3D Light Beams

This effect was discovered by a ‘happy accident’ and uses the 3D features inside of Photoshop CS4 Extended.

Corey Barker is Executive Producer of PlanetPhotoshop.com and is an Education and Curriculum Developer for the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. Corey has also made numerous appearances on the highly rated podcast, PhotoshopUser TV, and is co-host of Layers TV.

Tim said on — January 22, 2010 @ 6:36 pm

Hello,
I have had CS4 for a while now and have never been able to get the 3D aspect to work. I just now tried your tutorial and nothing! The 3D tool is gray–not activated.\
Any suggestions?
Thanks, Tim
Marlena said on — January 22, 2010 @ 7:41 pm

Wow now that really is a happy accident. Can’t wait to try it. Thanks so much for sharing.
david kohn said on — January 22, 2010 @ 7:47 pm

very interesting tutorial Corey. It is a fairly complex process and you can’t save the media file from this site, so it would be helpful to put the steps into a pdf document, perhaps on the NAPP site.
TheAdobeKid said on — January 22, 2010 @ 9:02 pm

Nice! I like it when an accident works out for the best.
Colton said on — January 22, 2010 @ 11:56 pm

The option ‘New Volume From Layers’ is grayed out when I go to use it. Anyone have any ideas as to why it might be doing that?
Derek Pumphrey said on — January 23, 2010 @ 12:04 am

I have CS4 extended but the “new volume from layers” is grayed out and i can’t select it, any suggestions?
jerry said on — January 23, 2010 @ 8:47 am

thanks

really nice tutorial.
i’m deffinately gonna experiment with this a little
Ahmed said on — January 23, 2010 @ 12:01 pm

Awesome as usual
Dani said on — January 23, 2010 @ 2:45 pm

Wow Corey, you are the best.thanks for the tut.
i have 1 question. Can u give me you’re photoshop background ?..with those chinese letters.i love them.Please
Lauren said on — January 23, 2010 @ 3:03 pm

Corey, dont work new volume from layers, do you know what’s the problem??
chris watters said on — January 23, 2010 @ 3:50 pm

hey another great tutorial Cory. For some reason I can not select make layer option in 3D pull down. Do you know why that is happening? Thanks again for all the great info.
Matthijs said on — January 23, 2010 @ 4:39 pm

Superb!!
JC said on — January 23, 2010 @ 10:01 pm

Nice video. When I select the two text layer duplicates, then click on 3D, the “New Volume From Layers…” command is grayed out. Please advise. Thank you.
Eduardo Morales said on — January 23, 2010 @ 10:49 pm

Hello Corey, you are great!!!! But no matter how hard I try, I keep having the “hand” tool and simply cannot go back to my text or brushes, the “hand” tool remains selected no matter what I do… I know I am doing something wrong, but i just don’t know what.
Kai said on — January 24, 2010 @ 12:45 am

Great as usual!
Anonymous said on — January 24, 2010 @ 5:04 am

Hey,
How did u make that wallpaper iwth the chinese characters? can u give us a tutorial?
PLZ! HAHA
Diederik said on — January 24, 2010 @ 7:09 am

Great great great tut veary nice and i like the fact that you try to learn more things and then show it to the public very nice!
Darryl said on — January 24, 2010 @ 7:50 am

Great idea.

Are we likely to see a full 3D Photoshop Extended title from Kelby Training at any point?
Steve said on — January 24, 2010 @ 4:21 pm

My “New Volume from Layers…” option in the 3D menu is greyed out. I’ve run through the steps you outline several times from scratch and don’t seem to be missing anything. Is there a hidden options somewhere to enable this in the menu?
Radek said on — January 24, 2010 @ 4:27 pm

Cool stuff, but could you please also make a short video on what the “volume from layers” option was originally designed for?
Mark said on — January 24, 2010 @ 5:47 pm

My new Volume from Layers option is greyed out.
Joe said on — January 24, 2010 @ 6:25 pm

Corey,

I have to say that’s one of the awesome tutorials I have seen… I didn’t know that you could do that in the 3D Photoshop option. I can’t wait to see what you come up with next.
Eleazar Rojas said on — January 24, 2010 @ 10:11 pm

Wow thanks From Venezuela my friend! got a few months following you every week! hope you NAPP guys be able to come over, that will be great!
leonardo said on — January 25, 2010 @ 12:20 am

hey i need help im trying to do the tutorial but when i select the two layers of text and then go to the 3D and try to click on the new volume from layers is not lating me so anyone that could help me thankssss
John said on — January 25, 2010 @ 10:34 pm

