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Create an Awesome 3D Anaglyph Poster – Psd Plus Tutorial

Nov 18th in News, Plus by Mark Mayers

We have another Psd Plus tutorial exclusively available to Plus members today. If you want to take your 3D poster skills to the next level, then we have an awesome retro tutorial for you. Learn how to make and put to use Stereoscopic 3D images in Photoshop. Learn more at the jump!

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Author: Mark Mayers

Hi everyone! I’m an illustrator and print designer from Cornwall in the UK. I’ve been using Photoshop since version 3. I also contribute tutorials for some of the worlds leading creative publications. Head over to my website where you can see more of my work.

This Plus Tutorial is Filled with Creative Tips

Before the advent of computers, the movie industry relied on stop-frame or stop-motion animation to bring their monsters to life; special effect artists such as Ray Harryhausen used this technique on classics such as "One Million Years BC" and "The Valley of Gwangi". The 1950s also witnessed a 3D movie explosion — and Hollywood's recent 3D revival means moviegoers of today can experience the next generation of 3D technology.

In this tutorial, we'll take inspiration from these movies of yesteryear and recreate a retro B-movie styled poster. I'll walk you through entire creation process, step-by-step using photography and 3D renders. Then we'll take a jump into the third-dimension — by adding effects only visible when viewed through anaglyph 3D glasses. So hold onto your seats, because stunning sights really will leap at you in 3D — just as the poster says!

Tutorial Details

  • Program: Adobe Photoshop CS3 or later
  • Difficulty: Advanced
  • Estimated Completion Time: 6 hours

A preview of the final image is below.

Professional and Detailed Instructions Inside

Plus members can Log in and Download! Otherwise, Join Now! Below are some sample images from this tutorial.

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PSD Plus Membership

As you know, we run a premium membership system here called 'Plus' that costs $9 a month (or $22 for 3 months!) which gives members access to the Source files for tutorials as well as periodic extra tutorials, like this one! You'll also get access to Net Plus and Vector Plus, too. If you're a Plus member, you can log in and download the tutorial. If you're not a member, you can of course join today!

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User Comments

( ADD YOURS )
  1. PG

    AEVION November 18th

    That’s a neat concept! I wish I had some 3D glasses to try it out!

    ( Reply )
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      Wong December 20th

      i m selling 3D glasses. Do you have interest to buy? 1 for RM20, 2 for RM35 and 3 for rm50. The price are excluding postage fee. Anything can contact to my email.

      ( Reply )
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    Benjamin Reid November 18th

    This looks great! Especially if 3D advertisings pokes it way into the mainstream + I love dinosaurs.

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      kiran December 28th

      yes

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    The Amazing Spider-Ads November 18th

    Okay, I magic-eyed the red and green photos side by side and saw NO 3D elements at all… can someone who can view the tutorial confirm whether or not there’s a parallax difference between the green and red images, which would be required to have an actual 3d viewing experience? Rule of thumb = things that are closer to you should have each side further apart, things that are farther away should be have each side closer.

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      Margaret November 18th

      there is a difference. You have to download the actual tut. It’s quite detailed.
      This looks like something fun to do, have no idea when I’ll have enough time for it though.

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    Margaret November 18th

    Everything is 3D these days. My friend who is a Tattoo Artist has a client that wants a tattoo in this style. And it’s totally doable!

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      aaustin November 19th

      THAT is freakin awesome!!!

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    jgjdksjgdg November 18th

    OMG dis rox!!!!1111one1
    i liek saw a film teh ova day n it woz in 3d!
    it woz up n i got glasses n evryfink!
    n on channel 4 dis wek it all 3d!!!!11

    gd job m8!

    :)

    ( Reply )
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      Templeton Peck November 18th

      Please ban this guy from posting to the Tutsplus.com community.

      ( Reply )
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      spiderm0nkey November 18th

      Would you stop spamming your stupid dA account, you immature attention seeker. Find a REAL way to advertise your art rather than spamming it.

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        Margaret November 18th

        Agreed, the sad part is that his art is decent. He shouldn’t need to spam just to get page views.

      2. PG

        tomahowk November 19th

        You guys could flame him down, about page views and stuff, but aren’t tutorials here to push people to make their own art? Readers showing their art created following a specific tutorial to the creator should give the creator of a tutorial a “rewarded” feeling. If I write a tutorial for some site or whatever I’d be happy to see what my readers would have made of it. IMO you should not bash him down.

