Photoshop Tutorials

Imagine what it would be like to create sprawling futuristic cities with roaring spacecrafts burning through the atmosphere. Many great directors have bought there own style to big screen with movies such as Blade Runner, they all have given a unique vision of tomorrow. In this tutorial we’re going to cover all the necessary steps required to create your own futuristic city with awesome sci-fi additions.

Photoshop has long been regarded as the tool of choice for 2D editing, but with Photoshop (the extended editions) you can incorporate 3D content. We’ll start off using DAZ Studio to import and export a complex 3D city model. Next we’ll show you how 3D content can coexist within 2D composites: you can roll, rotate and slide objects in 3D space, as well as having the flexibility of modifying their textures in reel-time. We’ll then build up the 2D background elements of the scene and add some extra details, such as atmospheric effects, by using Photoshop’s layers and blending modes.

Step 1

Create an account with DAZ 3D then download and install DAZ Studio. Download the free Dystopia City Blocks 011-020. Ensure you download both the Poser and MAT files, unzip and open their installers. It’s important that you install to this path.

• Applications > DAZStudio > Content

Step 2

Open up a new scene and go to Edit > Preferences and select the Directories tab. Ensure that ‘Program Files>DAZStudio>Content’ appears under the DAZ Studio Content Directory.

If you don’t actually have Poser installed, you will still need to have ‘Program Files>DAZStudio>Content’ included under the Poser Content Directory (which is indicated in red).

Step 3

To make your things easier to find, go to (View> Tabs > Content). Click the triangle icon In the upper-right corner of the tab (indicated in red) and change View Categories Quick Start to View Folders As Tree.

Navigate to the ‘Dystopia 6×6 11-20~ found under Content > Figures > Dystopia > City Blocks. Drag the icon into your workspace. The ‘readme’ file in the Dystopia download folder tells you where to access new content.

Step 4

Apply MAT preset by dragging the ‘DystopiaCB mats 03 NoRaytrace Cloud’ material icon Into the workspace – found under DAZStudio>Dystopla>City Blocks. Now go Export, selecting Universal 3D from the Format menu and Save, accepting the default settings in the next dialog box.

The export process will take a while, so have some patience. You can also export directly to Photos hop using DAZ’s Studio 3D Bridge plug-in, but we found exporting/importing quicker and more reliable on complex models.

Step 5

Launch Photoshop CS3 Extended and create a new landscape document 345 x 297mm with a resolution of 300dpi in RGB mode. Import the model by going Layer>3D Layers > New Layer From 3D File and navigate to your exported city. Importing complex models will take a few minutes.

When the import has finished, you’ll see a 3D layer indicated by a cube icon with its textures as sub-layers. Double-click the City layer to activate 3D mode and the tool bar changes.

Step 6

With the default Edit the 3D Object icon (indicated In red) you can view the tools :

• A – returns the object to its original position
• B – rotates it
• C – rolls it
• D – drags It
• E – slides it
• F – scales it
• G – lets you can manually enter coordinates
• H – is a pop-out View menu
• T – deletes the current view
• J – saves the current view
• K – is a pop­ out Lighting and Appearance menu
• L – is a pop-out cross­ section menu
• M – shows animation settings
• N – cancels the transformation
• O -commits the transformation.

Step 7

while still In 3D mode, go to the Light Settings drop-down menu and select Day Lights. Select the Edit the 30 Object icon and use the drop-down menu to enter a Position of X = 3589B, Y = 602.5 and Z = 176.1, then an Orientation of X = 0, Y = 0 and Z =; 90.

Enter a Scale of 2 for the X, Y and Z ranges. You could edit the object using the tools directly In the workspace, but because the model is complex it’s a little sluggish.

Step 8

Toggle to the camera settings and enter a Position of X = -343. Y = -1850 and Z = 8604, then an Orientation of X = -99.91, Y = -1.7 and Z = 120.62. Also ensure the Field of View is set to 57.52 mm lens.

You could use the camera tools directly in the workspace. When you’re done make a note of the settings and hit the tick icon to accept the transformations.

Step 9

Duplicate the ‘City’ layer, activate 3D mode and enter a Position of X = -1211.8, Y = -247_6 and Z = 432,5. This is the same as using the Slide tool to drag the model away from the camera Now set the Z Orientation to 0 to rotate it.

Repeat this on another duplicate layer and pull it away from the camera using different Position and Orientation settings. Both these layers should have the same camera settings as the previous step.

Step 10

Drag the three city layers Into a new group folder, then open ‘Mountains.jpq’ from the downloaded files and drag/ drop as a new layer, stretch to fit the canvas and label it ‘Mountains’. Now clip a Photo Filter adjustment layer, select Deep Yellow and set the Density to 44%.