Thanks Corey
Daniel said on — January 26, 2010 @ 12:44 pm

So very cool. I think I will try this with a portrait!
Top Ten Re-Tweets Of The Week #3 | Design by Firgs Pingback on — January 27, 2010 @ 3:06 am

[...] Corey Barker. I have a feeling that the Knoll brothers would love Corey if they ever met him. Corey has this way of stumbling on to the most amazing tricks with Photoshop just by playing around. His “happy accidents” are “treasured lessons” to me and I know that I’m not the only one. And this one – ROCKS! [...]
Denise Orford said on — January 27, 2010 @ 6:16 am

Absolutly fabulous as always.Denise
debbi said on — January 27, 2010 @ 6:24 pm

Love all the 3D stuff
Thanks so much!
Debbi
melih said on — January 28, 2010 @ 7:25 am

new volume from layer isn’t active. how can i active new volume from layer
Carpe D. said on — January 28, 2010 @ 11:39 am

Quick question, for anyone who knows… this video is great! How can you customize your background in Photoshop, rather than using black, white, or custom color? Looks much more appealing to work in if we can tweak it like shown in the vid.
Chris said on — January 28, 2010 @ 1:39 pm

So awesome …
I think i will try this … at home!
Keep up the good work!
- Chris
em said on — January 28, 2010 @ 2:01 pm

as i got a laptop it doesnt have a command button (what should i do instead)???helppp
LeonimuZ said on — January 28, 2010 @ 2:54 pm

That looks Cool! i used to do lights with the Radial Blur tool.
Michelle said on — January 28, 2010 @ 3:40 pm

Wow, this would be so cool for my seniors I shoot.

Imagine having their name burst out of a bg like this.

Thank you!

Crud, now i wish I had cs4
do you have to have the “extended” to utilize all the features shown here? or will the standard cs4 work?
rheya said on — January 29, 2010 @ 4:37 am

wow im starting to fall in love with photoshop.. great tutorial^_^
Kim cowie said on — January 29, 2010 @ 8:54 am

That was so very cool love it,
deepeye said on — January 29, 2010 @ 10:28 am

Wow, that’s really great stuff! Especially when I consider the amount of operations required to achieve something like this in specialized 3D packages and limitations there.
One question though. Is it possible to configure the “sampling”(f.ex. that’s how that parameter is called in 3DS MAX) of the rays(In PS here probably meaning the count of the ghosted copies of the text layer.), so the beam would be totally continuous like a normal light ray?
deepeye said on — January 29, 2010 @ 6:11 pm

Wow! Thanks so much fo this one.
One question though. Is it possible to change the count of the ghosted text layers so the light rays would be totally continuous like a real light?
Bryce Chapman said on — January 30, 2010 @ 9:49 am

NIce tut……but for some reason it wont let me select New Volume from layers
leroy said on — January 30, 2010 @ 1:18 pm

Love the tutorial, but my cs4 didnt come with the 3D tool, i wonder if i can achive the same effect without useing that 3D formular…..

so am asking Corey Barker, if he can make that same tutorial without useing the 3D tool.

Help me, for i will love to try it.

NAPP Member Here
Lee said on — February 1, 2010 @ 9:13 am

I can’t select the new volume from layers under the 3D Menu. Any help? How’d you put that blue japanese writing image in the background of your work space?
Corey Barker said on — February 1, 2010 @ 10:34 am

Make sure you guys have both the text layers selected before you go to the Volume feature. It will be grayed out if you only have one layer selected.
Sirius said on — February 1, 2010 @ 2:51 pm

I really loved the tutorial, easy and cool effect
Lee said on — February 2, 2010 @ 4:11 am

Selected the two layer copies of the text, still the volume feature is grayed out…I’m using the PC version of CS4 extended…I wonder why it’s not working…
Yorigami said on — February 2, 2010 @ 5:11 am

Hello and bravo Corey,
I have also this problem, I can’t select the new volume from layers under the 3D Menu, is gray.
I’m using Mac pro with 10.5.8 version of CS4 extended.
(Sorry for my English I am French.)
frank said on — February 2, 2010 @ 6:10 pm

I can’t use the volume feature either…I asume it has to do with the limited options that my video card has…time to upgrade…
Jeff said on — February 2, 2010 @ 6:34 pm

