I am trying to make some 3D text I want to look a certain way and never really played around with text much in either Photoshop CS4 or Vue 8. While I know Photoshop can do a lot, especially using filters, layers, etc. and all the effects I just wasn't sure which may be the best for use. In Photoshop there is a great plug-in called "3D Invigorator" but it costs another $200 and is only 32 bit. So I ruled that out and started thinking about doing it in Vue.

Mainly, I just would like to know how text creation compares between the two. Also, I am trying to use two materials on the text and get it to "decay" like in the image attached here. The effect I was going for is green leaves at top that would "decay" into Fall leaf colors at the bottom of the text. Of course the sample image is just an example of simple "decay". Can this sort of thing be done more easily in Vue or can Photoshop CS4 Extended do this too?

Also, I would like to take a rendered image and use in as the inside of the text. I know Photoshop can do this well, but was not sure about how Vue would handle this task.

Any thoughts or advice appreciated. If there are any good video tutorials on this please post a link.

Thanks