Here are some of my favorite Photoshop Tips! How many did you know?

Thanks

Colin

PS Don’t forget to follow us on Social Media for more tips..

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You can get my free Layer Blending modes ebook along with dozens of exclusive Photoshop Goodies here

The post My Favorite 12 Photoshop Tips appeared first on PhotoshopCAFE.

New Adaptive Profiles in ACR Adobe Camera Raw make photos better by using ai to analyze each photo, rather than apply a blanket profile to all photos. Because each photo is unique, this will get you way better results than if you don’t use it.

Ill add full written steps here soon!

The post Adaptive Profiles in Adobe Camera RAW – perfect starting place for photos appeared first on PhotoshopCAFE.

About a year ago, I showed a sneak from Adobe MAX of reflection removal from a photo. These sneaks are experimental features Adobe Engineers show off that may or may not make it into a product. Since then, many people have asked if this will make its way into Lightroom or Photoshop.

Reflection Removal is available today as a technology preview in Camera Raw. I’ll show you how to activate and use it in this tutorial. Currently it only works on RAW files. Adobe have said they are working on supporting other file formats as well as Lightroom support. That will all be coming soon. Ok, let’s look at reflection removal.

Enabling Reflection Removal in Camera RAW

First of all, update Photoshop to the newest version. This is in regular Photoshop, you don’t need the beta for this one.

Launch Camera RAW (by opening any image. Filter>Camera RAW).

Choose the gear in the top Right.

Click Technology Previews and turn on New ai Features and Settings Panel. (Technology Previews are beta for Camera Raw).

Restart Photoshop for this to take effect.

Using Reflection Removal

In Camera Raw, here is a photo of a train interior, shooting through the glass.

Click the Eraser icon

Turn on Reflections from the Distraction Removal panel.

Instantly, the reflections are gone and the contrast has been increased as if the glass wasn’t even there.

There are some things it works on better than others. It works best on Plate glass at the moment and struggles with smaller things like eyeglasses. Let’s continue to see how it works as well as other limitations.

Notice the reflection slider is at 100. This is completely the image without reflections.

If you slide the Reflection filter to the Left (-100), you will see just the reflections.

This uses ai to understand what is the reflection and what is the subject and separates the 2. This does not use Generative AI and it doesn’t generate anything that isn’t in the picture.

If you move the slider to 0, it will show the original image.

The reflection removal works well for glass and things like shooting through airplane and car windows, hotel windows, storefronts etc. It also works well for photos and framed pictures behind glass.

It doesn’t currently work well for images with specular highlights where the details are blown out, because the ai can’t currently understand an area where there is no pixel detail. It also doesn’t work will for brightly lit night scenes.

Here is a picture of a younger me on the nVidea Speak Visual campaign a few years ago. Lets run it on this image.

Notice it removes the reflections, but didn’t remove the specular highlights from the light source.

Take the same picture without specular highlights and run it again,

A much cleaner result.

I’ll keep you updated as this feature progresses. Subscribe to our newsletter to get updates.

Thanks

Colin

PS Don’t forget to follow us on Social Media for more tips..

• Instagram
• Youtube.
• facebook
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(I've been posting some fun Instagram and Facebook Stories lately)
You can get my free Layer Blending modes ebook along with dozens of exclusive Photoshop Goodies here

The post How to Remove Reflections in Photoshop with ai Reflection Removal appeared first on PhotoshopCAFE.

A lot of people have been asking for this feature. Ever since Adobe added the ability to generate masks of people, faces and different parts of people to Lightroom and Camera RAW, Ive received a ton of communication from the community. “When will this feature be in Photoshop??” Well.. here it is!

Written steps coming soon

Hope you enjoy,

Drop a comment

Colin

The post Auto Select people and features in Photoshop appeared first on PhotoshopCAFE.

The new Generative Workspace makes it easy and quick to generate ai images in Photoshop via firefly.

You can batch process bulk images as well as use variables. Check it out in the video.

Full written steps coming soon!

Colin

The post How to use Generative Workspace in Photoshop appeared first on PhotoshopCAFE.

Sometime, you go to output an image and suddenly, the color changes. Or you are trying to combine 2 images and the colors change. What gives?
This tutorial shows you how to keep your colors matching perfectly and explain why they change, as well as how to prevent color shifts. The first part of this Photoshop tutorial, show you how to prevent color shift.