Great tutorial. I only wish I could get it to work for me. When I select New Volume from Layers nothing happens. I mean, even after I grab the rotate tool, I can’t see anything. Ditto, the slider tool. Any suggestions?
Allyn said on — February 3, 2010 @ 10:04 am

Say, this is a pretty cool design, simple yet effective. Question: How did you get the custom picture as your custom work space? I’ve been looking for that type of tut for a while now lol.
Pro said on — February 3, 2010 @ 10:10 am

I was unable to use the “new volume from layer” is greyed out! CS4 extended here?!
avn.rocky said on — February 5, 2010 @ 9:49 am

cool !! Thanks
Natalia said on — February 5, 2010 @ 6:49 pm

You are the BEST! Thanks for sharing it with us!
NM
berol said on — February 6, 2010 @ 4:38 am

very nice n simple thnx
TonyPearl said on — February 6, 2010 @ 7:57 am

TRAJAN – Tray•juhn (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trajan)
Kiwan said on — February 7, 2010 @ 12:52 pm

Hey Chris, thanks. Question I am working on a mac book pro cs4 extended version of photoshop. I could not find the “foreground to transparent” gradient tool. How do I get it? What presets do I have to have set before I begin?
phd said on — February 8, 2010 @ 7:02 pm

glad to know I’m not the only one with the New Volume from Layers part of this… both layers selected… still grayed out… anyone?
Mo said on — February 8, 2010 @ 7:02 pm

Your tutorials are the best and very practical. Thanks for sharing with us.
Dirk Smith said on — February 9, 2010 @ 8:02 am

I have the same problem with ‘new volume from layer’ being greyed out. I’m guessing it’s my graphics card which isn’t on the list here: http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/405/kb405711.html#win3
Marizmendi said on — February 9, 2010 @ 3:15 pm

As you said, a veeeeeery happy accident…!
Thanks
Jens said on — February 10, 2010 @ 4:00 am

Got the sollution of the mystery greyed out “new volume from layer” syndrome. Do following:
1. Quit Photoshop.
2. Rename the Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe
Photoshop
CS4\Adobe Photoshop CS4 Settings\Adobe Photoshop CS4 Prefs.psp file
to
Adobe Photoshop CS4 Prefs.old.
3. Start Photoshop. Photoshop creates a new Adobe Photoshop CS4
Prefs.psp file.
It worked for me, thanks Corey. Great Tutorial.
yuval said on — February 11, 2010 @ 11:09 am

As usual, amazing!
Hope you’ll keep up the good work!
Thanks,
Yuval.
Denise Orford said on — February 11, 2010 @ 11:25 am

I have selected the 2 layers as you said ,corey and it WORKS
very many thanks,I am so enjoying myself !
Barry Whitten said on — February 16, 2010 @ 12:32 am

To those of you who have a problem with menu items being grayed out like the “New Volume From Layers” in this tutorial. I had the same problem and after some research online I fixed mine by restarting Photoshop and immediately while the credits screen is opening pressing the Shift+Control+Alt keys, resetting my preferences in Photoshop. You will see a box that asks if you want to delete your preserences. Click Yes and this will cure your gray menu problems.

You may have to reset some or all of your previous setting and preferences.
Link said on — February 20, 2010 @ 7:57 pm

Hi!
I only use the trial version of CS4 extended, ios that why I can’t do anything in 3D or should I activate 3D somewhere??
Nice tutorial
Rahul.M said on — February 22, 2010 @ 3:18 pm

Itz really awesome.i’m gona try it now………………..
Jihan said on — February 28, 2010 @ 1:26 am

This is my first time visiting the site and I really enjoyed watching this tutorial. I plan on continuing my visits to learn more. Your brilliant! Thanks!
Jennifer said on — March 1, 2010 @ 4:12 pm

I also cannot select New Volume from Layers.. and I do have both layers selected. I really, really, really want to be able to use this trick
drfoster said on — March 4, 2010 @ 6:44 pm

I have the problem others have identified: “new volume from layers” on 3D menu is greyed out. Adobe Photoshop CS4 extended version 11.0.1, Mac OSX 10.6, 8 bit, both layers selected (blue). Any new thoughts?
Johnny Graves said on — March 4, 2010 @ 7:04 pm

