Creating a 3D image from imported PNG with transparent background

I am wanting to create 3D image out of an imported file which is nothing but text with a transparent background (I have currently tried png & gif).

My reason for wanting to do it this way is because I have the "perfect" gold lettering available (attached) to me in my Adobe Photoshop program. Regardless of how much I try and how many imported textures, fill colors and tutorials I follow I cannot match the perfection and beauty I can acquire in my Adobe program for this gold lettering. So... I was wanting to import my text produced in Adobe PS, and then turn it into a 3D image of text in Xara. The problem is, that it takes my transparent background and fills it in with white. I've tried erasing it, but it is just replaced all over again when I hit the 3D button (attached).

I've contacted customer support and they were VERY nice, but they were unable to help me after several tries. So, I thought I'd place it on this forum for suggestions I had not considered.

Thank you so VERY much for any attention you can give to this dilemma.

You can only convert a vector shape to 3D (at least with a transparent background). So you need to see if you can export your text in a vector or postscript format instead of a bitmap.

You can do a bitmap trace to convert the image to a vector but you need a larger high res bitmap to get any kind of decent results.

I know nothing about web stuff, but, the image on the right looks like it is skewed and extruded, you might check your settings in both Xara and Adobe to= see if that may or may not be the case.

Yrs, what Gary said.

Larry - The second image is the result of trying to apply a 3D effect to a bitmap. The 3D is applied to the rectangle not to the content of the bitmap.

OK thanks Gary. Then couldn't he erase the white background and keep the text? I know it would then be a bitmap and not vector and the white parts in the text would be gone too.. Just a thought.

I think that a bitmap trace might be the way to go, but not Xara's, which has a steep learning curve. Illustrator's trace tool is pretty good, probably as good as Vector Magic. I understand that the latest iteration from CorelDraw is getting there, too.
Bob.

I did a bitmap trace in Vector Graphics and then had to do a lot of cleaning up to get the characters. Attached is the Xara file.

As Bob has noted a bitmap trace at this low resolution requires a lot of work. But you can play around with this.

If it wasn't already painfully clear I am very new to both Xara and this forum, but Wow...I really appreciate the help on this thank you all!

I will give these suggestions a try. Unfortunately, none sound practical in that I would need to be able to do this semi-frequently without a lot of time investment. I'm assuming that if there was a simple method of converting a bitmap image to a vector image in Xara that it would have been mentioned already...right?

You can do this but to be honest it is a feature that is just not very well developed.

I tried several ways of exporting from Photoshop and none work when importing into Xara.

Maybe MWENZ can suggest something.

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Originally Posted by gwpriester

Maybe Mike Wenzloff can suggest something.

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I will contact him...you said it can be done but it isn't very well developed. How does one go about trying this under-developed option, if I may ask?

there is a fundemental problem here, whichever way you look at it the gold effect you actually want [as opposed to a monochrome 'gold'] is a bitmap texture - sure you can make a monochrome vector of the text, but when you convert that to 3D in xara designer you are going to want to manipulate that in 3D [or there is not much point in doing it] and the texture will not automatically follow the 3D shape in xara designer - it might if you use xara 3D program, depends what you actually want to end up with

tracing the gold effect itself is one option [photographic trace] but it is 'untidy' due to the number of shapes and slow to work with, but here's an example:

Attachment 120413

Attachment 120414

no time to try to clean it up, as you can see, for example by the way the extrusion spreads out - if you were to go this way an inkscape colour trace might be better because it has fewer shapes, but to be honest, if you are going to make a habit of this I think you should be looking at illustrator, or an animation program, or at the very least Xara 3D...

I asked Mike to look at this thread and tell us if this (save text from Photoshop as paths) is possible.

well I'm pretty sure you can transfer the paths from PS to Illy and save them as vectors from there in a format xara designer will accept... not something I would usually do

the bigger question is what kind of 3D effect does the OP want? - bearing mind that Xara [and that includes xara 3D] do not actually work in 3D space, it's all smoke and mirrors using 2D extrusion

the gold texture swirls on his text for example - if they need to be in 3D then this is just not the way to go about it

even if that is not required then, like I said, you are going to have to manually map texture to the underlying vector, and frankly, life is surely too short to be doing that as a matter of course ?

ok you can try filling the vector text before extruding to 3D - much easier to work with, but there is nothing you can do
with the extrusion sides texture-wise without manually mapping

Attachment 120415

Attachment 120416

I'm uncertain an Xara product would be the correct product for playing in the 3D space while desiring to have the highlights on the gold fill. 3D in an Xara product is rather rudimentary and the lighting it has would "fight" against the built in lighting of the fill.

I think I would work the other way around (because I have and know the two products in question). I think I would produce the paths filled with color in XDP, do the 3D for the "presentation" I liked, then export as a PSD for opening in PS, redo the fill there (unclear as to if you are using a plug-in or not).

Ultimately, this could/should be done in a actual 3D application.

By far the simplest method would be to use Xara3D 7. I take it you have the font you're used creating the effect? Import your PS generated alpha png (Avoid using shadows). On a layer above it reproduce the text to match the size & position. Convert text to editable shapes. Create 1x1px sizing pixels aligned to top left & bottom right of the PS png. Select both sizing pixels and the text shape/s. Ctrl + 1 to add shapes and copy.

