Create a software box Photoshop Tutorial
January 17, 2007 by Oli · 39 Comments 
Today we will be mostly creating a fake software box within photoshop that could be used if you are selling software programs or web scripts from a site but don’t have an actual physical box that you can photograph.
The finished box will look like this :
Pretty snazzy, and can be customized to fit your product incorporating your corporate colors and logos etc. Ok, to start off draw out a rectangle box which will be the main side of the box, duplicate this layer and then chop a bit off which will be the side panel, like so :
Now, draw out a slim stripe across the whole box, using the rectangular marquee tool on a new layer and fill it with a dark grey – then highlight the bits where it overlaps, again with the marquee tool and delete those so it looks like this :
Now draw another larger rectangle on a new layer, the same as before and fill it with a gradient of the color you’d like to use for the main area – for this tutorial we used a #1361B6 to #0886EA blue gradient :
Now create a new layer and draw an elipse like so :
Fill this shape with the same colored gradient you used for the first one but do it reversed (dark at the top, light at the bottom), now right click this layer in the layer window, select ‘blending options’ and change the blend mode to ‘hard light’ :
Next up, we need an image of a person – I chose to use a woman with a headset, there are loads available at istockphoto so grab something suitable from there. I cut the woman’s head out and resized her to a suitable size, this is how I positioned her :
Duplicate the layer with the person on and hide the original – go to filter > motion blur and use these settings :
Now right click this layer and change to ‘overlay’, shift this layer over to the right and you will have this :
Now un-hide the original photo layer :
Its starting to take shape now, just grab the eraser brush on a large setting (100 or so) and just delete some of the original photo layer to blend it in slightly with the blurred layer :
Now we add some text, add the software name and some smaller text at a small size – this is so small you can just use some lorem ipsum for the job as it is not readable anyway :
Now we’re going to add a seal to it, select the custom shape tool and choose the flower shape :
Add this in and put some text over the top like so :
Now duplicate the blurred image of the woman layer, right click it in the layer window and change the blend mode to this setting :
Now, with the layer selected press the right arrow and move it over to the the side panel of the box and delete any bits the fall outside the panel to add a bit more random pattern to it:
Add some more small text to the side panel :
Now comes the part where we make the box take on a 3d appearance. Save your psd as something else now as it will preserve all your layers, now hide the background layer and choose from the menu layer > merge visible. Now use the marque tool to select around the side panel, press ctrl + c and then ctrl + v. This will put your two box panels on separate layers, now unhide the background layer. Select the main box panel and go to edit > transform > distort and grab the left sides of the panel and move them till the box panel looks at the right angle :
It should look like the above image, don’t worry if you don’t get it right the first time – have a play about and use edit > step backwards till you get it right. If you’re still struggling, use the image above in your psd, put it on a layer below yours and just get your layer to match up with it.
Next do the same with the side panel layer, till it looks right then nudge the two layers together like so :
Hide the background again and do layer > merge visible :
Now you have the box on one layer, you can change the background color and add dropshadows or outer-glow to it to make it look more realistic. The finished box :
You can download the layered psd or the finished psd for this tutorial.
I’m very much into graphic art, so articles like this are usually very pleasant and educational for me. This definitely gets my digg!
Thanks, great tutorial! Clear and detailed.
Great… the illustration though simple helped me create a virtual software box without much effort. Thanks a lot!
Jezper, agreed.
Not a bad tutorial for newbs, but how in the world does this get 1,000+ diggs? Gives you a good idea of who the new diggers are, and the decreasing value of digg. (IMO, YMMV)
Neato!
Oh well, cant please everyone I suppose – glad some people appreciate it.
That’s a nice tutorial. It is certainly useful for those creating a REAL product.
Add a reflection to it by making it all one flat layer, duplicate, rotate vertically, and set opacity on new layer to 25%.
grazie
thanks
This is a great turorial! And a great site! Thanks!
Just ignore the moaners.
Want to point out one little thing, though: your link to the Lorem Ipsum website is spelt incorrectly and goes to a search page.
Keep it up guys, these tips are great!
Fantastic and simple -I’ll be using this. And the download was really helpful as a template.
nice tutorial
To get more realistic depth to it, try using the overlay/multiply effect on the small right part of the box with a black layer. Then it looks more shadowed instead of ‘flat-coloured’. This would give the box more depth. When you do treat the whole project as a ’smart object’ in photoshop, the transformation becomes ‘non-destructive’ too. That way you have 2 files, 1 original with the flat design, and another file that has the transformation (s) applied to it. Whenever you change your smart object file, the other is updated immediately too. Saves you a lot of time adjusting.
Good luck all. Cheers, Tjerja.
thanks for ur service
i easily did it.
thank you very very mush
This is a great tutorial… Its simple but it packs a punch.
i like it,thank you!
it was awesome ..thanx for the great tutorial..
Nice work…!
The person complaining that this tutorial was “lame” because it’s “Photoshop 101″ was only half right. It IS Photoshop 101. But I don’t recall seeing a big bold banner saying it was a post-doctoral Photoshop class.
Hardly lame at all, it’s an excellent tuturial for beginners on how to produce a 3D software package. Good job!
Now, how about doing another tutorial? This time, show the process of creating a diestrike for use when a flat, rectangular press sheet is printed, scored and cut so that, when folded, it actually produces a REAL box. Years ago, when I did my first diestrike, it took me hours to figure it out. A good tutorial that shows the process (AND the reasons behind some of the techniques) would be a good step up for those who are beyond PS 101.
Again, great tutorial.
great tutorial..
thanx..
beatıful work congralition
awesome, one of the best and well written tutorials ive read so far!
Very good tutorial, thank you very much
Great tutorial. Im sure will benifit to every one wanting to create any kind of product attraction via the internet. well presented packaging is always key to making a good impression
Great – thank you! Used it to design a box for the CMS services website, http://www.evucan.com
Created a nice box from this, thanks a lot ! very easy to follow !
Thanks for the great tutorial.
Funny to see clowns trying to make a buck selling stuff that pales in comparison to what you gave.
Thank you.
Great tutorial! Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Nice tutorial!
Keep up the great work!
Ovi Dogar
AbsoluteCovers.com