The 2nd part of this tutorial explains basic color management in Photoshop. Even if you are a beginner, these essential steps will help you work with consistent color throughout your workflow. This is not a tutorial on monitor calibration, It’s a tutorial on setting up Photoshop. This applies to any version of Photoshop.

Stop Photoshop changing colors on export

Start with a photo and you want to export a jpg. (This is a  photo, I made of talented musician, Taylor Davis.)

Choose File>Export>Save for web.

Usually it starts in the Optimized tab, showing a preview that may or may not match the original.

In this case, it’s close, but more saturated color than the original.

Here is the same image before I calibrated my monitor. The color is different but by more.

The more different this looks, the more you need to calibrate your monitor. Even a calibrated monitor, will be slightly different (with these settings) as you see in the first image.

‘

Here is another example of uncalibrated. When I change to the Original tab, it’s different again. You might be seeing these types of shifts. Which is the real color? (Tip: what you saw in Photoshop).

‘

If your colors are wildly off, or you have never calibrated your system, it will make a difference. This is not a tut on Calibration (I can do one, if I get requests). To calibrate, you will need a monitor that supports calibration. I use BenQ monitors. Disclosure, I am a BenQ ambassador, but the isn’t a sponsored tutorial and not a tutorial about monitor calibration. If about Photoshop color settings.

You will also need a device like the Calibrate Display Pro HL, If these is demand, I’ll do a tutorial on Monitor calibration.

How to view Accurate Color in Save from Web in Photoshop

Here is the first tip: Where it says preview in save for web, see if it says Monitor color

Change to Use Document profile. You should see a big difference. For many users, this alone will solve or greatly reduce the problem.

Notice how the colors now perfectly match (on a calibrated display).

The good news, even if the colors don’t match perfectly in Save for web, the output jpg or png image should still match the original.

Export as, an alternative way to export

Adobe wants us to use the newer Image>Export>Export as

You should notice the preview colors are closer to the original. The downside to Export as, is that lack of metadata and some other options, which leaves me still using the Save for web.

Hopefully, this helps you get better previews in save for web. Ok, now, lets set up Photoshop to give us perfect colors every time.

Basic Photoshop Color Management (Please read).

Within the RGB (Red, Green +Blue) world, there are different profiles (AKA color spaces).

• ProPhoto RGB supports the most colors (aka Largest Color Gamut), but not all colors can be displayed on your monitor.
• Adobe RGB is a reasonably large color space that can be displayed on monitors that boast 98%-100% Adobe RGB colors, this is common for printing to a desktop printer.
• sRGB is a smaller colorspace, but all the colors can be viewed on almost any monitor. Because of this, it’s the most common color space for sharing images online. Going to sRGB will cause you to lose some colors, so it’s best as an output file, not your working color.

There are other color spaces , such as P3 which is used by Apply on their devices and is also a good working color space for certain things. It’s a good idea to keep the original file in the largest color gamut possible, to preserve colors (in RAW, this doesn’t matter). Then work on your preferred profile for the image that you are going to output.

To view the color space in your image, choose Document profile from the bottom menu in Photoshop

Here this image is Adobe RGB. (16bpc means its a 16 bit file).

For my workflows, I use Adobe RGB and output to sRGB for sharing online and social media. (Some people use ProPhoto and their reasoning is it supports more colors and has a wider color gamut. For my needs right now, I prefer to be able to view all my colors on my monitor and use Adobe RGB and have a 99% Adobe RGB display on my Benq SW321C.

Please note, I shoot in RAW and store my images in Lightroom, so I don’t lose any color info on my originals. RAW files transcend any color space, because the RAW sensor data is preserved. If you don’t understand that statement, don’t worry, read on.

I set my settings to Adobe RGB in Lightroom and Photoshop, as well as on my camera.

Setting the  Default Color Profile

Choose Edit>Color Settings

This is where you choose the default colors Photoshop will use.

Working spaces>RGB this is where you choose the profile that you want to use. Whenever you create a new document, it will now be created into this space.

You can choose how Photoshop handles images that have a different profile, under Color Management Policies.

If the color profile is different than your working space (Adobe RGB in this case) :

Off: The color profile is removed from the image and it becomes untagged.

Preserve Embedded Profile: (my preferred choice) The image opens and the color space is unchanged. (You can manually change it with Image>Convert to Profile).

