Skip to main content
T
tomaugerdotcom
Known Participant
April 18, 2011
Answered

CS5 - Wrap label around a cylinder (like wine label or pop can)

  • April 18, 2011
  • 3 replies
  • 54533 views

[This is not a Windows-specific question, I hate to exclude Mac users from this answer, but there is no platform-neutral forum here]

In Photoshop CS3 and earlier, taking a layer, such as a label for a wine bottle or jar, wrapping it around a 3D cylinder and compositing it to an image (of the actual jar or bottle) was almost trivially easy.

Unfortunately, with the advanced 3D tools available in CS4+, the simplicity of the Wrap > Cylinder option seems to have been lost.

Wrapping a complex texture around a cylinder (full coverage, top to bottom) is possible, but how about wrapping a label (especially one that has a die-cut ie: not full coverage)?

A couple of quick searches have surprisingly turned up no tutorials on the subject. Has what was once such a simple technique become so technical and obscure?

Can someone point me to a tutorial (written or video), or provide a list of steps here on this forum?

Thanks!

      This topic has been closed for replies.
      Correct answer SG...

      Hi,

      Outline for this exercise is to generate a 3D cylinder, create artwork you want to wrap around the cylinder, duplicate and modify that artwork to be used as a mask, and then arrange the 3D element on an image to composite together.

      So the basic steps I used to do this:

      1) New 1024px x 512px, RGB doc w/White background.

      2) 3D> New Mesh from Grayscale> Cylinder.

      3) Window> 3D. Select the material 'Background'.

      4) In the lower section of that 3D panel, select the Opacity texture pop-up and choose 'Remove Texture' (you will be adding one back in step 10).

      5) In the same area select the Diffuse texture pop-up and choose 'OpenTexture...'

      6) Here's where you add the label graphics that you want bending around the cylinder. I used a text layer w/stroke layer style for this example.

      7) When you have the artwork as you want it, Layer> Duplicate Layer... to a new file.  This new file will be used for the Opacity texture which masks off the area of the label to give you irregular shapes (ie. die-cut).

      8) Select all the layer pixels and change them to white, then on a new layer below fill it black. This is your new Opacity map. Save it to a working directory for use in the next step, and close the file. Also save and close the artwork file from step 5/6 (it is stored as a smart object in the original file from step 1)

      10) back with the original file from step 1 (with the 3D layer selected) in the lower section of the 3D panel, select the Opacity texture pop-up and choose 'Load Texture...'. Browse to the opacity texture from step 8 and choose 'Open'.

      11) You should now see just your label artwork wrapping in a cylindrical shape. You can use the 3D Camera Rotate tool to view the various angles.

      12) now, bring in your jar image for compositing. This is where manipulating the 3D layer to align the scale and perspective can get tricky. I try to just use the 3D camera tools for this work (with global object scaling an exception). I also use the 'Shaded Illustration' Rendering preset to help visualize.

      Hopefully this gets at some of your questions. Here's a related Dr. Brown title for CS4 that demos the interaction and re-enforces the texture mapping aspects: http://tv.adobe.com/watch/the-russell-brown-show/creating-transparent-3d-globe-graphics/

      regards,

      steve

      3 replies

      SG...
      Adobe Employee
      SG...
      Adobe Employee
      April 19, 2011

      tomaugerdotcom wrote:


      In Photoshop CS3 and earlier, taking a layer, such as a label for a wine bottle or jar, wrapping it around a 3D cylinder and compositing it to an image (of the actual jar or bottle) was almost trivially easy.

      Unfortunately, with the advanced 3D tools available in CS4+, the simplicity of the Wrap > Cylinder option seems to have been lost.


      Do you have pointers to this older workflow? It almost sounds like a 3rd party plug-in (ie. where is Wrap> Cylinder option?).

      I'll  agree that the 3D tools have added a lot of power and complexity. I'll  see if Russell Brown has any tutorial's that speak directly to die-cut  label wrapping. Do you have experience or desire to use 3D modeling  apps, or are you hoping to just use Ps for this? I ask because the  'object' that you're wrapping labels on will often drive the ease of  success.

      I can try and put together a fairly straight  forward case of using Ps 3D tools to create a 3D jar die-cut label and  post here soon.

      regards,

      steve

      T
      tomaugerdotcomAuthor
      Known Participant
      April 19, 2011

      Do you have pointers to this older workflow? It almost sounds like a 3rd party plug-in (ie. where is Wrap> Cylinder option?).

      Ha, yes, I'm showing my age (I've been using PS since 1990 - before "Fast Eddy" release). After a little bit of back searching, it was actually in PS9 where they had a 3D Transform Filter - I can't remember whether it was at the top of the Filters menu or inside Filters > Render. It was a very simplistic wrapping dialog box where you had onboard mapping, orbiting and camera controls, which then rendered out a static, rasterized Layer after pressing OK. Primitive but very straightforward.

