Note: This tutorial is written for Photoshop CS on a Windows XP platform and assumes you have a basic knowledge of Photoshop. However, this technique will work on most versions of Photoshop or similar graphics package.
The idea of this tutorial is to create the effect of taking a 2D image (the examples image will be the Dr Quincy logo) like this . . .
. . . and turning it into a psuedo-3D effect with a reflection like this . . .
It’s fast becoming a popular effect and it can be done entirely in Photoshop, without a specialist 3D package. Just follow these simple steps using this as your original image:
1. Paste the image into a 200 x 200 canvas with a #333333 background and rename the pasted layer 3D – it should look like this:
2. Select the 3D layer and then choose Edit > Transform > Perspective. Holding down the Shift key, drag the left mouse button up from the top-left control point of the image bounding box as shown in the figure below:
3. Let go of the mouse button when the 3D layer looks akin to the figure below:
4. Now (with the 3D layer still selected) choose Edit > Free Transform and (while holding down Shift to keep the aspect ratio) make the image approximately 20% smaller. The Perspective transformation scaled the image “up” – this transformation ensures the image does not degrade.
5. Now it’s time to create the reflection: duplicate the layer by right-clicking the 3D layer and choose Duplicate Layer…; rename it to 3D reflection. Choose Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical. Ensuring the Move Tool is selected press the down arrow on your keyboard (holding down The idea speeds up the move) until the top-left of the 3D reflection layer is one pixel lower than the bottom-left of the 3D layer (it doesn’t matter that the second layer overlaps with the bottom of the canvas), as shown below:
6. The next step is to skew the reflection so it look like a realistic reflection. Choose Edit > Transform > Skew. Holding down Shift, left-click the top-right control point of the image and drag the mouse up until the reflection is symmetrical to the 3D layer like this:
7. With the 3D reflection layer selected click the Add Layer Mask button. Choose the Gradient Tool and then set the Gradient Picker to Black, White:
8. Drag the Gradient Tool from bottom to top starting and finishing as detailed in the figure below:
9. Change the Opacity of the 3D reflection layer to 20%. The 3D reflection is finished! It should look like this:
And that’s all there is to it! Remember this is a technique so you can adapt it to suit your needs.