Convert To working RGB: Every image you open is automatically converted and tagged with the working space. For some people with a closed workflow, this might be a good choice. In my case, I working with different clients and across many different types of mediums, so I prefer to only change what I want to change and do that manually.

Converting Color Profiles

If you image profile is different, or to shows untagged (no color profile attached) then you need to convert it.

There is a wrong and right way to do this, If you choose Image>Assign Profile

You will notice Photoshop shifts the color as you change profiles.

Choose Image>Convert to Profile

Now you can change the profile without changing colors in your image.

If you follow the proceeding streps, you should have less issues with color mismatches.

Hopefully you found this helpful

Great to see you here at the CAFE

Colin

PS Don’t forget to follow us on Social Media for more tips..

• Instagram
• Youtube.
• facebook
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You can get my free Layer Blending modes ebook along with dozens of exclusive Photoshop Goodies here

The post Basic Color Management in Photoshop for beginners appeared first on PhotoshopCAFE.

(AKA Colin’s Gear Guide)

2024 is almost gone, but what isn’t, is all the exciting tech and gear we need to make our creative stuff.

I wanted to share all my favorite products of the year. Kind of a Colin Smith’s creative tech roundup kind of thing. There are some that I included last year, that are in here again, Why? Because some are so good

Now, the criteria for this isn’t just a bunch of things I’ve seen other people use. This is tech so good, I actually own and use everyday (where applicable, I mean, I don’t use a gimbal or 360 camera every day. But when I do, these is the ones I prefer.). There were some products that didn’t make the grade, which I returned or they are gathering dust somewhere. When I replace a piece of gear, I usually research and test many options before adopting it. Full disclosure, some of these were given to me and others I purchased myself. If it’s not the best of class I’m not including it, even if it was given to me, so this isn’t a sponsored post, it’s my unbiased opinion. (I’ll add a little asterisk * by the products given to me, so that you know). Most of these I have reviewed throughout this year and I’ll link to those reviews.

This is purely my opinion and based on my hands-on experience. Yes, there will be “what about xyz products?” and these might not be included because I haven’t had hands on experience with them, so I won’t make blind recommendations. I think you get the idea, so please don’t fill up the comments with “what about” posts 🙂

Alright, let’s go!

Best Laptop

Apple 2024 16″ MacBook Pro M4 MAX 64Gb

The 16″ MacBook Pro is a great laptop. It features a large clear screen and lots of ports including a SD card reader. The Apple silicon chip generates very little heat and is super power efficient. Even the earlier M1 and M2 chips still hold up as far as speed goes. With Apple, there is always balance of power and budget and I recommend this configuration as maximizing power without going completely overboard with price. This is a higher end setup, but you will also be happy with a lower tier for less money. Also consider the M2 Mac Studio for a desktop machine.

Review.

Best Monitor

BenQ 32″ SW321C Photographers IPS Monitor.*

This monitor is very pleasant to look at with extreme care given to color accuracy and color management. It supports 99% Adobe RGB. It comes with a puck to change color modes as needed. I can go between Adobe RGB, sRGB and Rec.709 in an instant. It comes with a hood to protect it from glare and color contamination. The stand allows for adjustment of height and angle, as well as rotation. This is the monitor sitting right in front of me most days.

Get it here

buy it here

Best Monitor for a Creative Pro on Mac

PD3225U

The PD3225U is a great 32″ 4K monitor with HDR. With a high contrast ratio and color syncing with Macs, this is an ideal monitor for Mac mini, Mac Studio and and external display for MacBook Pro, thanks to KVM mode.

Review

Buy 

Best Pro Monitor on a Budget

BenQ PD2706UA

This monitor has a crisp clear 4K display. It also comes with some great features live KVM mode and an articulating arm. You can quickly adjust the height, angle and even flip between vertical and horizontal displays quickly.  Check out my full review in this little beauty. This is currently my 2nd monitor on my desktop for daily use.

Review

Buy

Mirrorless Camera (Video)

Sony A7SIII

I went ahead and purchased the Sony A1, the only reason I didn’t include it here, is the price, its not the range of everyone.

I would take a look at the A74 which I would have purchased if I didn’t have the A1.

