Extrude—From the Latin extrudere, from ex- ‘out’ + trudere ‘to thrust.’ To force something out. 

 

Repoussé from the mid-19th century French. Literally “pushed back,” past participle of repousser, from re- (expressing intensive force) + pousser “to push.” Adjective (of metalwork) hammered into relief from the reverse side.

 

The previous mini-etymology lesson describes two features capable of producing amazing 3-D effects originating from ordinary flat content. As you probably know, 3-D is all the rage these days in cinema, TV, computer games, and yes, even signage.  Among several methods that create the illusion of depth in a flat image is anaglyphic 3-D, where color channels are offset to produce two separate images that merge into depth through a pair of red and blue glasses.  Lenticular fragments the visual content into strips that are reassembled into a 3-D image through a special film. Polarized 3-D is similar to anaglyphic. This method relies on clear polarized film glasses and with the help of the eyes and the brain, merges the disparate parallax of the two projected images into one of depth. Another type of 3-D involves the virtual sculpting of flat images into dimensional forms that can be moved and rotated in space.

 

Of course there is dedicated professional software like Maya or Autodesk that produces the three dimensional animation and special effects we see in movies. All of these sophisticated technologies have evolved over time and have worked their way into the main stream-media and will be topics of detailed discussion in future articles in Sign and Digital Graphics magazine.  In this article however, I’d like to focus on 3-D features that are relatively simple to use and may be available in two of the Adobe Creative Suite programs that you already own. 

 

 

Vector Bending

One of these features is found in Adobe Illustrator’s Effects menu. There are actually three options in the 3-D sub-menu, Extrude & Bevel, Revolve and Rotate. Each applies its own set of special characteristics to a selected flat vector object. The Rotate dialog box has controls that alter the angle of the X (horizontal), Y (vertical) and Z (rotation) axis’ (See Figure 1). A cube that represents the position of the object can be manually rotated in any direction. As an alternative method, numerical values in degrees can be entered in the X, Y and Z fields. Also there is a menu of Position presets at the top of the dialog box that applies specific angular settings.

 

The Perspective field applies distortion that gives the appearance of the object receding in space as in (See Figure 2). When rotating the cube check the preview box to see the real-time results on the pasteboard. 

 

The top section of The Extrude & Bevel command is similar to the Rotate dialog box but the bottom section contains additional controls. Below the rotation field, the Extrude Depth slider literally pushes the object forward beyond its original plane depending on the depth of the extrusion. Distinct sides are added to the form that adds depth and dimension as in Figure 3. 

The bevel slider applies a bevel to the edge of the sides as in Figure 4. This feature offers 10 bevel shape options and the Bevel Extent icons that control whether the bevel originates from inward or outward from the path. The depth of the bevel should be controlled so that the corner points of the objects don’t intersect as in Figure 5.

 

 

Light Source

Click the More Options button to expand the dialog box and display the lighting controls (Figure 6) where shading, light intensities and the color of the light are controlled. The dot on the sphere indicates the position of the light shining on the object. Additional lights can be added or subtracted and repositioned by dragging them on the surface of the sphere. The light sliders to the right of the sphere control the intensity and quality of surface and ambient light that illuminates the object.

 

Revolve

Although not formally an extrusion feature I thought I’d mention Illustrator’s ability to create 3D Revolves in that this feature can be quite useful in creating real looking objects for signage or large format prints. I like to think of this feature as a digital lathe. The concept starts by creating a profile of an object as a single open path as in Figure 8. 3D Revolve wraps the object around its own center point. Like 3D Extrude, specific lighting and color can be applied to enhance the object, furthermore, artwork from Illustrators Symbol panel can be wrapped around the object as in Figure 9 with the Map Art feature.

 

Slow Going

The Extrude & Bevel and Revolve features require quite a bit of memory to perform their magic, especially after an effect has been applied and when a document is refreshing on screen. A progress gauge may appear that indicates that the object is being rendered, which can slow down your workflow. If changes need to be made after 3D Extrude & Bevel or 3D Revolve have been applied, always access these features from the Appearance panel (See Figure 7) and never from the Effects menu. My experience has been that when the effect is reapplied from the Effects menu, Illustrator gets befuddled and a long wait for results can ensue, or, worst-case scenario; the software will crash. Clicking on these 3-D controls in the Appearance panel displays the dialog box smoothly without delay for further editing.

 

 

The Big Kahuna of Extrusion

Repoussé is a new feature that is supported by the Photoshop CS5 Extended. It requires an Open GL Video card to run properly and the Enable Open GL box must be checked in the Performance preferences. Like its sibling in Illustrator, it transforms flat content into 3-D graphics. The content can be extruded, twisted, rotated, beveled and inflated to create dynamic 3-D logos and artwork. 

 

Start with either selected content, a layer mask, a selected path or a text layer. Repoussé is found in the 3-D menu. The dialog box, (See Figure 10) has extensive features that warp the content with astonishing possibilities. 

 

When Repoussé is selected, the content layer is transformed into a 3-D layer and the rotation widget appears in the upper right of the window. The widget controls the position of the content on the X, Y and Z axis’ of the picture plane. (See Figure 11)

 

A list of shape presets at the top of the dialog box applies pre-defined settings. These settings are a good place to start and later can be modified with the dialog box controls. 

 

The depth and scale of the extrusion can be adjusted as can the X and Y angles. A point of origin can also be selected from where the extrusion generates. The front back or side surfaces can be inflated to give a more rounded appearance as in Figure 12, and the Internal constraints feature at the bottom of the dialog box affects negative spaces within the content like the holes in letterforms, for example. 

 

 

One of the coolest features is the ability to apply materials from the Materials list to produce a variety of textured surfaces as in Figure 13. Addition materials can be imported from source files available from the Browse 3-D Content Online in the 3-D menu. 

 

The content can be lit from within the dialog box with a variety of special lighting effects. This is more or less general lighting that can further be controlled from Photoshop’s 3-D panel after OK is clicked in the Repoussé dialog box.

 

From my point of view, it appears as though 3-D is a developing technology that is becoming easy to use and accessible in Adobe’s imaging and Illustration software. We can expect that this technology will be refined and even more 3-D features will be available. There are so many variables to these features that the best way to become familiar with them is to use them and experiment.