I too can not use the “New Volume From Layer” I am working on a new imac 5 days old with CS4 Extended. I have both light copy and light copy 2 highlighted, any ideas? is there maybe a settings in Preference that I might need to change?
Web Design Victoria said on — March 7, 2010 @ 5:23 pm

What an awesome stunning effect…I’m going to go try it now!
Geoff_K said on — March 7, 2010 @ 6:23 pm

Very neat thanks for sharing.
George said on — March 9, 2010 @ 12:45 pm

That font and lighting and everything reminds me of the twilight title haha
BonFire said on — March 11, 2010 @ 10:20 pm

Yes, I do enjoyed. Pretty cool!
Craig said on — March 16, 2010 @ 11:17 am

Great ,so far. I also cannot get to the 3D layer pull down menu….will not allow…is not highlighted….:” 3D for Layers”
Can you help with that >
Thank you
bala said on — March 23, 2010 @ 8:01 am

it’s really fantestic!
Vector Girl said on — March 24, 2010 @ 10:08 pm

Trajan Pro is my favorite font!
biowolfx said on — March 26, 2010 @ 12:28 pm

Great article, that was interesting
ferhat said on — March 28, 2010 @ 6:34 am

ı’ve everything like it is shown but “new volume from layers” is still grayed out. I’ve both selected the two layers than go “new volume from layers”.
I got a cs4 ext.
please help me solve this problem.
thnx
Brad said on — March 30, 2010 @ 4:57 pm

Very cool tutorial. Thank you…One question. How did you get the sweet graphic as a background within the interface?
frank said on — April 4, 2010 @ 2:11 am

New Volume from layers!
I could not use this feature on my old laptop with intel onboard video…got a new one with dedicated graphics…it’s a windows7 64bit PC… and photoshop automatically installed 2versions (32 and 64bit)…I tried the 64 version and it was greyed out again!! Tried the 32bit version and finally it worked!!!
I think this feature is not yet supported in the 64 bit version.
Make also sure your graphics card supports open GL: On the PC version go to Edit/preferences/performance../make sure the box for ‘enable openGL drawing’ is checked.
Dino said on — April 6, 2010 @ 2:23 am

How’d you put that blue japanese writing image in the background of your work space?

http://www.layersmagazine.com/art-for-your-desktop-using-adobe-illustrator.html
bruce kent said on — April 9, 2010 @ 12:32 am

Great stuff, thanks for sharing
Sean said on — April 26, 2010 @ 11:33 pm

I had cs4 extended, select two layers of text copy but the “new volume from layer” is greyed out! Please help!
vitali said on — May 6, 2010 @ 3:18 pm

same problem with “New volume from layers”
Eagle G said on — May 12, 2010 @ 2:59 pm

I just popped in for a quick visit here..
Turns out it was the smartest decision I’ve made this decade!
Amazing job Corey!!
Val said on — May 13, 2010 @ 3:48 pm

Hey everyone who had issues with “New volume from layers” command — make sure your file is RGB instead of CMYK. It worked for me. Every option that was grayed out was available after that.
ajith.b, said on — May 16, 2010 @ 1:04 pm

Sir,
Very cool tutorial,very nice,Amazing job Sir, your in photoshop tutorial king

From,
Kerala
Designing5 said on — May 17, 2010 @ 6:11 pm

This is indeed a very cool tutorial. I tried it as you showed it and it worked perfectly. The only thing is that each time I would switch from Photoshop to the video and back to Photoshop, the little Hand tool would always come up and would not reset until I hit the space bar. Does anyone know a solution to this????

Thank you!!!!
tayfun said on — May 17, 2010 @ 7:00 pm

I thank you very instructive video very good hands indeed health.
Matt said on — May 29, 2010 @ 12:13 pm

Thank you very much, was a great exercise
But now I am STUCK in the 3D setting and dont know how to get out??
What do I click on to get back to my normal setting?
Thanks you.
parker said on — June 1, 2010 @ 7:29 am

The New Volumes is grayed out. Is there a reason?
Gray'd OUT ????? READ OTHER POSTS IN THREAD!!! said on — June 3, 2010 @ 3:33 am

PEOPLE – READ THE OTHER POSTS.. IT EXPLAINS HOW TO FIX THE GRAY’D OUT NEW VOLUME!!!

OPEN PHOTOSHOP
WHILE IT IS OPENING
HIT : CONTROL/ALT/SHIFT

Select YES to delete all preferences.
THIS WILL RESET YOUR PREFERENCES
SO BEWARE!!!

