“Hack” To Quickly Brand a 3D eCover for Free!
We get a lot of questions about our 3D eCovers. Almost every question revolves around how to best edit them. Most often people want to brand or tweak the 3D eCovers somehow.
In an ideal world you would use Photoshop to edit the PSD we include in all of our products, and then use some sort of software (i.e. BoxShot 3D) to render the new 3D eCovers.
Of course all of that software costs money.
On top of that, if you aren’t familiar with that software, you will have to invest the time to learn.
That’s why I developed this simple process to quickly hack together a 3D eCover, for free.
NOTE: This method is limited by some of the free software we use, but if you want to get some simple branding on a book cover, then this works just fine. You can also use this method to create totally unique book covers if you don’t like the design included with our PLR.
Step One – Download These:
Before we start, download these blank 3D eCovers. Included are two templates: a book and a smartphone.
(right click and choose, save as…)
Step Two – Edit eCover:
Go to Pixlr.com and launch the Pixlr Editor (not Express).
Once you launch Pixlr, you will see a window with a few options.
Click on Open Image From Computer and a window will open up that will allow you to navigate and choose the editable_eCover that you want to brand/edit.
NOTE: Open the PNG file, Pixlr does not always play nice with PSDs. If you try to open the image and you get an error, you are probably mistakenly trying to open the PSD. Keep in mind, since Pixlr doesn’t open PSDs (at least not all of them) you won’t have editable layers on the eCover. It will just be a flat image.
You will now have your eCover open and ready to edit.
First thing you want to do is get rid of the book spine. Due to the shape of the 3D templates you downloaded, and for simplicity’s sake, we just need the front of the cover.
NOTE: Our mini-report covers have no spine are are ready to use as is.
Click on Image -> Canvas Size
A new window will pop up that will let you adjust the canvas size.
Make sure the middle right Anchor is chosen (as shown in pic below) and change the width to 500. Click OK.
Now you have just your eBook front cover – sans spine.
The quickest or simplest way to add branding is to click on the A in the left hand Tools menu:
Once you click on A, you just have to click the area on the cover you want your URL/branding. Add your URL in the Text box that pops up once you click on your eCover (this box also lets you adjust font).
Once you click OK, your text will appear on your eCover. If you aren’t happy with the position of your text, you can click on the Arrow (top right of left-hand Tools menu) and then you can click on your text and move it where you want.
Alternatively, you can add your logo instead.
Just click on Layer -> Open Image As Layer
A window will pop up that will let you navigate to where your logo is on your computer. Once you find your logo and click on Open your logo will be another layer on top of the eCover.
Use the Arrow (I mentioned earlier) to click and drag the logo to your desired location.
If you need to resize your logo, click Edit – Free Transform and you will then see your logo ready to be resized.
Click and drag on a corner of your logo to resize.
NOTES:
1. Hold the Shift key when dragging a corner and that will ensure your logo keeps the proper proportions (i.e. the height and width will change at the same rate, so there isn’t distortion).
2. You may want to alter certain aspects of the eCover, but with Pixlr you don’t get the PSD layers. A work around is to create a shape that is the same color as your chosen eCover and you can place that shape over the parts you want to block out, then add whatever you want (new title, new image, etc…) on top of that shape. That is a bit more advanced, but if you are interested, check out the basic tutorials that Pixlr provide. They explain the basics far better than I ever could.
When you are happy with your logo placement, click on File -> Save. No need to change any settings, click on OK and make sure you remember where you save it. You will need it later.
Step Three: 3D-ify
Now we are going to take the eCover you just created, and add it to a 3D image.
Close the image you were just working on (making sure you saved it already!) by clicking File -> Close.
You will be back at the opening window of the editor. Once again, click on Open Image From Computer and this time open one of the 3D templates you downloaded from this post. I chose the Book.
Once that is done, you will now have the 3D model of the book waiting for your cover.
Now that you have your 3D image ready, click on Layer -> Open Image As Layer (you’ll remember this from the previous step). In the window that opens, navigate and choose the flat eCover image you just created.
The image you just created will now be covering your eBook cover. Now it’s time for the “magic”.
Click on Edit -> Free Distort .
You will notice your flat image now has a blue point at each corner.
You simply click on each corner, and line it up with the corresponding corners on the 3D eBook template.
When you are happy how it is lined up, click outside the image anywhere and it will ask if you want to apply the changes.
Click OK.
There is your image!
Now click on File -> Save again and make sure the Format is PNG (Transparent, full quality). Click on OK and you will have a freshly branded 3D eCover (example below)
NOTE: This isn’t the most polished way to create a 3D eCover, but it is totally free and once you know the process, it is super quick/easy. You can use this process to create your totally own unique 3D eCovers as well. That is a great way to make your PLR package more unique. You could even use Canva to create the flat image, and then use this process to make it 3D.