Open Xara 3D 7 and paste. Next open the texture options and import your PS generated alpha png. The texture should fit the shape exactly.

I didn't have the font you used so I had to draw it, thus only used 'Gold' missing out the 'Text' bit. Export the animation or still as required. Animations limited to 256 if gif used. Attached a full colour jpg still.

Here's a link to the animated gif:

LINK

A bitmap trace using Vector Magic.
3D text effect in Affinity Designer.
Extruded effect in Xara365.

To speed up the separate processes, it should be possible to save the settings for each individual graphics program.
Bob.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Egg Bramhill

Here's an animated gif:

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thanks for that egg, not got that program on my system any more - TG seems to have converted your gif to image?

I like those too Bob... given the texture is on the face only - ie 'flat'

interesting the way you 'scalloped' it out though :)

Yes HD, the gif is uploaded then the server turns it into a jpg! I've altered the post now to link to a web address with the animation.

Good method too Bob, although the vector magic step seems to flatten the texture somewhat.

First let me say thank you again to all who have contributed to this effort and to my furthered education (which is severly lacking).

Egg Bramhill I like the end result your efforts and tried to follow the steps you outlined for me, but apparently my old (and I do mean old) version of PS apparently does not have the option to covert the text to an editable shape. Let me ask...does the result of saving my text as an alpha PNG not effectively make it a shape and not a text file anyway?

I would go ahead and buy the Xara3D 7 if I knew I could get this to work. It is a very affordable program. However, what advantages does it have over my current program (Photo & Graphics Designer)?

now I see the animation that is cool Egg... if you want to screw in screws, use a screwdriver...

@myx'ra - - it is still a rectangle pixel matrix, not a shape, alpha just makes some image pixels in that rectangle transparent - once you commit text in PS it is no longer a vector

No advantages except spinning logo creation, which is somewhat passé these days. Plenty of things that P&GD can do that Xara3D 7 cannot.
Bob.

as a by-product of the spin function you can map the texture to the text and rotate it in '3D' - which you have to do manually in designer - also the lights work better, Egg did a good job on making the sides of the text look in keeping with the faces

I can't remember the export options other than PNG and GIF - if you just want an image then it would be fine for this job, but as Bob says, it's a one-trick pony - however you can often use something the way it was intended to be used, but for a different purpose..

Hi myX'ra, I'm not suggesting creating shapes in PS but in Xara. I've made a video to run you through the procedures required.

Apart from your very specific texture that follows the text it is possible to do the whole thing in Xara. However you require to use the texture flowing within the text as created within PS so it would be easier to create using this method in Xara 3D 7.

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... except spinning logo creation, which is somewhat passé these days. Plenty of things that P&GD can do that Xara3D 7 cannot.

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Passé I agree with Bob, but this was about creating a 3D still. I wouldn't agree that P&GD can do that Xara3D 7 cannot. The OP's requirements would be far more difficult to recreate in Xara Designer (or P&GD) alone ;)

I know it may seem a bit melodramatic but I am honestly humbled by all the help, thought and effort you all have afforded me. I will purchase Xara 3D 7 for the purposes of being able to map the texture to the text as Handrawn said. That has been a continual source of aggravation that I could not apply texture to the sides with ease. Also, Iamtheblues - I am glad to know that my current program offers benefits separate from 3D 7. I have often wondered since I got the program whether I'd have been better off with the 3D 7. Since then, I've grown to enjoy P&GD very much!

Egg, it will probably not be until Monday before I can do anything with your video, but I am SO grateful for a walkthrough - you just have no idea! I have NO doubt I'll need it with a new program.

Hope you all have a great Palm Sunday weekend.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MyX'ra

I will purchase Xara 3D 7 for the purposes of being able to map the texture to the text as Handrawn said.

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go for the trial first - make sure that the mapping feature offered meets your needs ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Egg Bramhill

Hi myX'ra, I'm not suggesting creating shapes in PS but in Xara. I've made a video to run you through the procedures required.

Apart from your very specific texture that follows the text it is possible to do the whole thing in Xara. However you require to use the texture flowing within the text as created within PS so it would be easier to create using this method in Xara 3D 7.



Passé I agree with Bob, but this was about creating a 3D still. I wouldn't agree that P&GD can do that Xara3D 7 cannot. The OP's requirements would be far more difficult to recreate in Xara Designer (or P&GD) alone ;)

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That's a really workable YouTube video, I just knew how to do this in PS. This is even simpler. By the way, is there any to convert png to svg or ai format? Reading vector and raster tip, I hope to make it into a vector.

thanks for suggestion but i never use how to convert 3D image in PNG extension..
i will try..it

Burnhamm, thank you for all your effort. It took me until today to even try this because I've been so buried in other projects. It is most certainly useful and I will have to play with it a little to really feel like I can reproduce it on my own, but your video really helped. Thank you!!!

I attached my first attempt which I kinda hurried through so I suspect future efforts will improve.

Attachment 120624

That looks pretty good for a first attempt.