Yes, you will have to reset your preferences all over again….

So, before you do this, go thru your prefs. and write down what it is that you have your prefs. set at. -

Just read!!!!

OR 1st. try this. SELECT BOTH LAYERS – This is the EASIEST FIX!!!! BUT, if that doesn’t work – then try to reset prefs.
adam said on — June 7, 2010 @ 3:00 pm

still having problems with the grayed out “new volume layer” dont know how to reset preferences
Idris said on — June 13, 2010 @ 10:26 am

Hello folks.

Improvised slightly coz not everything happened as per the tutorial, that’s prolly coz i’m very new to PS. Having said that – works a treat. Been following other various tutorials elsewhere but for PS i’m pretty sure to be stickin to this site.

Advise to new users of PS – I rate me a newbie; if somethings not working try try & try again. Ensure you have the correct layer selected – i’ve found this to be biggest downfall but with mistakes comes experience.

Thanks to Corey …
Russell Smith said on — June 24, 2010 @ 8:56 pm

The 3D Tool Option “New Volume From Layers” is not active, after I select both copied layers. Is there any setting under Preferences that I need to be aware of? Thanks for your tutorial.

Russell
kohein said on — June 29, 2010 @ 7:53 am

how sad… i don’t even have ps cs4 … i have only cs3 …..
Jan said on — July 13, 2010 @ 4:47 am

awesomee!!!!!
johnny said on — July 14, 2010 @ 8:58 am

one of the best effects!! Awesome!
AGuitarFreek said on — July 16, 2010 @ 12:32 am

I did a little research and it turns out that you need adobe photoshop extended for the “new volume from layers…” to not be grey
Parag said on — July 22, 2010 @ 2:58 am

Great….idea & also cs4
emeka said on — July 22, 2010 @ 4:16 am

i want to know more!
SteveFromUK said on — July 22, 2010 @ 5:15 pm

I tried this with cs5 extended and even now still have not found a way to get this option enabled
Adrienne said on — July 24, 2010 @ 10:33 pm

I have CS5 Extended, I have reset preferences, and I have both layers selected. But New Volume from Layers is greyed out. So there’s something more to getting this to work.
Retail Fixtures & Store Displays said on — August 5, 2010 @ 9:25 am

Awesome post ,bookmark this page,thanks
Webestools said on — August 22, 2010 @ 7:31 pm

Thanks for this tutorial!
metyyyyyyyy said on — August 25, 2010 @ 7:38 am

he ihave adobe cs3
metyyyyyyyy said on — August 25, 2010 @ 7:39 am

ihave adobe cs3
Bristol Graffiti said on — August 29, 2010 @ 6:26 am

This is great, been using an older version of photoshop, still getting to grips with cs5
bob said on — September 30, 2010 @ 9:47 am

twas goooood
Josh said on — October 10, 2010 @ 11:36 pm

Very nice!
saed said on — October 11, 2010 @ 8:07 pm

How can use this on video editing that is in Avid Liquid pl lpl pl…..
Simon Steele said on — October 12, 2010 @ 7:00 pm

Absolutely Awesome. Thank you Mr. Barker, this will help in what I am designing right now.
Charlene said on — October 20, 2010 @ 10:01 am

Fantastic tutorial. Succinct, clear directions. No hair pulling, loads of satisfaction with the results. Thank you! Will definitely search for more tutorials by YOU.
- Charlene
Guna said on — October 25, 2010 @ 12:26 am

Solution for this problem is you must be working with cmyk format. Change the color mode to RGB then its working fine
Berger said on — October 29, 2010 @ 7:16 pm

hi, big perfect, Thanks, from Germany
Daniel said on — November 8, 2010 @ 2:36 pm

my whole CS4 class has a grayed out new volumes from layers and the teacher is confused can you help please
Daniel said on — November 8, 2010 @ 2:39 pm

my whole CS4 class’ The 3D tool is gray–not activated. Even the teacher is confused
Any suggestions?
thanks f you can help
circus acts said on — November 9, 2010 @ 7:23 pm

thanks for your wondrous publish!Hqq,cCeHxi,
Fidel said on — November 19, 2010 @ 11:20 am

Well… the tutorial is cool… but there is no way I can activate the “create volume from layer” option…

I don´t know why….