But for video, the Sony A7sIII is a clear choice, and the camera many have been waiting a long time for. It’s a full frame, low light beast. Shoots H.264 and H.265 and capable of 10-bit video. It can shoot up to 120F/s at 4k and can even output uncompressed RAW through its HDMI. The in body stabilization is amazing, no limit on recording time and has dual slots that can take either SD or CFExpress cards (on both slots). Auto focus is super fast and accurate and it support various log modes. Very importantly for solo shooters, it has a proper articulating flip out screen, which has touch. This is everything we were hoping for and the footage is beautiful at 15 stops of dynamic range. I’m in love with the footage on this camera.

► Buy it here

REVIEW here

Dongle/Dock

Hyperdrive Thunderbolt 4 Dock

I have one of these on my desktop right now. When you have a computer with limited ports (looking at you Apple) you have the option to live that dongle life, or you can use a dock that has it all. The best part is the dock can stay attached to all your peripherals and connect to your MacBook pro or another Thunderbolt 4 equipped computer through a single TB4 cable.

The Thunderbolt 4 Dock is designed for enterprise businesses, PC gamers and video editors looking for an advanced connectivity solution that delivers maximum bandwidth and epic display resolutions. It features two Thunderbolt 4 Downstream ports capable of 40Gbps data transfers and 32G PCIe transfers, and one Thunderbolt 4 Upstream port that provides up to 96W Power Delivery charging for your host device.

Additionally, enjoy gaming and video editing like never before with dual 6K 60Hz display support through HDMI or Thunderbolt, an ultra-fast 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet connection, and high-resolution audio with the ability to choose between lifelike 8K 60Hz resolution or 4K 120Hz resolution to ensure faster rendering with less blur.

Get it here

Portable Hard Drive

Samsung 4TB T7 Shield Portable SSD

These tiny drives are ultra fast and small. I have found these drives very reliable and they don’t require separate power plugs. They are also great value for money.

Get it here

Card Reader

Sony MRW-G2 CFExpress (Type A) Card Reader

This card reader can read up to 10 Gb/s and comes with USB C and USB A cables. It works with CF Express (A)  and SD cards. It’s fast and a solid build.

Get it here

If you just need an inexpensive USB-C SD and Micro SD reader, look no further than

UNI USB-C SD / MicroSD Card Reader 

BEST GIMBAL

DJI RS4 Pro

The newest DJI Ronin gimbal, now called RS4 is very similar to previous RS3. The arms are carbon Fiber, the battery detaches to charge without having to be attached. It can be used in briefcase mode, it has locking axes (makes it easy to balance) carries a heavier payload and breaks down into a very small footprint. The inbuilt screen provides access to enough functionality, that you can use the gimbal without having to attach a smartphone for quick shoots.  If you get the pro bundle (I highly recommend you do) you get a mechanical focus to work on any lens and the amazing Raven Eye. Raven eye connects to the app wirelessly and provides remote control over the gimbal movement including a responsive mimic and automatic face tracking. This is now my favorite gimbal, hands down. This is how you get cinematic smooth footage while walking or moving the camera around a subject.

Buy it here

See my setup video for the full Pro bundle 

Best Mobile Phone Gimbal

Insta 360 Flow

The Insta360 Flow is a handheld, pocket-sized gimbal that is designed to stabilize your smartphone camera while you are on the go. The device features a three-axis gimbal that provides stability on the pan, tilt, and roll axis, ensuring that your footage remains smooth and steady, even if you are moving around. This makes it perfect for capturing footage while walking, running, or engaging in other activities where it may be difficult to hold your phone steady.

One of the standout features of the Insta360 Flow is its portability. The device is small enough to fit in your pocket, making it easy to carry with you wherever you go. This means that you always have access to stable footage, even if you don’t have a bulky camera or tripod with you. It also features Deep track, an ai powered smart tracking, that follows the subject, even if they disappear behind obstacles for a few seconds.

See my review here

Tiny Camera

Check out the amazing Insta 360 GO3.

Action camera with a flip up screen that transforms into a tiny remote camera. It’s amazing all the things you can do with this, It has a magnetic mounting system and this camera can go where other camera can’t. Allowing for unique shots.

See review here

Best 360 Camera

Insta360 ONE X4*

The quality of this little 360 camera is amazing, and with the app you can recompose video in post to make it look like the camera is moving around. Miss nothing by capturing the entire scene at once. To boot, it has the best stabilization out of any camera I tested including the goPro.