Next clip a Levels adjustment layer, setting the Black point to 19 and the Midtone to 0.61. Drag this layer into a new group folder beneath the city and label it ‘Background’.

Step 11

Open ‘Planet.jpg’ and use the Elliptical Marquee tool to make a selection around the planet. Expand or Contract the selection and nudge to fit. Feather by 5px and Copy/Paste as a new layer above the Levels adjustment and label it ‘Planet’ Scale to fit and set the blending mode to Hard Light. Now add a layer mask and use a Black-to-Transparent gradient and a large, soft-edged brush to hide the bottom half.

Step 12

Let’s add some cool detail to the sky. Open ‘Clouds1.Jpg’ and drag  as a new layer above the planet. Position it over the horizon, stretch  to fit the canvas width and label it ‘sky’. Next set the blending mode to Difference and adjust the Opacity to 35%. With Background now complete its time to refine the city.

Step 13

Revisit your ‘City’ folder and make sure you’re happy with the positioning. Highlight the layers and go to Layer >Rasterize >Layers. As our scene is at dusk, let’s bring it to life by adding some lights.

Select a small, soft-edged brush and use white and warm yellows on afferent layers to build up a subtle effect. Also vary the brush size and Opacity as you work. Adding an outer glow if you feel it needs it.

Step 14

We are going to now add some city smog to the scene, so open up ‘ Clouds2.jpg’ and use the Quick Mask tool. With a large soft edge brush to select some cloud areas.

Copy/Paste the selections into a new Group folder labelled ‘Atmosphere’ at the top of the layers stack. Set their blending modes to Pin Light and position at the bottom of the canvas.

Step 15

Grab cloud3.jpeg and drop it onto a new layer at the top of the stack within the ‘Atmosphere’ group. Now scale to suit and put it at the bottom of your canvas.

Set the blending mode to Hard Light and Opacity to 50%.  Add a layer mask and blend from the top – down using a Linear gradient of black to white. Clip a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, check the Colorize option with Hue at 42 and Saturation at 18.

Step 16

Add a normal Color Balance adjustment layer above the atmosphere group folder, Set the Midtones to Red +27 and Blue -35, then drop the Opacity to 81%.

Next target the ‘City’ group folder and rotate anti­ clockwise a few degrees and scale up slightly to compensate, Repeat this on the Background folder­ your scene should now look more dynamic

Step 17

Add some volumetric haze to the distant buildings by making a Quick Mask selection from ‘Clouds2.jpg ‘again. Copy and Paste above your previous Quick Mask smog layers within the ‘Atmosphere’ group folder. Scale to fit over the city horizon and drop the Opacity to 45%.

Now generate a selection from your foreground ‘City’ layer, target your new layer and go Layer > Layer Mask > Hide Selection. Next use a large, soft edged brush to refine the mask.

Step 18

Goto the website Turbo Squid and download the ‘SFighter’  (http://www.turbosquid.com/FullPreview/Index.cfm/ID/274642), unzip and save to a convenient location. Now Import the model as a 3D layer. as you did in step 5, and position under the top Color Balance adjustment layer Double-click the texture icon (‘CSfighter_03_CLR’) and it will open as a ‘child’ document.

Now to modify the texture. Add a Color Balance adjustment layer, setting the Midtones sliders to Red – +35 and Blue – 66.  When you’re done, flatten and save. Your modified texture will now automatically update on the model.

Put the spacecraft in a new group folder under the top Color Balance adjustment layer and label it ‘Vehicles; activate 3D mode and use the Drag, Rotate, Roll and Slide tools to position as shown.

Now go to the Light Settings drop-down menu and select the preset that best suits the model- we chose White Lights because it gave a greater contrast When you’re done, hit the tick icon to accept the settings.

Step 20

Duplicate the ‘Spacecraft’ layer a couple of  times, then use the Drag and Slide tools to distance them in the scene. When you’re happy, target all three layers and Rasterize them.

Next use a soft-edged brush to add some engine glows using a pale yellow on a new layer, varying the brush size as you work. Build up the effect by using white on another layer.

Step 21

Use smaller vehicles within the ‘Vehicle’ group folder. We used the ‘Scout ship’ from http://www.users.on.net/~sparky/models.htm.

Although you can use any model you wish. This model lacks texture, but used In the distance looks fine. After rasterizing, merge to one layer and use Photoshop’s Replace Color on the cockpit then clip a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, dropping the Red and Cyan to -1 00.

Step 22

Target the top Color Balance adjustment layer and hit shift/Ctrl+Alt+E to Stamp Visible (this creates a composite layer from all visible layers), Give the new layer a Gaussian Blur of 2px and drop the Opacity to 80%. Bring the foreground back into focus by adding a layer mask and dragging a Linear gradient from the bottom.

Finally, generate selections from the three foreground spacecraft, ensure White IS set as your Foreground Color, hit delete and you’re done!