I shall thank any help.
Brian said on — November 20, 2010 @ 8:28 am

I’ve read every post on fixing the greyed out New Volume from Layers. Tried reseting preferences, I’m working in RGB, I have the correct layers selected but it still doesn’t work. I do have CS5 extended version…..
Ester said on — November 21, 2010 @ 9:12 am

Just discoverd this website! It works!! I have CS5…It’s just a bit different..but it works about the same!
Like..bringing the beam forward..that’s different for CS5..the “Hold the Shift key” didn’t work for me…weird..
Anyway…it’s very usefull and found another way (for me) to do this, Thank you!!!
Ester said on — November 21, 2010 @ 10:26 am

One question…The word of line that I use for this, doesn’t “ghost”..
Uhm…I can see the line behind it..than smaller…do you know what I mean?
And can you or anyone else here help me?
Perhaps some setting(s) are wronge?…
TANA said on — November 22, 2010 @ 2:52 pm

Mr. Corey Barker,

Trying to teach my class this cool “mistake” for 3D Text in Photoshop CS5 and when I duplicate the layers and copy them and go to 3D Menu “New Volume From Layers” is grayed out? WHY? This is so frustrating! I checked that I am RGB and I am, what else did I do wrong? Thanks!

T. B.D.
willt said on — December 17, 2010 @ 8:23 pm

Hay love the bob ross “happy accident” reference!!!!
Thomas said on — December 19, 2010 @ 4:37 pm

Dear Corey
At first i want to say that you do an awesome job with your tutorials.
I encountered the problem that if i try to rotate the 3d “lights” the background goes to transparent isntead of staying black. I hope you can clarify that for me.

Thanks in advance
suman said on — December 20, 2010 @ 9:50 pm

nice tutorial i like .can u send other tutorial this my id nishchal2006@yahoo.com plz help me
Jose M Ramirez said on — December 30, 2010 @ 4:11 pm

Very excelent tuto, thank a lot!
Claude said on — January 9, 2011 @ 2:02 pm

Hi Cory,

Thank you for another great tut! I am at the 3 minute 20 sec part of this tut where you are dragging the shadow back and forth. I’ve selected the 3d slide tool to move it forward. Once I hit the shift key the background turns transparent and the shadow does not move. It does move if I do not use the shift, but the background still turns transparent. Any suggestions?

Thanks in Advance,
Claude
Slic said on — January 9, 2011 @ 11:57 pm

Awesome! Works great in CS5.
Thiago Gonçalves said on — January 10, 2011 @ 6:29 am

Awesome effects, I’ve been trying to do the same, I actually did, with the same configurations, but when I select the copied text layers, the option “new volume from layers…” is not available so I can do the 3d effect, so what am I missing? i use CS5.
Thiago Gonçalves said on — January 12, 2011 @ 7:23 am

Awesome, I did it after resolve the “new volume from layers” problem (making another user) great effects dude, cya
John Apples said on — January 20, 2011 @ 1:46 pm

This is very excelent, thanks a lot!
nas agoub said on — January 30, 2011 @ 4:29 am

thanks for all
Kim Simmons said on — January 30, 2011 @ 11:19 am

While the tutorial is absolutely fantastic, going step by step I find it totally lacking in the ability to follow correctly, which is abnormal for your tutorials. As an example you say hold down the shift key but when I do nothing happens while in the 3D zoom tool. but if I do not hold down the shift key I can zoom the type. However it appears your zoom and my zoom do not match at all. Your type is seriously zooming while mine did not have the zooming effect anywhere close to yours. ( your type looked like warp 10 mine looked like warp 5.
I feel you have settings someplace beyond the normal setting / default settings which enabled you to make this happen. Great effect just have to figure out what your settings might be to get anywhere close-major issue.
Kurt said on — February 6, 2011 @ 8:51 pm

I’ve done this a couple of time and love how it looks. The final effect of the extended light looks pixilated/choppy.. I find the radial blur filter done on the extruded layer fixes this perfectly.
mahmoudsaff1991@yahoo.com said on — February 21, 2011 @ 10:54 am

very n!!!!!!!!!!!!!ceeeee
Mike said on — February 26, 2011 @ 2:03 am

I got thwarted at Step One: selected 2 layers, pulled down “3d” menu, the “Create Volume From Layers” command is greyed out. Have tried this several times, e.g. with a text layer and its clone. Nothing works. What am I missing?
YUSHIYUKI said on — March 3, 2011 @ 10:58 pm