See review

Buy it here

Best Smartphone

Google Pixel 9 pro*

REVIEW

As far as innovation, the Google Pixel 9 pro wins this year. The screen is gorgeous, the 3 cameras are best in class. All 3 shoot RAW with up to 50mp. Also features an updated Google Tensor2 chip. Comes with 7 years of updates and new features. This phone also features best-in class ai onboard with Google Gemini.

Honorable Mention iPhone 16 pro.

The iPhone is obviously a solid contender, with easily the best integration between hardware and software. World-class cameras and best of class video. The reason I’m not making it phone of year is because of the slow and lackluster ai integration. Apple are advertising Apple Intelligence pretty hard, but it’s not fully integrated yet and what is there, feels half baked. I’ll update this once Apple fully rolls out their ia.

Microphone

Sure SM7B

This thing is industry standard for podcasts and desktop recording for a reason. The sound quality and rugged reliability is legendary. All my tutorials are recorded with this mic. I also use a Scarlett solo for the USB interface. Because this is a dynamic mic and not a condenser, it may need a little boost, so I use a Cloudlifter.

Photo Software

Adobe Photoshop 2025

Do I really need to explain why Photoshop is the best image editing software? It’s the industry standard for a reason. Review

Adobe Lightroom Classic 14 (2024)

Lightroom is the best tool for working with lots of photos. Use it to organize your photos, edit them and deliver in many ways. I have always been a fan of the quality edits I can make to my photos in Lightroom and it handles panoramas and HDR better than just about anything out there. It works with 3rd party plugins so you can extend its functionality. Review

Best Music for your Videos

Epidemic Sound, the right songs, the right license at the right price. need I say more? You can download the entire song, or stems.

Get it here

Graphics Tablet

Wacom Intuos Pro M*

Wacom is head and shoulders above all others when it comes to pressure sensitive input from a stylus. If you have ever used a Wacom tablet, you will realize these is a reason it’s what almost all the pros use. The feel is the closest you will get to pencil on paper, with no lag and lightweight pen that doesn’t need batteries. The latest Intuos Pro now supports 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity, which allows even the lightest touch to register and not turn into a dotted line (as almost everything else does). It has built in Bluetooth or USB-C connectivity, so you can choose how to connect. I find the medium to be the “goldilocks” in sizes. It’s large enough to provide the precision and real-estate for drawing and not too large as to hog your desk space. For retouchers the Wacom tablet is a necessary tool, not an accessory. I sure couldn’t create the imagery I do without one and the latest release is worth the upgrade with the Pro pen2, metal back and high level of sensitivity. review

get it here

Color Management

X-Rite Color checker Passport photo 2*

For perfect color, you need a reliable source with known colors to calibrate your photos. Take a shot with the passport in frame,  create a color profile that works in Lightroom or ACR and all your photos are looking good with lifelike color

Buy here

X-Rite Color checker Passport video*

You need to calibrate your video too and this is the solution.

Buy here

X-Rite Color checker XL*

If you are serious about color management, you probably already have an X-Rite color checker. This card enables you to have known colors when you shoot. This enables you to dial in correct colors when you are editing the color of your photos or video. There was a problem with the color checker though. If you are flying a drone or using 360 Cameras, the chart was a little small to get a good reading sometimes. Enter the XL (For Extra Large). As an Xrite Coloratti, I was involved in testing the XL and providing real-world feedback. Not only was it amazing for drone work, but I love it in the studio. I use this to calibrate my cameras, Its nice and large, has true blacks, whites and gray tones as well as skin tone and primaries. The larger size enables me to double it up as a take-off pad for my drone, bonus! see it here

The Best Drone

DJI Mavic 3 Classic

It’s going to take a lot to beat the Mavic 3. Why? This little drone is amazing. It’s the drone I’ve always wanted. It’s portable and easy to travel with and has great range and battery life. This in itself isn’t enough though. I really need the sharpest high resolution photos and video and the onboard Hasselblad camera brings this. The Classic provides the same quality as the 3 Pro with a single camera for a more affordable price.

Review

Mavic 3 Classic Review

Get it here

Smaller Drone

DJI MINI 4 pro

I don’t have a mini 4 pro, but I love the mini 3 pro, see my review here

Wireless Charging

Apple Magsafe Duo wireless charging.

This 3 in one wireless charger I recommended last year broke. I replaced it with this Apple one which folds up into a small footprint and charges quickly and reliably. Be warned though, this charger doesn’t come with a charging brick, so you will have to shell out extra on tip of this already expensive piece of gear.

