump: 1%
Step 3
Select the Rose Gold mesh tab, and change its Texture Mapping to Tile.
Step 4
Select the Rose Gold Extrusion Material tab, click the Bump folder icon, and choose Load Texture to open the Seamless Gold Texture image.
Step 5
You can temporarily increase the Bump value to see the texture more clearly. Edit the UV Properties of the Bump texture to get a result you like.
11. How to Edit a Bump Texture
Step 1
Click the Bump texture icon and choose Edit Texture.
Step 2
This will open the texture file.
Add a Black White adjustment layer and use these settings:
- Reds: 40
- Yellows: 60
- Greens: 40
- Cyans: 60
- Blues: 20
- Magentas: 80
Step 3
Add a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer, check the Use Legacy box, and change the Contrast to -50.
Save and close the file.
Step 4
Change the Bump value back to 1%.
12. How to Adjust a 3D Scene's Lighting
Step 1
Select the Infinite Light 1 tab, and move it to the front of the 3D meshes. You can click the Coordinates icon at the top of the Properties panel to use numerical values as well.
Step 2
Click the Add New Light to Scene icon at the bottom of the 3D panel, and choose New Point Light.
Step 3
Change the Point Light's Intensity and Shadow Softness values to 30%, check the Light Falloff box, and change the Inner value to 350 and the Outer to 500.
Step 4
Place the Point Light on top of the text, and move it a bit to the right.
Step 5
Select the Environment tab, click the IBL texture icon, and choose Replace Texture to open the Home Design Interior image.
Step 6
Change the Intensity to 35% and the Ground Plane Shadows Opacity to 30%.
Step 7
Choose the final camera view, and use the Move Tool to click-drag the Environment texture around.
This is an important step that determines how the final result will look in terms of the reflections and overall lighting.
13. How to Render and Adjust a Rendered 3D Scene
Step 1
Go to 3D > Render 3D Layer. The rendering might take a while, but you can stop it any time by pressing the Escape key.
Step 2
Add a Levels adjustment layer, clip it to the 3D layer, and change the Shadows value to 5, the Gamma to 1.10, and the Highlights to 237.
14. How to Add a Plant Image
Step 1
Go to File > Place Linked to open the NaturePlants0086 image and resize it as needed.
Rename the layer to Plant, and move the image to the right side of the document so that only a part of the leaves is showing.
Step 2
Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, and change the Radius to 5.
Congratulations! You're Done
In this tutorial, we created a couple of shape layers that separate the text into two parts. Then, we converted the shape layers into 3D meshes and adjusted their settings. After that, we created the marble and rose gold materials and adjusted the lighting of the scene. Finally, we rendered the final result and added a simple plant image to finish off the effect.
Please feel free to leave your comments, suggestions, and outcomes below.
