How To Make An eBook Cover With Boxshot3D and Photoshop

In this eCover tutorial, we’re going to touch on some basics of handling an eBook Cover, by way of a 3D spiral ring book or report in Boxshot 3D, and recreating a new eCover in Photoshop. If you can recall in the last post, we talked about the differences between Boxshot 3D and Photoshop. Hopefully, you can remember their differences and discover the ways of combining these 2 useful and powerful software for manipulating graphics and 3D. Please note that 3/4 of this eCover tutorial will be focused on Boxshot 3D and the remainder on Photoshop, as the objective here is on eCover tutorials which is more than just learning Photoshop. To learn more of Photoshop, you can google and easily find plenty of DIY resources online that teaches you how to use Photoshop.

If you have purchased these software, you can go ahead and open up the software. Let’s look at Boxhot 3D first.

To recap, this is the interface of Boxshot 3D, recently being updated to version 3.5. Really, it’s exciting to keep up with the frequent updates on this software, as the interface has been streamlined and improved with better features – which makes editing a breeze!

Step 1:

As can see, you can do most of the changes or tweaking on the right, whereas one also can click on the image on the left, and drag to make changes. First, let’s select Spiral Bounded Book from the Add button under Shapes tab. A Add New Shape dialog box will appear next. This basically allows you to choose your eCover shape and type and tweak from there. Scroll down and select the 2nd last item labelled as Spiral Bounded Book and click OK.

Step 2:

If you have noticed, the spiral book with default rounded corners, which you can turn the feature off. Look to the right of the interface, you’ll spot a check box for Rounded corners at the end under the sub-tab Shapes > Parameters. Check to unselect it. Notice that the sample image on the left immediately updates. (I’m suggesting no rounded corners, but it’s up to your preference to have it or not) Boxshot 3D’s interface and workings are actually made with the user in mind. Much of the tweaking is simply done using number inputs, drag-and-drop lists and scale drags. You can also change the width, height and depth of the image on the left either by inputting values next to the description or clicking the down arrow next to it. The drop-down will display a horizontal lever scroll for you to change the values.

Step 3:

Next, try scaling up the eCover image clicking on the sub-tab named Transformation.

Here you will be able to change more settings such as the location of your eCover image – left, right or towards or further away from the view shown, by using the Offset X, Y and Z settings. You also can rotate the eCover using the Rotate X, Y and Z as well.  Enter these values respectively for Offset and Rotate functions as follows:

Offset Y: -10 (Don’t change the rest)
Rotate  X: 10
Rotate Y: -10
Rotate Z: 5

To scale the image, just go to the Scale settings, check on Complex scale option and enter these values as shown on the screen capture for scaling:

Scale X and Scale Y: 120
Scale Z: 100 (default)

You should get the result as shown above. However, I advocate not to spend too much time on these settings, but rather to get a sense of how they work, and come back later to fully tweak once you understand the concept of using Boxshot 3D better.

Step 4:

Save your work NOW by going to the top menu, File > Save or File > Save As… Label whatever name you want. It pays to save your hard work regularly.

Step 5:

Moving on, select the Images tab now. We”re going to change the default image given by Boxshot 3D. This is where we will need either Photoshop or other image manipulation software to extend our needs. Boxshot 3D only lets you change the image but does not allow you to create within the software itself. (Remember we talk about it in my previous post?) Under the Images tab, this is the most important thing that you need to take note.

You will see Front, Back, Leaves and Spiral (only 4 listed). These are for you to select and change each setting like Color, Transformation (Rotation of the image, not the eCover!), Crop and Fit Shape to Images. Make sure you select this option FIRST before starting to alter the rest of the settings below, or else you’re going to get undesirable results. So check out the screen captures to get a better feel.

For the Color, you can see that the default is based on Windows default color palette. You can utilize more colors by clicking on More Colors as shown. Another dialog box will pop up to allow you to choose more colors. Try that out.

For the Transformation of the image, select Rotate 90 deg CW (clockwise). Note that this change is unnecessary but for you to understand that you can tweak in such a manner in Boxshot 3D. You can readily do that in Photoshop as well. You can experiment with other options.

Reload – simply allows to refresh your selected image, in case you have messed the settings and the result is not what you want.

Crop – gives you the feature of cropping away unwanted portion of your original image. Use this if you need to experiment further to see how your image will look after a crop off. (Can do it here but the end result may not be perfect for your liking, though)

Fit Shape To Images – simply gives the option to force the shape to conform to your image. Again, results differ. Use it with discretion.

