June 29th, 2010 by Jeff Hipp

Faking a print piece from a flat working file

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About this post:

Senior Designer, Jeffry Hipp, explains a simple way to make a flat working Photoshop file look like the final printed item.

 

Imagine that you just got done comping a print piece and now it''s time to show the client via web conferencing.  You want it to look as real as you can, but something is missing - it looks too flat.  Here's a simple & fast way to suggest what it will look like when actually printed.

Step 1. Start:  Open your flat file in Photoshop.  You want it to be on a white background. Create a new layer below the art layer and fill it white.  Use an existing mask, or use the pen tool to define the edges of the piece - create a mask so that the background of white is now showing on the edges.

1a) Original Flat Art [click to enlarge]

1b) Background Masked [click to enlarge]

 

 

 

 

 

 



Step 2. Create Shadows:  You'll need to create a new layer between the art layer and the white layer.  Select your art outline mask shape.  Fill with black.  Apply a Gaussian Blur of 5.  May depend on your item & adjust as needed.  Nudge the shadow layer down and to the right - say 10 pixels.  Next, set Opacity to 30%.  To make it look more realistic, it should be uneven.  Use Free Transform on the shadow - hold down your Command button and drag the lower left edge up closer to the art edge, and the lower right corner down away from the art.  This will create an illusion of depth.  It might be helpful to also have a little shadow showing along the top edge of the art.  Since shadows are never flat, duplicate this shadow layer and resize using Transform to make it a little smaller than the first shadow.  Set the blending mode to Multiply.  This second shadow should really only darken the lower right edges closest to the art.

2) Create Shadows [click to enlarge]

 

 

 

 

 

 



Step 3. Establish Gutter Line:  Create another layer above the art with a 30%, 2 point vertical gray line in the center gutter of the art.  Set the blending mode to Multiply.

3) Gutter Line [click to enlarge]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Step 4. Gutter Shadow:  Create a blend from the center line to the left - about 100 pixels.  Set the blending mode to Multiply.  Set Opacity to 30%.  Use Free Transform on the blend - hold down your Command button and drag the upper left edge to the right a bit, closer to the art gutter.

4) Gutter Shadow [click to enlarge]

 

 

 

 

 

 



Step 5. Darken Edges:  White art on a white background is usually hard to distinguish edges.  Use your paintbrush tool, fuzzy edge brush, set to 30% and gently brush in some gray blend to the top corners.  Set the blending mode to Multiply.

5) Darken Edges [click to enlarge]

 

 

 

 

 

 



Step 6. Gutter Highlight:  Duplicate the Blend layer you previously made.  Flip it horizontally and position onto the right page.  Check the Lock Transparent Pixels box for this new layer.  Now fill this layer with white to create a highlight.  Adjust transparency as needed.

6) Gutter Highlight [click to enlarge]

 

 

 

 

 

 



Finish:  This should be about all you need to do to create a simple piece that simulates it as being actually printed and in 3-Dimension.  A little bit of fine-tuning and practice may be required to perfect the illusion.  Hope this helps!

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