Lesson 10: Changing the 3d Orientation of a Bed for Design Boards.

In the previous lesson, we talked about how to take an armless chair from a common 3 quarter front view and turn it into a not so common 3 quarter, back view, making a complete set.

In the following tutorial, I am going to take a 3 quarter view of a bed, commonly found in stores like West Elm or Restoration Hardware, and then manipulate it into a profile view.   We’ll look at some new tools, hotkeys, and tricks to speed up the turntable workflow.   If you get stuck along the way, have a new idea for a tutorial, or just want to show your support I would love to hear from you in the comments section below.   The 3d room used in this tutorial was created by the living room design Kit.  

  A downloadable template made for designers.

Intro

The Bed, 3 quarter to profile.

Now having this bed as a 3 quarter angle is great if for some reason we didn’t need to put it into the orientation of a 3D style board.   But, here at The Design Cure, we make 3D style boards to impress our clients.   So, we’ll need to know how to take this 3 quarter view and adjust its perspective to fit any custom room the job demands.

Import the Image

To get started I will drag the .PNG file from my desktop directly into my Photoshop Interface. You’ll see that my Image has no background.    For a review on how to remove backgrounds from product images check out lesson 6 where I go over a few methods.    

Duplicating the original layer (non-destructive Photoshop workflow)

This is just like how we dealt with the table, chair, and curtains in the previous lesson.   I’m going to start by duplicating the bed layer so that I can always go back to the original if I end up destroying the one I’m about to manipulate.   This is also known as a non-destructive workflow.

3D Theory with Planar Surfaces

When thinking about a piece of furniture in 3d, it’s geometry can be can be broken down and described in 3 simple Axis points X, Y, and Z.

In this case, Since we are putting this bed into a profile view.   – We can look at the entire bedside as being on the X-axis.

– The front of the bed will be stretching along the Z-axis.

– And the Y axis is any part that is extending vertically.

Thinking of a piece of furniture in this way will really help you decide which parts of your furniture will need to be segmented and manipulated separately from other parts.   The goal is to create a few segments as possible to save time and keep things simple.

Segmenting

X axis

Along the side of the bed, we will use the marquee tool to select any part of the bed that is extending along the X-axis.  

Z axis

Along the front side of the bed, we will select and segment any part of the bed that is extending along the X-axis.  

Y-axis

Any part of the bed extending vertically, in a situation where the beds perspective is changing in a vertical way (looking down or looking up at the bed).   We would select the segments extending vertically and put them on their own layer as well.   Since the point of view here is centered in the horizon (meaning were not looking up or down at the scene). We won’t need to worry about the Y-axis very much if at all during this tutorial.   Once each axis has been segmented its time to put each one of these segments on its own layer.   As you select each segment hit “Cmnd, J” from the original layer and your selection will become its own layer.   You usually want to do this for the X, Y, and Z axis points when working in a 3 point perspective.   But since we are only working in a one-point perspective there is not needed to worry about the Y-axis.   Now that we have all the layers segmented its time to group the layers into one. Select the layers and hit “Cmnd G” to group the bed.

Fit to size

Now that we have everything segmented and grouped, with the group selected hit CMND T to bring up the transform tool.   Now all you need to do is scale the bed down to fit the approximate size of your room or design board.  

  Once you have found the right size, turn off everything but the X-axis layer (The one running along the side of your bed).   We will now take the side and put it into a profile. (see the video for specifics).    

  Size the bed and adjust the beds perspective to fit the bedroom.  

  Lengthen the bed into the bedroom.     Next, we will work with the Z axis, the depth or width of the bed.   For this, we need to first turn on the “extras” or perspective lines within your document.   If you need help figuring out perspective lines check out lesson 2. 

  With the “z” (or front) side of the bed selected hit” Cmd T ” to open up the free transform tool, right click and select the perspective setting and then align the z side of the bed to the perspective lines.    

  After that, the bed job is basically done outside of clean up. see the above tutorial for more specifics on the cleanup phase of the bed.

Conclusion

There you have it, we have taken a 3 quarter view of a bed and manipulated it to sit in a profile view.   Lastly, I want to make sure you guys are getting what I’m putting down. Give this a try on your own and let me know how it goes in the comment section below.   Be sure to catch to the next free lesson by enrolling as a student.     Thanks again for joining me & until next time take care.