      T
      tomaugerdotcomAuthor
      Known Participant
      April 28, 2011

      Hi,

      Found it with some searching myself. It looks like Ps stopped installing it with version 8.0/CS (came in the Goodies for a couple more versions). At least for cylinders it only wraps to the front 180º right?

      I'll play with the 3D Transform plug-in some more to see what can be suggested to make the current CS5 workflow easier. If you have any thoughts feel free to write back.

      Have you used any of the other 3D features yet? Have any thoughts on where it's too frustrating and you stop exploring?

      Before Fast Eddy, wow! I was learning B&W Film printing back then ;-).

      regards,

      steve


      Sorry for posting (again) out of turn.

      Just one more thing. I wouldn't want to leave you with the impression that I didn't think 3D had any business in Photoshop. On the contrary, my original question points to a very specific need that would benefit from some clever 3D rotoscoping controls. I just don't want to create Saturn and all it's rings using Photoshop (referring here to a project on Lynda.com).

      Let's look at Tessa's question as the perfect use case. Photoshop has been the workhorse of graphic designers, realistically since layers came out. 3D plays a vital role in photomontage, photo-synthesizing, packaging design, and creative layout. I won't touch some of the other disciplines such as pure play photography or forensic imaging. So we have a real need for powerful but easy to use perspective and rotoscoping tools. Planes you could always do relatively easily freehand using Free Transform in free distort mode. But my OP - wrapping an image around a cylindrical object is another pretty basic use case that is only bogged down by unnecessary features at the moment. 

      Consider the following fantasy workflow for Tessa's example:

      - use a grid drawing tool similar to the old Vanishing point dialog to establish your reference ground plane to match perspective in the image

      - drop a normal somewhere on this ground plane: ie the axis, perpendicular to the ground plane grid, that lines up to what will be our axis of revolution when we lathe the bottle shape. We are still rotoscoping against our reference image and the objective of this step is to allow us to establish the yaw and or pitch of our scene viz the bottle we will be latheing

      - use the pen tool and trace one side of the bottle. Or maybe the whole thing. Now that we have our axis Photoshop candeduce the actual (orthographic) lathe profile

      - at some point in this workflow a "lathe" layer might be created (I'm fantasizing here so I'm not trying to figure out how this might integrate with the current implementation of 3d)

      - we grab our label and "group" it with the lathe layer a la Clipping Group where the lathe layer is the base layer in the group and the textures are indented above it in the layers palette.  This causes the label layer to be wrapped around the shape. Now we can use the move tool or free transform tool and position the label within the surface topology of the base layer - a toggle on the layers palette a la Visibility switch allows me to see the label layer unmapped ie flat, or mapped a la 3D paint on surface.

      - at my discretion I can use the default lighting and surface settings. Or I can invoke q Global Lighting setting that maps to the f/x palette's Global Light setting for drop shadow and emboss (that would be pure genius to have a global lighting palette that allows multiple ligtsources on Layer Effects as well as 3D layers (or the 2.5D layer that I am suggesting here)

      - an additional callout on my label layer allows me to access advanced texture properties using an interface identical in it's implementation to the layer f/x workflow and dialog boxes.

      What's compelling in this little scenario is that it all feels very Photoshop-y. I have to learn a few new things but not an entire new workflow. This approach leverages off of familiar user interfaces, is tightly related to other core Photoshop concepts and just represents an enhancement as opposed to an entirely new subsystem.

      T

      Message was edited by: tomaugerdotcom: came back and added returns and fixed mistakes; Jive support for iPhone is horrible.

      K
      kuzus
      Participant
      April 18, 2011

      Difficult

      T
      tomaugerdotcomAuthor
      Known Participant
      April 18, 2011

      I should probably point out that I'm not looking for a hack or simulation like using Free Warp, or Shear on the visible half of the label. I would like to see how to do it using the 3D tools:

      1. adjusting the scaling of the label, and avoiding distortion

      2. changing the positioning of the label relative to the reference image (ie: how high or low it sits on the jar or bottle)

      3. in the case of irregularly-shaped labels (ie: with die-cuts) how to ensure transparency that matches the shape of the label

      4. how to match the 3D primitive / camera angle / perspective distortion to the reference object in the photograph

      All this used to be so easy and now seems like you need a background in 3D rendering and animation in order to do the same tasks.

      Noel Carboni
      Noel Carboni
      Legend
      April 18, 2011

      I don't have Extended, but there was a thread here a while back where labeling a wine bottle was discussed I think....

      Ah, here:  http://forums.adobe.com/thread/791137

      -Noel

      T
      tomaugerdotcomAuthor
      Known Participant
      April 18, 2011

      Thanks Noel, that is a fairly detailed post. But it doesn't specifically address irregularly-shaped labels (ie: die-cuts)...

      Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
      Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices