Written by Steve Patterson. Long before Avatar transported us to the breathtakingly beautiful world of Pandora with its state of the art 3D technology, movie audiences in the 1950s were wearing cheap cardboard glasses and screaming in horror as monsters and aliens leaped out at them from the screen in terrifying red and blue. Photoshop may not be able to replace todays fancy 3D video cameras, but as well see in this tutorial, we can easily recreate a retro-style red and blue 3D effect!
Of course, since the images we work with in Photoshop are usually flat and two dimensional, were a bit limited in what we can do with them, but with a little help from selections, we can still pull off something that at least looks like it was taken straight from a cheesy 3D movie. And yes, if you happen to have a pair of those cardboard glasses with the red and blue lenses, prepare to amaze your friends because this 3D effect really does work!
Heres the image Ill be using for this tutorial:
The original image.
For this image, I want the alien to appear as if hed be popping off the screen in a 50s movie theater, so Ill be applying the red and blue 3D effect only to the alien himself, not the martian landscape behind him. Of course, we could, if we wanted to, apply the effect to the entire image, but since the image is flat, we really wouldnt be accomplishing anything. Well get better results by limiting the effect to a specific person, object, alien, or anything else that should be leaping out at you. Heres how it will look when were done:
The final retro 3D result.
Lets get started!
Step 1: Select The Object Youll Apply The 3D Effect To
As I mentioned, the images we work with in Photoshop are two dimensional, so theres no easy way to completely transform them into 3D. But what we can do is select something in the image that should be jumping out at the audience, like my space alien friend for example, and apply the 3D effect only to that object. To begin then, use the selection tool of your choice (Lasso Tool, Pen Tool, etc) to draw a selection around the object youll want in 3D. Since the aliens head is made up entirely of smooth curves, Ill use the Pen Tool. When youre done, you should see a selection outline around the object:
Select the object that will have the 3D effect applied to it.
Step 2: Save The Selection
Were not going to do anything with the selection just yet but well need it later, so lets save it by going up to the Select menu in the Menu Bar at the top of the screen and choosing Save Selection way down at the bottom of the list:
Go to Select > Save Selection.
Photoshop will pop open the Save Selection dialog box. Theres no need to name the selection or anything, so just click OK to exit out of it:
Click OK to exit out of the Save Selection dialog box when it appears.
With the selection now saved for later, press Ctrl+D (Win) / Command+D (Mac) to deselect the object. The selection outline will disappear.
Step 3: Make Two Copies Of The Background Layer
If we look in the Layers panel, we see that we currently have one layer, the Background layer, which is the layer that contains our image. We need to make two copies of the image, one for the red lens effect and the other for the blue lens, so press Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac) twice on your keyboard. Each time, youll create a new copy of the image (make sure youve deselected the object first at the end of Step 2). You should now see three layers in your Layers panel, each one containing a copy of the image:
Press Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac) twice to make two copies of the image.
To make it easier to follow along, lets rename the layers. Double-click directly on the top layers name in the Layers panel and change it to red. Press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) to accept the name change. Then do the same thing for the middle layer and change its name to green blue:
Rename the top layer red and the middle layer green blue.
Step 4: Use Levels To Remove Red From The "Green Blue" Layer
With the green blue layer selected in the Layers panel (selected layers are highlighted in blue), go up to the Image menu at the top of the screen, choose Adjustments, and then choose Levels:
Go to Image > Adjustments > Levels
You can also just press Ctrl+L (Win) / Command+L (Mac) on your keyboard for the shortcut. Either way opens the Levels dialog box. Were going to use Levels to remove the red channel from the image on our green blue layer. To do that, first select Red from the Channel option in the dialog box so were affecting only the red color channel:
Select Red from the Channel option.
In the center of the Levels dialog box is a histogram (the area that looks like a black mountain range), and directly below the histogram are three sliders a black one on the far left, a white one on the right, and a gray one in the middle. Click on the middle gray slider and drag it all the way over to the right to where the white slider is:
Click on the middle gray slider and drag it all the way to the right.
Click OK when youre done to close out of the dialog box. Nothing will seem to have happened to the image in the document window, but if we look at the preview thumbnail for the "green blue" layer, we see that the image on that layer now appears only in green and blue:
The preview thumbnails show us what the image looks like on each layer.
Step 5: Use Levels To Remove Green And Blue From The "Red" Layer
Click on the top red layer in the Layers panel to select it, then once again bring up the Levels dialog box either by going up to the Image menu, selecting Adjustments and then selecting Levels or by pressing the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+L (Win) / Command+L (Mac). This time, were going to remove both the green and blue color channels from the "red" layer.
When the Levels dialog box appears, select Green from the Channel option. Then, just as we did with the red channel a moment ago, click on the middle gray slider below the histogram and drag it all the way to the right:
Select Green from the Channel option, then drag the middle gray slider to the right.
Dont close out of the dialog box yet. We still need to do the same thing for the blue channel. Select Blue from the Channel option, then drag the middle gray slider below the histogram all the way to the right:
Select Blue from the Channel option, then drag the middle gray slider to the right.
When youre done, click OK to exit out of the Levels dialog box. Since the red layer is above the other two layers in the Layers panel and weve removed green and blue from the layer, the image in the document window will appear entirely in red:
With the green and blue channels removed, all that remains is red.
Step 6: Change The Blend Mode Of The Red Layer To Screen
We need to blend our red layer in with the layers below it, so with the red layer still selected, change its blend mode at the top of the Layers panel from Normal (the default setting) to Screen:
Change the blend mode for the red layer to Screen.
With the blend mode set to Screen, the image will appear back in its original state in the document window. Were ready to turn the image into retro 3D, which well do next!
Step 7: Nudge The Red Layer To The Right
With the red layer still selected in the Layers panel, press the letter V on your keyboard to quickly select Photoshops Move Tool, then nudge the layer towards the right by pressing the right arrow key on your keyboard several times. As you nudge the layer, youll see the red and blue 3D effect begin to appear. The exact distance you move the layer will depend on the size of your image and on how extreme you want your 3D effect to be, but youll want to keep track of how many times you press the right arrow key since well be doing the exact same thing with the "green blue" layer next (although in the opposite direction). Im going to press my right arrow key a total of 15 times. Your image should now look something like this:
Remember how far you nudged the red layer so you can move the green blue layer the same distance.
Step 8: Nudge The Green Blue Layer To The Left
Click on the green blue layer in the Layers panel to select it, then use the left arrow key on your keyboard to nudge the layer the same distance as the red layer but in the opposite direction. Since I pressed my right arrow key 15 times with the red layer, Ill press the left arrow key 15 times to move the green blue layer. Dont worry that were affecting the entire image for now. Well fix that in a moment. Heres what your image should look like:
Nudge the green blue layer the same distance but to the left.
Step 9: Group The Top Two Layers
With the green blue layer currently selected in the Layers panel, hold down your Ctrl (Win) / Command (Mac) key and click on the red layer. This will select both layers at once. Youll see them both highlighted in blue:
Select both the red and green blue layers.
Then, with both layers selected, go up to the Layer menu at the top of the screen and choose Group Layers:
Go to Layer > Group Layers.
This places both layers inside a layer group which acts very much like a folder in the Layers panel (which explains the folder icon). Photoshop names the layer group Group 1:
You can twirl layer groups open and closed by clicking the triangle to the left of the folder icon.
Step 10: Load The Saved Selection
Back in the first couple of steps, we selected the object we want to apply the 3D effect to and saved the selection. Now we need to load it. Go up to the Select menu at the top of the screen and choose Load Selection:
Go to Select > Load Selection.
This opens the Load Selection dialog box. Select Alpha 1 for the Channel option:
Since we didnt name the selection when we saved it, Photoshop gave it the generic name Alpha 1.
Click OK to close out of the dialog box. The selection outline reappears in its original location in the document window:
The selection from Step 1 reappears.
Step 11: Nudge The Selection Outline To The Right
At the moment, the selection outline appears around the original location of the object, but what we need is for it to appear around the object on the "red" layer. Remember how we moved the "red" layer over to the right by nudging it with the right arrow key on the keyboard? We need to do the same thing with the selection outline. To do that, go back up to the Select menu and this time, choose Transform Selection:
Go to Select > Transform Selection.
The Transform Selection command lets us move selection outlines without moving the pixels inside them. A transformation box will appear around the selection outline, similar to the box we see when using Photoshops Free Transform command. Use the right arrow key on your keyboard to nudge the selection outline to the right the same distance you nudged the "red" layer earlier. Since I pressed the right arrow key 15 times when moving the red layer, Ill press it 15 times to move the selection outline into the same location. When youre done, press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) to accept it:
Nudge the selection outline the same distance to the right as you nudged the "red" layer earlier.
Step 12: Add A Layer Mask To The Group
With the selection outline now in place and the layer group selected, click the Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel:
Click on the Layer Mask icon.
This adds a layer mask to the group, with a mask preview thumbnail appearing in the Layers panel. Photoshop used our selection outline to define the layer mask, filling the area inside the selection outline with white and everything outside of it with black:
We can add layer masks to groups just as easily as adding them to normal layers.
The way layer masks work is that areas filled with white are visible inside the document window, while areas filled with black are hidden. Since our 3D effect is entirely contained within the layer group, the mask we just applied to the group is now controlling which parts of the image are affected by it and which are not. If we look at my image, we see that the 3D effect remains only around the alien himself. The rest of the image has reverted back to its original non-3D state:
Areas where the layer mask is filled with black no longer have the 3D effect applied to them.
Step 13: Load The Selection Again And Nudge It To The Left
We still need to do the same thing for the green blue layer. Load the saved selection once again by going up to the Select menu and choosing Load Selection. When the Load Selection dialog box appears, make sure the Channel option is set to Alpha 1, just as before, then click OK. The selection outline will reappear back in its original location in the document.
We need to move the selection outline the same distance to the left that we moved the green blue layer, so go up to the Select menu and choose Transform Selection, which places the same transformation box around the selection outline that we saw a moment ago. Use the left arrow key on your keyboard to nudge the selection outline to the left. Since I pressed the left arrow key 15 times when moving the green blue layer, Ill press it 15 times to move the selection to the same location. When youre done, press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) to accept it:
Move the selection outline the same distance to the left as the green blue layer.
Step 14: Fill The Selection With White
With the selection outline in place, go up to the Edit menu at the top of the screen and choose Fill:
Go to Edit > Fill.
When the Fill dialog box appears, set the Use option at the top of the dialog box to White:
Set the Use option to White.
Click OK to exit out of the dialog box. Since we have the layer groups mask selected, Photoshop fills the selection with white on the layer mask, which allows us to see the 3D effect from the green blue layer around the object in the document window. We dont need the selection outline anymore, so press Ctrl+D (Win) / Command+D (Mac) to deselect it.
And with that, were done! Heres my final retro movie theater 3D effect. As I mentioned at the beginning of the tutorial, if you have a pair of those cardboard 3D glasses with the red and blue lenses, you should see your object popping out of the image:
The final retro 3D result.
And there we have it! Thats how to add a fun retro 3D movie effect to an image with Photoshop!
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