I try everything for this tutorial, but i can’t still activate the GRAY for the “new Layer volume”
SS said on — March 9, 2011 @ 1:43 pm

Wondering why the 3D from volume is still greyed out with CS5? Still no answers from anyone, and this question is haunting without any answers. I use dicom files and would like to see the layers of MRI images as “open as volume” which is greyed out. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated and thank you.
Chris said on — March 28, 2011 @ 1:54 pm

Make sure you using RGB. It will not work if you are using CMYK.
ssss said on — April 4, 2011 @ 1:36 pm
Rick said on — April 4, 2011 @ 11:16 pm

I am using Photoshop CS4 Extended and my “New Volume From Layers” is grayed out as well?
Tom said on — April 23, 2011 @ 11:38 pm

Excellent tutorial. It allowed me to breathe some new life into this photo – http://bit.ly/dNDrtc
GESI said on — April 27, 2011 @ 5:13 pm

WHY MY 3D PANEL IS NOT ACTIVATED?
Web dizajn Crna Gora said on — May 17, 2011 @ 6:26 am

Really nice, thank you
Alex said on — May 27, 2011 @ 8:09 pm

How come my “light” seems to be pixelated??
Photoshop Tutorialok said on — June 1, 2011 @ 1:53 am

Nice and clear tutorial guys, thanks!
Abi said on — June 2, 2011 @ 5:44 am

This is a wonderful tutorial! I started it and I can’t wait to finish it! But as everybody else has said the “New Volume from Layers” on the 3D menu is greyed out. I use Photoshop CS5 Extended, and I am in RGB colour mode. I also tried that ctrl+alt+shift, but that didn’t work either. Just wondered if anybody else knows why this is? Thanks a bundle!
Luke watts said on — June 8, 2011 @ 6:27 am

Very nice tutorial.Clear process and thanks for sharing
Josh said on — July 24, 2011 @ 1:01 pm

EVERYONE WHO CAN’T SELECT THE 3D VOLUME BUTTON!!!
Solution, as posted by VAL, and worked for me…
make sure your file is RGB instead of CMYK. It worked for me. Every option that was grayed out was available after that.
Adam said on — August 15, 2011 @ 2:50 am

I have the same problem with “new volume from layers” greyed out and before you respond with the same old “fixes” I have reset my preferences, I’ve renamed the preference file to create new ones, my file is in RGB mode, and both layers have been selected, and I’m using CS4 extended version. This is the only issue I’ve had with PS so far and I have done quite a bit of 3d work in CS4 lately so I know that my GPU supports it. Also my video drivers are up to date so that isn’t the issue.

This is going to drive me nuts as I want to do this effect!
Ray said on — August 20, 2011 @ 8:41 pm

(step at 2:20) My canvas goes transparent when I’m about to rotate the text…please help! Thanks!
Corey Barker said on — August 24, 2011 @ 9:36 am

Under the 3D menu there is an item called Auto-Hide Layers for performance. Uncheck this item and it will stop.
Mark said on — August 25, 2011 @ 4:50 pm

Excellent tutorial. Thank you very much for the accidental discovery.
Errol said on — August 29, 2011 @ 3:49 am

nice tutorial but i just watched it because i dont have cs4 i just have cs3
Claud Hald said on — September 24, 2011 @ 4:29 am

Hello there, You’ve done a fantastic job here. I am here for the first time. I found this website and I find It really useful & it helped me out very much. I hope to give something back and aid others like you aided me. Thank you.
Xenon Lamps Bulbs said on — October 4, 2011 @ 4:20 pm

What a nice tutorial it is . i learn many things
Flavius @ iPhone Unlocker Pro said on — October 6, 2011 @ 3:42 am

Thank You Very Much. This was a good read. Regards Tina C. Martinez
Tampa Rama said on — October 22, 2011 @ 1:58 pm

Well, you fail…. why not use 3ds max to get absolutely realistic + 100 times better effect?
HARTAINCADVIT said on — October 22, 2011 @ 11:43 pm

KOVAL ! why do you only respond to people who threaten to unsubscribe… what about me….Id like a shout out too ….I watched all your videos….TWICE…..i loved you when you weren’t? famous…. *sigh*
vasu said on — October 28, 2011 @ 3:42 pm

Hey what about cs5 extended
Wade Ochinang said on — October 29, 2011 @ 2:56 am

But wanna remark that you have a very decent internet site , I like the style and design it really stands out. Thank you, very much.