Photoshop Tutorial: How to Make a Software Box
If you’ve ever seen those software boxes in ads before, you might notice they look “perfect”. This is because most of the time those boxes are not photographed, but created in Photoshop. This is a tutorial showing how to make those software boxes, it’s easier than you might think.
I figured this out one day when I was selling my first software product, and realized that creating a box would be a cool way to sell the product. It works, even though most software purchased today comes as a digital download, by putting a box there you make an association with purchasing a product the way we used to: by holding something in your hand. It’s always a good idea to spice up your landing pages with stuff like this.
How to Make a Software Box in Photoshop
Step 1
Create an image that is 600px x 600px, with a white background.
Step 2
Create a new layer (Ctrl+shift+N) and name it “panels”.
Create a set of panels, you will want the front, and the side. Here is a sample of how I created them:
You may use this image as a base if you need to. I generally start with a large rectangle and cut out the parts as a whole.
Step 3
Add the content you want on your box.
Make sure if you use gradients, that they carry over to the adjacent panels as needed.
Step 4
Highlight the layer containing just the shapes, not the layer with all your objects on it.
Using the magic wand tool, select the front of the box as shown:
Right click on it, and select “Layer via Copy” and make a new layer from it.
Do this with the side as well, so it looks like this:
Make sure and merge the graphics layers you added on, so you’re left with just the two panels.
Step 5
Put the box together. Start with the front, and do a transform->Skew so it looks like this:
Then use transform->scale to slim it up a little.
Do the same with the side panel:
And move it over to match up with the front, and merge the layers together. You now have your box.
Step 6
You can do some effects to make the box look more real, such as a shadow. Create a black box around the same size as the software box:
Then use the same skew and resize techniques to make it fall behind the box as shown:
Then do a filter->blur->Gaussian blur and reduce the opacity to make something like this:
Another Technique
Another cool technique is to put a reflection below it.
Right click on the box layer, and select duplicate layer.
On the top layer, go to Edit -> Free Transform and click the top of the selection.
Hold down the shift key and drag the box down so it’s mirrored blow:
Then use the skew and transform tools to match the edges up. This is tricky.
Fade and / or blur the bottom box to get the desired effect.
I hope this helps show you how to build a software box in photoshop, stay tuned for more tutorials!
Filed Under: Photoshop
