3D Photoshop: Imagine • Model • Create

4. Inflating objects from photographs

As well as modeling 3D objects from scratch, we can also create them directly from photographs, using Photoshop’s inflation tool. This is the equivalent of pumping an object full of air, and it’s a great way to turn flat artwork into dynamic models.

Not all photographs can be inflated – sometimes the technique just doesn’t work, as we’ll see at the end of the chapter. But when it does work, the results can be spectacular. In this chapter we’ll begin with a simple cutout photograph of a beetle, and show what happens when we inflate it rather than extrude it.

I’ve hidden both the Ground Plane and the Secondary View, as usual, so we can concentrate on the object we’re working on.

Here’s our starting object: ...