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M
Matt Sk
Known Participant
May 1, 2019
Question

Old Tutorial

  • May 1, 2019
  • 4 replies
  • 944 views

Hi Everyone,

I found the perfect effect I want to use for a client. The tutorial is here Create a Realistic 3D Old Western Badge in Illustrator and Photoshop CS6 | Design Panoply

Problem is, I am having trouble following along. I seem to get "lost at the point of taking it from AI to PS. When I bring it to PS and attempt the step "With your shape selected, click 3D>New 3D Extrusion from Selected Layer. This will bring up the new 3D workspace." it gives me the following error:

Could not complete the New 3D Extrusion from Selected Layer command because the path is too complex

Also, when I bring it into PS the writing around the badge is lost (just a black ring).

What am I doing wrong? Or, is there a newer more comprehensive tutorial that can achieve the same look?

I am using the latest version of PS and AI if that makes a difference.

Thanks in advance for your help....anyone

Matt

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    4 replies

    M
    Matt SkAuthor
    Known Participant
    May 21, 2019

    Sorry for the delay everyone. And thank you so much for the advice and help. I finally got it to work. All your suggestions were helpful and pointed me in the right direction. With the updates to the Adobe suite, some of the options and functions changed a bit, but still able to accomplish the look.

    Once gain, thank you all for your help!!

    jane-e
    Community Expert
    jane-eCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 1, 2019

    Hi Matt,

    Did you do this part of Step 1 in Illustrator?

    "Expand your text and any other strokes if necessary until everything is an outline. Use the pathfinder tool to Boolean add and subtract your shapes until you have a single object."

    M
    Matt SkAuthor
    Known Participant
    May 2, 2019

    Yes, I expanded the selection. I have now managed to get it to "go 3D" but it is not recognizing the text or additional graphics. Perhaps I bit off more than I can chew haha. I thought if I followed the tutorial, this would be easier than it is.

    jane-e
    Community Expert
    jane-eCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 2, 2019

    Hi Matt,

    To expand the text, convert it to outlines from the Type menu. It does not appear that you’ve done the next part about using the Pathfinder to add and subtract shapes until you have one object.

    Newer than the Pathfinder is the Shape Builder that you can also use.

    When you are down to one object, it will be a compound path with holes where you had the text (according to the tutorial). The text and small stars are still black and have to be subtracted out.

    When you think you have it, open your Layers panel in Illustrator and spin it open by clicking the disclosure triangle. Select the one object. Is it a compound path? If not, show a screen shot with the object and the layers panel.

    Once you have the Illustrator part ready, you can take it to Photoshop. We have a PS 3D expert that we can pass this off to, but let’s make sure the Illustrator part is correct first.

    ~ Jane

    M
    Matt SkAuthor
    Known Participant
    May 1, 2019

    Ok, it wont let me edit my original post.

    Thought I would add that converting the logo to a "shape" in AI might be my issue. I say this because when I copy from AI and paste into PS as a shape layer, it just pastes a black circle. I think all the "elements are there, because when I hover over it (holding command) all the text and the star shows up in the blue "outline".

    MichaelStephens
    MichaelStephens
    Legend
    May 1, 2019

    You could also try placing the saved file into Photoshop instead of the copy/paste method. The rest of this I had already typed before I thought of this first option.

    With the artwork selected in Illustrator, go to Window > Document Info and look to see how many paths and points you have. I’m not sure off-hand what would be the ceiling for Photoshop regarding too many paths or points, but it could possibly give you an idea of what Photoshop is considering “too complex.”

    An initial thing to try would be to select the artwork then use Object > Path > Simplify to see if you can reduce the number of points. Keep an original copy of the file before you do this so you don’t destroy your work. Even if this makes the artwork look bad, see if the “simplified” version works with the 3D from Layer option and if it does then you’ll have more insight into what the issue is.

    If that works then you’ll need to go into the original artwork and simplify it manually in order to retain quality as Illustrator’s Simplify tool can tend to make things a little sketchy looking.

    MichaelStephens
    MichaelStephens
    Legend
    May 1, 2019

    If the artwork is too complex then you would need to simplify it in order to get Photoshop's 3D extrusion to work. How to simplify it really depends on how it's built since the error doesn't give you an idea of what type of complexity it's referring to. It could be that it's got too many points or compound paths.

    For the text around the badge, is it live text or did you outline it first?

    M
    Matt SkAuthor
    Known Participant
    May 1, 2019

    The lack of details about an error can be very frustrating.

    The text has been converted to outline before moving it to PS. The concept

    of "simplify" seems to be beyond me. Is there a resource that explains this

    better?

    Someone far more brilliant than me needs to make an updated tutorial on this. This is one of the coolest effects I have ever seen.

    On Wed, May 1, 2019 at 9:55 AM MichaelStephens <forums_noreply@adobe.com>

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