Get it here

Screen Calibrartion

Calibrate Display Plus*

This is the best device for calibrating your monitor for accurate color. The Display plus now supports a wider color gamut and can also calibrate HDR monitors.

BEST CONSTANT LIGHTS

Luxli Timpani 1×1 RGB LED Light Panel (2-Light Travel Kit)

I have recently been turned onto these lights. I shot my ebike review with them, if you want to quickly see the quality.

What I love about them, They are bright and consistent. You can adjust the color temp to match existing lights, or go into RGB mode and dial in almost any color you like. They are sturdy and well built. Many light panel have weak yokes, but not these. They come configured as a convenient kit that includes a sturdy travel bag that will protect them for years to come.

PS, I currently use a Gitzo tripod as well as Siri and Vanguard.

My favorite bags right now are Think Tank Airport and Hex Cinema Backpack.

Ok, that’s it for now. If there is a category that I have excluded, drop a comment and I’ll see what I can do to expand this gear guide.

Thanks for checking this out.

Great to see you here at the CAFE!

Colin

Click here to buy the products in one place from B&H Photo.

(I will earn a commission from these links, so I appreciate your support of the CAFE.)

The post Best tech in 2024 for Creative Pros – PhotoshopCAFE picks appeared first on PhotoshopCAFE.

As many people are aware, Photoshop used to support a pretty decent 3D feature set. These were beefed up in Photoshop CS6 Extended and continued through CC for a number of years. See tutorials on Photoshop 3D here. Adobe started to retire these features because of changes in Direct X and other technologies. This tutorial, shows how to keep legacy 3D working in Photoshop.

I think the most common way people used it, was to composite 3D objects into Photoshop. The advantage of 3D is the ability to change the angle and lighting to make everything match perfectly. Another thing I loved about the 3D was the ability to animate different properties.

3D is back, but in a different way. By Using the new Substance 3D viewer, you are able to position your objects, light and texture them in a much more powerful way than before. You can even generate 3D objects from text. What you don’t have is the ability to interact with the 3D objects, directly in Photoshop, nor the ability to animate the 3D. All that said, for compositing, the results are better than ever, lets take a look.

Getting Set up

At the time of this writing (it will change in the future), this feature is only supported in the Beta Version of Photoshop.

In the creative Cloud App, choose apps>beta and install Photoshop.

You will also need to install Substance 3D viewer beta. This will also install a plugin in Photoshop beta.

Free 3D library

While you are in Creative Cloud app, click on 3D & AR

You will see Substance 3D assets. Click to go to the page, it will open in your web browser.

Here you can download a number of different assets, including models, procedural textures and lighting models. I clicked on the sofa and choose download.

Open an image in Photoshop and Drag and drop the 3D model into Photoshop.

It will appear as a Smart Object layer.

Either double click the smart object, or choose Edit Contents

Substance 3D viewer will appear with your composition in the window.

You can easily position and scale the 3D object, by right, left or middle mouse button dragging. (More in the video at the top).

Position the object. Click to Photoshop and the image in Photoshop will update to match what you see here. This is where the nice integration takes place.

Choose the environment button on the left-bar. (lightbulb icon). Now you can adjust the Lighting to match the angle of the photograph.

Click on light presets to change the lighting environment, you can also load in your own HDR image and use that. This sets the light color and reflections.

Click the texture icon. This is where you change the textures and materials (a material is a texture preset). Here I increased the roughness to make the cushions look more like velvet. You can change many things about the textures.

You can choose a different diffuse color, here we made the cushions red.

If you want to use once of the material presets. click on Material presets and a panel will appear.

Drag the material onto the object. Here I used a velvet preset.

Notice a blue bar appears and says:

Replace all instances: Which will replace all the cushions, or whatever objects are grouped together, or

Apply to all Objects: Will apply the material to the entire 3D model.

Notice all the cushions receive the new preset.

All the properties can be changed including the color. We went for red again, as it matches this scene nicely.

If you choose the bottom-left icon this takes you to the generative window. Here I added the text prompt Victorian Ballroom. Substance uses the 3D object (this is the way I positioned it in 3D space) and generates a background based on the prompt. I made a tut on generative ai and 3D in Substance viewer here.

When you are happy with your 3D model, click the Ray tracing button to render it.

When happy, click To Photoshop in the top Right.

