I posted a new video tutorial up on YouTube, covering the basics of creating realistic fabric. The actual technique doesn’t take long, but has a lot of capability for variation. I’ve been meaning to put this one up for a long time, but have had several time conflicts, and a tough bout of laziness.

So, there are tons of tutorials out there for 3D Flags in Photoshop, but they all use the Displacement filter. As far as I know, this is the first time the technique has been shown with actual 3D tools in PS. This is a simple but powerful approach to basic modeling in PS, and I hope it will spark some interest in pushing the capabilities further. I don’t think 3D is leaving PS any time soon (though it may split off at some point – who knows?), so it’s worth experimenting early on so that new tools on the horizon are easy to incorporate into your art.

I’d love to hear from others who are using or planning to use 3D in PS. Product Manager Zorana Gee is working on getting a new book from Focal Press out next month, which promises to be the definitive guide to learning these new tools. My copy is on order