Tech Tuesday: Photoshop's New 3D Printing Possibilities for Wedding Photographers

January 21, 2014

By Laura Brauer

Adobe recently announced that Photoshop Creative Cloud now supports 3D printing. That may not seem particularly relevant to photographers, but you may be surprised at the possibilities of 3D printing for your business (and for fun, too).

  • Wedding photographers can output 3D wedding cake toppers using photos of the couple.
  • Portrait photographers can create lithophanes—a 3D rendering of a photo that, with a light behind it, shows a photo in highlights and shadows. A child or infant can use them as personalized night lights.
  • And, if you’re looking for a custom lens shade or other camera component, you can make your own with nothing more than a 3D model.There are limitless possibilities. (Check out Shapeways for a little inspiration.)
A 3D Wedding Cake topper, courtesy Shapeways, designer Michael Anciello

A 3D Wedding Cake topper, courtesy Shapeways, designer Michael Anciello

Granted, creating a 3D model—which is, of course, necessary to output a 3D object—may be a little out of your comfort zone but it’s possible to make your own using Photoshop, specialized modeling software, download a model from the Web, or have one made for you.

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Once a 3D model is in place and sized to your specifications, all you have to do is to choose the output destination, fill in a couple of details (such as material, if you’re outsourcing the job to Shapeways) and you’re good to go. The printing process is simple and straightforward with Photoshop’s new 3D printing feature.

I’ve only seen a demo of the new 3D printing features but once you have a 3D model, the process is almost one-click simple. Options, to date, include printing directly to a desktop 3D printer such as MakerBot Replicator as well as outsourcing the printing to Shapeways. The latter offers a wide range of materials such as plastic, ceramics, bronze, silver and more. You can also upload the 3D model to Sketchfab 3D. Embed Sketchfab’s interactive 3D viewer in Behance so others can view your 3D model.

Also check out the CC update for Perspective Warp—a great new functionality that allows users to more accurately composite images shot at different angles.

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Photoshop’s new Perspective Warp allows users to easily adjust the perspective of a composite created from images shot at different angles.

Adobe is still offering special pricing for Photoshop and Lightroom with subscriptions at $10/month. It’s a “limited time” offer and although the special offer keeps getting extended, if you’re on the fence about subscribing, the discounted price may help you decide.