Go back to Photoshop and the image is updated to Match what’s in Substance viewer. To change it, go back to Substance viewer, or double click the smart object. It’s really easy and fun.

Hopefully you found this week’s free Photoshop tutorial useful!

Great to see you here at the CAFE.

Colin

PS Don’t forget to follow us on Social Media for more tips..

• Instagram
• Youtube.
• facebook
• twitter

(I've been posting some fun Instagram and Facebook Stories lately)
You can get my free Layer Blending modes ebook along with dozens of exclusive Photoshop Goodies here

The post How to use 3D in Photoshop with Adobe Substance 3D Viewer appeared first on PhotoshopCAFE.

This tutorial is looking at Adobe’s newest app, Substance 3D viewer. This app can integrate with Photoshop (I’m working on that tutorial next). Substance viewer can be used to apply textures and enviroments to 3D model and position them for placement into photoshop. Substance viewer also has the ability to generate actual 3D models from text prompts. This actually came out of one the sneaks at Adobe Max in 2023. This is a Quick Look, watch the video for more in-depth feature walk through.

Substance viewer is currently in beta and available for free.

How to Gert Substance 3D viewer

go to the Creative Cloud ap.

Click on beta.

You will see Substance 3D viewer.

Download it to your Mac or PC.

Once you launch Substance 3D viewer, you’ll see a welcome screen.

Ill go over all the features in another tutorial, let’s look at the Generative ai capabilities in this tut.

Click in the top right thumbnail that says: Create 3D model with text prompts.

You’ll see 2 options on the left. Choose text to 3D

Type in rotary telephone and generate.

This is an actual 3D model that can be tumbled and scaled.

It may not look like an amazing 3D model, but it serves a very important purpose for Generative ai.

Up until now, you have been able to generate with text prompts and reference images. You can sort of get what you want, but you are limited by existing photos.

With 3D, you now have the ability of get exactly the angles you want, by positioning the 3D model. I really think, this will become a very important part of generative ai in the future.

We can now. choose 3D model to image. Add your desired prompts and let the 3D model guide the main object.

phone on wooden desk. This phone, looks very similar to the 3D model, but this is now a rendered image.

Change the prompt to say plastic phone.

You can adjust the sensitivity to determine how closely you want to match the 3D object.

You can also bring in your own 3D models.

Here is a model of a DC3 that I created in Blender and exported as an .obj.

If you want, you can also apply a texture to your model using the materials. I’ll do another tut on that.

Now, I can enter a text prompt and use the 3D model that I built by hand.

Airplane at airfield.

And an image is generated to match the 3D model. Yes, its still got a ways to go, because it wanted to turn this into a jetted its far from perfect, but I like the direction it’s heading.

There are different ways we can generate too. If we choose Generate a new Look for my Model, it will make a texture for the model

You cn see it here. It’s still trying to make a jet engine, but it’s impressive that it was able to texture this well. If you have ever made UV textures for 3D models, you know how hard it is.

Let’s use a more simple model provided by Adobe.

Lets use this toaster.

We can generate an isolated subject with texture. This can be useful for compositing. I’ll show you how to bring this back into Photoshop in the next tutorials in this series.

We can add a prompt and generate a realistic image of breakfast in the kitchen from this 3D model.

I hope you found this intro to Substance Viewer interesting and useful.

Let me know, if you want to see more tut on this. (Im planning on doing one on Substance Viewer and Photoshop integration.)

Thanks

Colin

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The post How to Generate 3D with Generative ai in Adobe’s free Substance viewer appeared first on PhotoshopCAFE.

In this real-world speed test, we will find out how well the MacBook Pro M4 Max handles Photoshop as well as Premiere Pro

Here are the specs on the machines we are going to compare.

We will test a number of increasingly difficult tasks with Photoshop. We will also test rendering and encoding speeds in Premiere Pro.

The questions are

1. Is the M4 fast enough to warrant un upgrade? Or is your current machine sufficient.

2. How well do these machines perform against each other.

I hope you enjoy these tests. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Colin

PS Don’t forget to follow us on Social Media for more tips..

• Instagram
• Youtube.
• facebook
• twitter

(I've been posting some fun Instagram and Facebook Stories lately)
You can get my free Layer Blending modes ebook along with dozens of exclusive Photoshop Goodies here

The post MacBook Pro M4 MAX, speed test with Photoshop 2025 and Premiere Pro appeared first on PhotoshopCAFE.