    3. PG

      Benjamin Reid November 19th

      His artwork has nothing to do with this tutorial, hence why it’s spamming.

      ( Reply )
    4. PG

      g3niuz November 19th

      umm…
      what has this to do with the tutorial ?

      ( Reply )
    5. PG

      devdsine November 19th

      omg! he’s again!

      ( Reply )
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        robbie November 20th

        yea, his art is good but the spamming makes him look like and ass.

  6. PG

    RUGRLN November 18th

    Cool but like y the glasses red and green, my ones are red and blue…

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  7. PG

    Steven Williams November 18th

    Looks like a fun tutorial. Will have to try this time.

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    FaNtA November 18th

    Exactly what I’ve been searching for!
    Ordered 3D Glasses last week :D

    NOSTALGY!
    And btw…Gonna get an Anaglyph Spaceinvader Tattoo aswell ;)

    ( Reply )
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    spiderm0nkey November 18th

    Well! I got paid today and signed up for a Plus account so I’m damn excited about this one! I’ll give it a go and see if it works. Sister has some 3D glasses lying around somewhere.

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    designfollow November 18th

    great

    thank you

    ( Reply )
  11. PG

    Alvaro November 18th

    I worked on this style before but without a plug in, really worth to try this!

    ( Reply )
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      Mark Mayers November 18th

      Thanks Alvaro,

      It was done entirely within Photoshop, without any third party plug-ins. I’d also be interested in how the effect would appear when converted to CMYK and commercially printed. From what I’ve seen in 3D comics and magazines, I think the 3D effect would be slightly ‘watered down’, due to the limitations of the CMYK print process. I’ve also heard that using two spot colours, or special inks (a red and greeny blue) helps, but that works out expensive!

      ( Reply )
  12. PG

    Carson November 18th

    Doesn’t look very 50’s at all, but the techniques are awesome.

    ( Reply )
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      ali November 18th

      true

      ( Reply )
  13. PG

    Marcos November 18th

    Looks great, very useful tutorial

    ( Reply )
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    Amatatomba November 18th

    Those people were used in a slightly similar but non-3D design I think. Not that that’s bad, just thought I’d point it out.

    This is really cool looking. I wish I was a Plus member. Might be something I should ask for for Christmas.

    ( Reply )
  15. PG

    David Moreen November 18th

    Hah, that is cool. I’m going to pick up a pair of 3D glasses from the dollar tree and check this on out.

    ( Reply )
  16. PG

    flora November 19th

    I neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed this :(

    ( Reply )
  17. PG

    Anton Agestam November 19th

    I think this looks really crappy! Just me?

    ( Reply )
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      NoName November 19th

      No, I think so as well. This site hasn’t been delivering at ALL the past few weeks, as far as tutorials go. They’ve gone down in quality, and they’ve posted tutorials that none of us will ever use. This 3D tutorial doesn’t even work for 99% of the people trying it because almost nobody owns a GREEN AND RED pair of 3D glasses – - they own a RED and BLUE pair of glasses, which won’t work on this, and it’s easier said than done to say “Just switch the green and blue”. They should start adding more text effects and photo manipulation instead of worthless comic book covers nobody will ever use.

      ( Reply )
      1. PG

        MidnightOne November 20th

        Agreed. This is the most bullshit tutorial as long as one of those, you can look at only final image and understand how it’s done and…. It’s plus???
        Bravo psdtuts, you are loosing audience… Try to hire more experienced people.
        Ps: the most interesting plus tut was about destroying a building, it’s really worth money. :)

  18. PG

    g3niuz November 19th

    dont know what to think about – but could be useful ;D

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  19. PG

    Kyle Cotter November 19th

    Mike Kus from Carsonified in his presentation at FOWD made most of his slides 3D. The audience had to wear glasses for his presentation. I thought it was cool. I think this is cool too. I have not dealt with 3D on the web much before, but there is this article and then http://mikekus.com/3d/ where it is 3D. It can be useful in certain areas.

    ( Reply )
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    Web 2.0 November 19th

    People have forgotten this 3d glasses although its pretty cool… they were popular 10 years ago but now I can see them no where :(

    ( Reply )
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    Mark Mayers November 19th

    To view the 3D effect properly, you’ll need the traditional red/green glasses. My glasses were supplied with a recent DVD film release. At the time of writing I did not have a pair of the red/blue ones. On further investigation I see the lenses are reversed on the red/blue glasses.

