How It Works

The following tutorial is representative of how all the Photoshop Actions on this site work.

Tutorial

Step 1: Locate the desired Action

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For this tutorial we’re going to assume the viewer is interested in creating a BluRay DVD cover. Locating the BluRay on the site can be done through a search or tag result, in this case we simply typed the location of the desired Photoshop Action directly into the URL.
 

Step 2: Locate the Download button

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Each post starts with a generic Action preview (dark grey). The name of the Action with the description and download button is located directly below the large preview. Scroll down the page until the download button comes into view.
 

Step 3: Decompress archive and install

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All Actions are compressed as zip archives. After decompressing the archive, double-click the Action file to have it automatically installed in your Photoshop Actions palette.
 

Step 4: Action installed!

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Installed Actions appear in your Actions Palette.
 

Step 5: Create template for your BluRay design

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Each Action comes as 2 parts, step 1 and step 2. The first step will render a template onto which instructions are placed for you to follow. Areas of the template are coloured with either dark grey or light grey, these areas are the boundaries in which your 2D design needs to be positioned and scaled to fit. In the case of this BluRay there are 3 areas that need to be filled. The first area is the BluRay logo which is not part of the Action (no copyrighted content is shipped with our Actions). So if you need the BluRay logo or want your own logo rendered at the top of the box then you will need to replace the PSD graphic at the top of the template with your own. The next area is the spine of the BluRay followed by the cover of the BluRay case.
 

Step 6: Add your 2D designs

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Return to the desktop, or wherever your 2D artwork happens to be and open these in Photoshop.
 

Step 7: Position and scale first asset

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The BluRay template has 3 areas that need your 2D design to occupy fully in order to get a proper rendered result. For the moment we’ll stick with the PSDCovers logo and focus on the artwork for the spine and cover for the BluRay case. Paste or drag the 2D artwork you have for the spine onto the template and position and scale it until it fits only the area reserved for the spine.
 

Step 8: Position and scale the next asset

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As with the spine, get your 2D design for the front of the case into the template and scale and position it until it fits the entire provided area. Don’t worry too much if your design is initially too small, high, wide etc. Not every design is going to fit perfectly because not every BluRay case is identical and neither are the printed covers for the same case designs. Fudge the fit, it’ll work fine. Be careful not to cover your spine design in the process. If you’re familiar with masks then using those when laying out your 2D design on the template will help avoid overlap issues.
 

Step 9: Play Step 2

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With your design all laid out you’re now ready to render your 2D artwork as a 3D BluRay case. Return to the Actions palette, select Step 2 and click the “play selection” button.
 

Step 10: Your 3D Product Shot

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Providing you own the rights to the 2D design you’ve rendered with this Action, then the resulting image is yours to do with as you wish. All Actions are non-exclusive meaning that you might see someone else use the exact same product shot or layout as yours, but as long as the artwork is different you should have something unique. All the layers which are created during the rendering process remain intact allowing you to further customize highlights and shadows to your liking.
 

Step 11 (optional): Composition

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Going a step further, you can combine multiple Actions with your artwork into custom compositions that suit your needs.
 

Conclusion

Every Action works the exact same way. Find a product shot you need, render and fill the template with your own artwork, then run the final render process. The Actions on this site are meant to get you closer to your goal of creating a 3D layout for a project, marketing presentation or whatever your case may be.■