Photoshop Retro 3D Movie Effect Tutorial

How to Create a Retro 3D Film Upshot in Photoshop

Larn how to re-create the await of those archetype 3D movies from the 1950'south by adding a retro red and blueish 3D effect to your epitome with Photoshop! A step-by-step tutorial for Photoshop 2022 and before.

Long before James Cameron's Avatar transported us to the breathtakingly beautiful earth of Pandora with its land of the art 3D, movie monsters in the 1950'southward were leaping out of the screen in terrifying ruddy and blue. And in this tutorial, I show you how to create that same red and bluish, retro 3D movie effect with Photoshop!

Of course, since Photoshop works with apartment, 2-dimensional images, we're a bit limited in what nosotros can exercise. Be we can at to the lowest degree make something that looks like information technology'southward straight out of a old 3D flick. And information technology's so easy to create that one time you know the steps, you'll exist adding this outcome to other images in 30 seconds or less!

I'm using Photoshop 2022 but any contempo version will work. Here'due south an example of what the concluding effect will look like when we're done:

The original image

The final retro 3D event.

Permit's go started!

The document setup

Y'all tin follow along by opening any image into Photoshop. I'll use this prototype from Adobe Stock:

The original image that will have the 3D effect applied.

The original epitome. Credit: Adobe Stock.

In the Layers panel, the image appears on the Background layer:

Photoshop's Layers panel showing the image on the Background layer.

The Layers panel.

Related: Learn all the ways to get your images into Photoshop!

Step ane: Duplicate the Background layer

Start by making a re-create of the image. In the Layers panel, click on the Groundwork layer and elevate information technology onto the New Layer icon:

Dragging the Background layer onto the New Layer icon in Photoshop's Layers panel

Dragging the Background layer onto the New Layer icon.

A copy appears above the original:

A Background copy layer appears above the original

A Background copy layer appears.

And then double-click on the name Groundwork copy to highlight information technology:

Double-clicking on the layer's name to change it

Double-clicking on the layer'south name to change it.

And alter the layer'south proper noun to 3D . Printing Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) to accept it:

Changing the layer's name to 3D.

Changing the name to 3D.

Step 2: Open up the Layer Style dialog box

With the 3D layer active, click the fx icon at the bottom of the Layers panel:

Clicking the layer effects icon in Photoshop's Layers panel

Clicking the layer effects icon.

And cull Blending Options from the top of the list:

Choosing Blending Options from the layer effects menu in Photoshop's Layers panel

Choosing "Blending Options" from the menu.

Footstep three: Turn off the Green and Bluish color channels

Photoshop opens the Layer Mode dialog box, with the Blending Options in the middle column. In the Advanced Blending department, look for the R, G and B checkboxes next to the discussion Channels:

The R, G and B channel checkboxes in Photoshop's Blending Options dialog box

The R, Chiliad and B channel checkboxes.

R, G and B stand for Reddish, Green and Bluish, which are the three master colors of light. Each primary color gets its ain color channel in Photoshop, and all iii channels are mixed together to create every color we encounter in the image. Nosotros'll use these color channels to create our retro 3D effect.

Uncheck the G and B boxes to plough the Light-green and Blue channels off, only leave the Red (R) channel turned on. Then click OK to close the Layer Fashion dialog box:

Turning off the Green and Blue color channels

Turning off the Green and Blue color channels.

To run into what'southward happened, get back to the Layers console and hide the Background layer by clicking its visibility icon:

Turning off the Background layer by clicking its visibility icon

Clicking the Background layer's visibility icon.

With only the 3D layer visible, and with the Green and Blue channels turned off, the image appears in red:

The image appears red after turning off the green and blue channels

The image using simply the Ruddy color channel.

Turn the Background layer back on by clicking the empty box where the visibility icon normally appears:

Turning the Background layer in Photoshop's Layers panel

Turning on the Background layer.

And now nosotros're back to the full color image:

The image has returned to full color

The total color image returns.

Step 4: Select the Move Tool

All we need to practise at present is offset the image on the 3D layer then that it'south out of alignment with the original epitome below it.

To practise that, offset select the Move Tool from the Toolbar:

Selecting the Move Tool from Photoshop's toolbar

Selecting the Move Tool.

Footstep five: Nudge the image to the left

Then with the 3D layer selected in the Layers panel, use the left arrow key on your keyboard to nudge the prototype on the layer towards the left. Equally the epitome moves, a red outline appears along one side of each object in the image. And because cyan is the opposite of red, a cyan outline (the other color in those old red and blueish 3D glasses) appears along the other side, creating our retro 3D effect.

The further y'all nudge the paradigm on the 3D layer, the thicker the red and cyan outlines will appear. So arrange the issue until you're happy with the consequence:

The final retro 3d movie effect in Photoshop

Nudging the paradigm on the 3D layer to create the retro 3D movie upshot.

And there we take it! That'southward how like shooting fish in a barrel it is to add a fun retro 3D movie effect to an image with Photoshop!

In a separate tutorial, I show you how to create a retro 3D effect with text! Or check out my other photo effects tutorials! And don't forget, all of my tutorials are available to download every bit PDFs!