    As a workround, for those of you who have the red/blue glasses, just turn them upside down and you’ll see the 3D effect. Sorry for the confusion!

    ( Reply )
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      Jim C. November 20th

      I like the effect and the retro feel to it. No Plus Account so I’ll never see the tutorial but I DO like the poster.

      But I have been around for a long time and have never seen red and green 3-D glasses. Ever. Not in my 1966 Batman activity book and not in my kid’s 2009 3-D online role playing game…And never in between.

      Could it be a regional thing? Or by country maybe? Anyway, Nice concept. Making the man and woman in the front a little grainier might improve the 1950-ish feel though. Just a thought… Thanks!

      ( Reply )
      1. PG

        Mark Mayers November 20th

        I’m in the UK and have two DVD films that have been released just this month and both come supplied with red/green 3D glasses.

        As I mentioned, if you’ve got the red/blue 3D glasses, just turn them upside down or bend the arms in the opposite direction – because the lenses on these versions are transposed.

  22. PG

    pter November 19th

    Damn good,,,

    i hope i’m member…lol

    but now,,,i’m feel dizzy… 3d effect…zzzzz

    (@.@)

    ( Reply )
  23. PG

    henrique November 21st

    dont like

    ( Reply )
  24. PG

    Ramses November 24th

    does somebody know the technique for 3d effect, but not with colours like blue and red or green and red… But with gray glasses en gray double layers, does somebody know about that??? If you don’t use the glass it looks like you seeing triple!

    ( Reply )
  25. PG

    Ramses November 24th

    And why is the green layer, green with blue and the red layer real red??

    ( Reply )
  26. PG

    xRommelx November 27th

    great job bro!!!

    ( Reply )
  27. PG

    André November 30th

    Try this people:
    Shot 2 pictures, the target of the camera needs to be exactly the same, but the space bettwen the shot one and two need to be about 5~10cm (you will move your camera about 5 to 10cm, but focus on same target), them open both shot on photoshop (they look the same but they are not), click menu “window” them channels… just copy the RED channel of the picture you´ve taked on the left side, and paste in place of the RED channel of the picture you´ve taked on the RIGHT side. Now you have your anaglyph image…

    Create your own anaglyph glasses:
    This is the candy part, buy some tic-tac and eat it all (brush your teeth them), with some knife or scissor, cut the pack of the tic tac to create your lens, an example for RED and CYAN glasses packs are here: http://www.brandweek.com/bw/photos/stylus/46287-TicTac-2packs.jpg
    For me, i´ve created a RED/BLUE glasses, for red lens i buy cherry tic tac, and for blue lens i buy extra strong mint. I hope i´ve helped here :D

    ( Reply )
  28. PG

    Matt S November 30th

    I did it with a photo of a tarantula and it totally worked! I ordered a custom poster of it from http://www.posterburner.com and it works on paper too!

    Without the glasses it gives me a headache though.

    ( Reply )
  29. PG

    Stan Heller December 2nd

    I do a lot of anaglyph 3D artwork. The process is not hard. It is all based on horizontal offsets between the left and right eye.

    Red/cyan is the traditional 3D glasses colors. Red/blue works next best. Red/green and the really awful green/magenta glasses (re:Coraline DVD) are pretty fringe.

    Simple 3D process. Take one image and make a second copy in a different layer. In the top layer, double click on the layer to bring up the blending options. In the R G B boxes, deslect the R.

    In the lower layer, bring up the blending options and deselect the Blue and Green.

    Put on your 3D ( red/cyan or red/blue) glasses and click the top layer. If you move that layer to the right, the image will sink into the page. If you move it to the right, the image will float.

    If you want more control than that, Anamaker 3d is a great little FREE program that is quite useful.

    Have fun, everyone.

    ( Reply )
  30. good :) :D

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  31. PG

    Alex Moore December 24th

    Haha I had a pair of 3d glasses laying around and it worked. This is amazing :D

    ( Reply )
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    Mr. herretøj January 15th

    Ill be damn, this is cool stuff!!! Would be awesome to design a whole website in 3-D…. would be a problem with the glasses though, not many people have them :-p

    Thank you for a great article…

    ( Reply )
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