Wrapping labels onto cylinder - correctly

[Netdewt]

I need to warp type around a bottle to it curves up on the left and right and also condenses slightly at the edges (as it visually does).

I have been retouching and compositing in Photoshop for 6 years professionally. I do a lot of label wrapping currently. I have figured out most things on my own, but I haven't devised a straightforward way of wrapping labels onto cylinders!

I know that Illustrator has some powerful 3D tools, as described here (see link), but I would like to stay within Photoshop. Is Illustrator the only way? I currently use the Arch warp mode, then tweak the corners after with liquify or another Standard warp to get them to curl up better, but if you go too far it looks totally fake. It also is time consuming and difficult to repeat.

http://forums.adobe.com/message/1249809

I attached an image of the visual difference between Photoshop's Arch Warp and Illustrator's 3D Extrude Effect with art mapping. Does anyone have a good way of doing this within Photoshop?

Thanks.

[kav]

Re: Wrapping labels onto cylinder - correctly

Assuming that label starts out completely flat, this would be easier to achieve via a 3d effect. Cylindrical mapping onto a cylindrical object is about as easy as it gets. I haven't paid too much attention to photoshop's 3d tools up to this point. Put through a renderer it would just need to be mapped to a shader that outputs a constant surface value (all 3d packages have one) rather than one affected by lighting. I haven't paid attention to 3d extrude. Typically extrude means something is projected out from a curve at a given vector determined by the local pivot of the selection and a second point in 3d space. Illustrator seems to be doing that. It also has the options to map bitmap or vector objects. The others use odd abstractions to describe the shader models. Plastic is probably something like a blinn brdf* or a very simple monolithic model like what is used in many modern renderers.

The mapping looks somewhat basic, but it should be fine. In a more sophisticated implementation you would have a lot of other mapping options to ensure complex objects could be mapped and pelted if necessary to grant extra resolution where something may be stretched or distorted throughout an animation. My point being they're basic tools, but they should be able to do something like that. If you had to deal with rivets or any sort of distortion in the can, it would be a more difficult job.

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/illustrator/cs/using/WS714a382cdf7d304e7e07d0100196cbc5f-6437a.html

**Since I didn't explain what that was, it's an older shading model that was used for shiny objects. BRDF just means that an algorithm is used to interpolate the return of parallel/collimated rays from 90-180 degrees relative to the viewing angle from the camera and the normal vector at that object point. I'm going to end the nerd rant explanation now.

[mshi]

Re: Wrapping labels onto cylinder - correctly

Have you tried to use displacement map at all?

[pixel magic]

Re: Wrapping labels onto cylinder - correctly

I do a lot of label wrapping for Seventh Generation. they are all done by hand with the transform warp tool or puppet warp. Then all shading/highlights are applied using the original image as a map.

[Netdewt]

Re: Wrapping labels onto cylinder - correctly

I have used a 3D model in Photoshop in the past to apply a label on an oddly shaped bottle, but I am very 3D stupid. Trying to change that.

No, I haven't used displacement map.

The baby wipes is nice work! I love that technique. I warp this way whenever needed, but I would like something more perfect and repeatable for cylindrical items.

I gave the Illustrator Effects>3D>Extrude>Map Art method a solid try, and I must say that I really like the results, but it is finicky. I wish something like that was available within photoshop as part of the transform/warp tool.

[girlsfather]

Re: Wrapping labels onto cylinder - correctly

I have used a 3D model in Photoshop in the past to apply a label on an oddly shaped bottle, but I am very 3D stupid. Trying to change that.

No, I haven't used displacement map.

The baby wipes is nice work! I love that technique. I warp this way whenever needed, but I would like something more perfect and repeatable for cylindrical items.

I gave the Illustrator Effects>3D>Extrude>Map Art method a solid try, and I must say that I really like the results, but it is finicky. I wish something like that was available within photoshop as part of the transform/warp tool.

I often have to apply graphics to cylindric forms.
I have tried to achieve good results with Photoshop CS5 extended and later with Creative Cloud. But as the results were not pleasing at all - no smooth mesh/render, I learned to do that in Cinema 4d. That delivers really good results. Later,I can bring them back to Photoshop.

I would be interested how to do that in Photoshop - with camera offset to emulate shift photography. (keep vertical lines vertical when shooting from above or underneath)

[kav]

Re: Wrapping labels onto cylinder - correctly

I often have to apply graphics to cylindric forms.
I have tried to achieve good results with Photoshop CS5 extended and later with Creative Cloud. But as the results were not pleasing at all - no smooth mesh/render, I learned to do that in Cinema 4d. That delivers really good results. Later,I can bring them back to Photoshop.

Woo! Someone else thinks like me for once.