Photoshop® CS4 Bible

27.1. 3D Files in Photoshop

The two main ways to get 3D objects into Photoshop are either to import an existing 3D file in a supported format or to create an object from a layer or layers. Photoshop also ships with several shape presets that you can apply artwork or images to, as you'll see later on in this chapter.

Opening a 3D model in Photoshop brings in all that object's data as it was defined in the 3D authoring software used to create it — the vertices and polygons that define its structure, and the textures (if any) that give it its color. Once that data is in Photoshop, you can transform the object, paint or modify textures that have been applied to it, and add lighting effects to it. 3D objects also have a "camera" that you can manipulate to view the model from different vantage points. Using the keyframing techniques described in Chapter 26, you can even animate properties of 3D layers and cameras, and you can export your animations in video formats. You can't, however, alter the geometry or physical structure of the object in Photoshop — as mentioned earlier, that must be done in a 3D software package.

27.1.1. Supported 3D file formats

The first thing you need to know about bringing 3D objects into Photoshop is which file formats it supports. The formats differ depending on the software that was used to create the model, and can contain varying amounts of information — from basic structure and color information to full scenes with animation. Photoshop offers support ...