Weekend Widget: True BoxShot

There is no doubt you've seen cool three-dimensional product shots on Web sites or in printed catalogs. You've probably wondered how they were created. Today's pick is True BoxShot and it makes the process incredibly easy. The box shot shown at right is a product of the software. In reality there is no box as it is downloadable software.

So that you can go through the process yourself, download a trial version of the standalone product, the Photoshop plug-in or the bundle of the two products.

When you open it up, you have the choice of several different "3D" products you can create. They include a box shot, a CD, a DVD case, a screenshot, a member card (credit card), a photo or a book. Then you simply need to load the graphics for each size of the product. In the example here, you would only need the front and one side of the box since those are the only panels visible. Don't worry, you are simply providing a flat rectangle view of each side. If you have designed the product in CorelDRAW (or Corel PHOTO-PAINT or Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Photoshop), you'll just export each panel as a PNG file.

Within seconds you can see a quick preview of how it looks. For me, the learning curve was about five minutes before I had a preview of my first "box". You can choose a background color or even a bitmap background. Do you want the box to reflect on the floor or to have a shadow? Either of those effects is a simple click away. Want to rotate the box in 3D space? Again, not a problem. When done, you simply render the final bitmap at the size of your choice. Keep in mind that the trial version will limit the size of the rendered bitmap and it will lay some text over the graphic indicating it was created with a trial version. Beyond that, the trial is fully functional. You can even save the graphic with a transparent graphic so that you can drop it over the bitmap of your choice later.

Get more information on the standalone version, Photoshop plug-in or bundle of the two products by following the links provided. If you need to create this type of graphic, the prices of each of the products is very fair. The standalone version sells for $44.99, the Photoshop plug-in sells for $39.99 and the bundle of the two products sells for $64.98.

I went for the standalone version as it doesn't rely on any other software. Just import bitmaps of each of the box panels and output a bitmap of the finished product. The output is very impressive and yet the product is very easy to use. Anyone who needs to create box shots would find this money well spent!

Share

Do You Have 1,000 True Fans?

Many of you create some sort of artwork as a way to make a living. If you are not already doing this, you have a desire to make a living from it.

I read a really good blog post entitled 1,000 True Fans that anyone creating "artwork" for sale should read. The idea is that you don't need a bestseller to make a very good living, you simply need 1,000 true fans. A number of good examples are cited and I'm sure you will get some inspiration from it.

I'll add my story to this. I wrote six books for major publishers. Isn't the dream of every writer to get picked up by a major publisher? Well, it was good for a while, but it certainly wasn't any way to make a living. I got a measly royalty payment for each copy of the book sold. So while there were a much larger number of copies sold, the amount of money that filtered down to me wasn't so great. Finally I told the publisher that I couldn't do it any more.

It took me a few years to develop a book I could self-publish. CorelDRAW 12 Unleashed was the first version. It was good and it sold well. Heck, it sold more than I had initially projected. While it sold only a small percentage of what the "major publishers" sold, it was much more profitable that any of the books they published. I was proudest that the book I published was a more complete learning tool than what the "major publishers" produced with their large staffs.

With Corel's development cycle between versions of two years, I had time to build upon CorelDRAW 12 Unleashed and give the book even more of what "true fans" want.
CorelDRAW X3 Unleashed had more information (page, movies) and I even created the special DVD-ROM edition as a way to provide more for those who wanted to spend a little bit more. It sold even better than CorelDRAW 12 Unleashed, yet still only a fraction of what the "major publisher" sold.

Now I'm nearing the finish line of CorelDRAW X4 Unleashed. I've taken what I've learned from the first two books and providing even more of what the "fans" want. I don't know what the sales will bring, but I'm guessing that it will sell even better than the previous books. Yet it will never approach the numbers of the "major publisher".

A funny thing happened not too long ago. I got a call from a "major publisher". They wanted me to write a book on CorelDRAW X4 for them. I politely told them that I'd been self-publishing and that I was very happy with this. They suggested I could write two books, one for them and one that I self-publish. This is physically impossible since it is all-consuming just to write a single book. I told them that my profits for my self-published books far exceeded what I got for my "major publisher" books. The "major publisher" still didn't understand why I didn't want to write a book for them.

In the music industry, the big publishers are struggling to change with digital music. From my conversation with a "major book publisher", it was clear that they didn't get it either.

So for all of you creatives working for yourself, I can only agree with the 1,000 True Fans theory! Put out some great work, build your fanbase and you can do it alone!

Share