The last 3 options are additional ones, which you may leave them as default. No need to tweak if you don’t want to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let us look at the Image field, where we can change the default image. Click on the button (3 dotted square box) next to the image link of the Image. A pop box will display next, showing the default images that Boxshot 3D has given. If you can’t find them, they can be traced back to Boxshot > images sub-folder in your computer.

At this point, we are going to pause working in Boxhot 3D and cross over to Photoshop to recreate a new eCover.

 

Step 6:

Next, look for the file BookCover.png – open this file to check on the dimensions. Because we need to know them in order to create a new eCover based on the old dimensions. Hence, the result will be similar. This is what it is when the file is opened in Photoshop, and the image size as shown:

To alter the image, we just need to create another new one with the same dimensions and resolution. This can be done easily in Photoshop. Save this file with a new filename. Create a new layer on top of the base image. Start experimenting with your own design. Note that we’ll not be going into the details of how to do it in Photoshop, as this will need another different tutorial. Once, you’ve a complete new eCover image created, import back to Boxshot 3D by going to Images section and click on the 3 dotted square box.

Step 7:

For me, I have already had a new image created in Photoshop as follows:

Go back to Boxshot 3D and update the new image for Front AND Back part of the image. You need to repeat this particular step twice – change to the new image for both Front AND Back in order to see the updated image as shown:

Step 8:

Just to highlight here that for the rest of the tabs on top, namely Camera, Lighting and Scene tabs, we can safely ignore as they are not particularly important at this point. Of course, if you’re adventurous enough, please go ahead and tweak them to your liking. But remember to save often in case you need to revert if you’ve made a mistake. The Render tab however needs more attention as it affects how the render 2D image we are getting for final use.

On the Render tab options, this is where you can define your final output format and dimensions needed for the rendered image to be used for Print (high-res 300dpi), Web (low-res online 72dpi) or other options. (not important at this point to take note) This is also where ray-tracing rendering is used by the software to render the final image. It can give you various options of drafts or finer rendering results.

We can set using the preset dimensions given such as 320 x 240 pixels by default, or customized it by inputting values in the width and height field inputs respectively.

When comes to Quality, we need to consider our purpose of outputting this image. Are we using for printing on brochures, press ads or magazines? If this is the case, then Print or High-End should be selected. Note that for High-End option, it will require long rendering time. So be prepared to wait longer if you’re expecting very smooth rendered results. Else, the standard Print or Web option will suffice.

The Render safe border option actually is a safeguard to prevent shadows of the eCover image from abruptly cropped off, thereby causing an apparent cut off if viewed especially on a white background. Leave the default as checked.

Once you determine your choice, click on the big green arrow button to start rendering the image.

 

A Render Scene dialog box will appear and start rendering the new image. You should get this:

Note that the dimensions of this particular image is custom set at 550 x 450 pixels, using Print option. As the image renders, time will be calculated and shown on the top of the image box. Once completed, the message will display as Rendering Done. We can then chooose Copy to Clipboard (for other application use), Save Image (to hard disk) and Done (close the render scene box).

Since we just need the image for printing or web use, select Save Image. The next dialog box shown on the left will appear, asking you what format to save. For some of you, it can be puzzling. No worries.

PNG – choose this if you need your background to be transparent, because you need to composite with other images.
JPEG – choose this as the standard for web use or for draft visuals that need not be too detailed specific.
TIFF – choose this if you require to send out for high-res external printing. (not required for your home printing though)
BMP – choose this for alternative format for use with other older software. This format is still popular as it retains compatibility with certain window-based software, such as Windows Paint program.

Bravo, your eCover is DONE! 8 Steps to A New eCover. Easy? Yes, it will be over time.

P.S. You may observe that the rendering is actually much smoother and refined than that of a typical eCover we’ve come across on the web. That’s because it uses ray-tracing, a popular rendering technique in today’s 3D software. Although the rendering time can be a minus factor, but consider the result you eventually get actually pays off. If you look at the shadows and reflections, they are indeed more subtle and natural. That, Photoshop can’t achieve it without more tips and tricks needed. In comparison, Boxshot 3D is really good at achieving such a result. Try it, you’ll be amazed indeed!

Tagged as: boxshot 3d, ebook cover design, ebook template, ecover software, how to create an ebook, photo-realistic eCovers, photoshop actions, raytracing