[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"subscription":3,"guide-psd-mockup-without-photoshop":4},null,{"_id":5,"body":6,"excerpt":226,"faq":3,"heroImage":3,"publishedAt":227,"seo":228,"slug":232,"title":233,"updatedAt":3},"guide-psd-mockup-without-photoshop",[7,36,44,53,62,70,78,86,94,102,110,137,145,153,167,179,191,199,207],{"_key":8,"_type":9,"children":10,"markDefs":34,"style":35},"f4af71bd707a","block",[11,16,21,25,30],{"_key":12,"_type":13,"marks":14,"text":15},"016a1cc30793","span",[],"Mockup marketplaces sell photographs — a poster on a wall, a card on a desk, a book held open — as layered ",{"_key":17,"_type":13,"marks":18,"text":20},"48b8151333b8",[19],"code",".psd",{"_key":22,"_type":13,"marks":23,"text":24},"ac7a77dc6e4a",[]," files. Somewhere in the stack is a ",{"_key":26,"_type":13,"marks":27,"text":29},"6b5341d1477f",[28],"strong","smart object",{"_key":31,"_type":13,"marks":32,"text":33},"a709ecd8aa7c",[],": a placeholder layer you replace with your artwork, which the file then warps into the scene's perspective with its lighting and texture on top.",[],"normal",{"_key":37,"_type":9,"children":38,"markDefs":43,"style":35},"b8ecae2f2a04",[39],{"_key":40,"_type":13,"marks":41,"text":42},"443166d33566",[],"It is a good format for the job. It also assumes you have Photoshop, which increasingly people do not.",[],{"_key":45,"_type":9,"children":46,"markDefs":51,"style":52},"c7602165ce29",[47],{"_key":48,"_type":13,"marks":49,"text":50},"f72f656d40f1",[],"Why the obvious workarounds disappoint",[],"h2",{"_key":54,"_type":9,"children":55,"markDefs":60,"style":61},"6332056f5547",[56],{"_key":57,"_type":13,"marks":58,"text":59},"8b4dee35de9d",[],"Free PSD viewers",[],"h3",{"_key":63,"_type":9,"children":64,"markDefs":69,"style":35},"95ee8a6c60ca",[65],{"_key":66,"_type":13,"marks":67,"text":68},"30086106647e",[],"Most open the file and flatten it. You see the mockup with its placeholder artwork still in place, which is the one thing you did not want.",[],{"_key":71,"_type":9,"children":72,"markDefs":77,"style":61},"261b167b3fe1",[73],{"_key":74,"_type":13,"marks":75,"text":76},"8016d56c4954",[],"Placing it by hand",[],{"_key":79,"_type":9,"children":80,"markDefs":85,"style":35},"6a695ee2ef18",[81],{"_key":82,"_type":13,"marks":83,"text":84},"4329db627999",[],"Warping a design into a photograph manually is possible and rarely convincing. The reason a good mockup looks real is not the perspective — it is the shadow across the paper, the grain of the desk, the slight sheen where light hits it. Reproduce the perspective and lose those, and the result reads as a paste-up.",[],{"_key":87,"_type":9,"children":88,"markDefs":93,"style":61},"9f72ddd22615",[89],{"_key":90,"_type":13,"marks":91,"text":92},"4094d2462c3a",[],"Online mockup generators",[],{"_key":95,"_type":9,"children":96,"markDefs":101,"style":35},"ae32e66e54b8",[97],{"_key":98,"_type":13,"marks":99,"text":100},"b7ad33478e5e",[],"Fine, and they only have the scenes they have. If you bought a specific mockup because it looked like your product in your context, a generator's library does not contain it.",[],{"_key":103,"_type":9,"children":104,"markDefs":109,"style":52},"b3c4b77591e0",[105],{"_key":106,"_type":13,"marks":107,"text":108},"f7708d479ae2",[],"The approach that keeps the photograph",[],{"_key":111,"_type":9,"children":112,"markDefs":133,"style":35},"7db4e8e84598",[113,117,122,126,129],{"_key":114,"_type":13,"marks":115,"text":116},"69285f0c016b",[],"What you want is to replace the smart object's contents while leaving everything above it intact. That is what ",{"_key":118,"_type":13,"marks":119,"text":121},"50ddd82f2ae2",[120],"a43d99f575a9","Place in mockup",{"_key":123,"_type":13,"marks":124,"text":125},"6c7401ca63cb",[]," does: it imports the ",{"_key":127,"_type":13,"marks":128,"text":20},"8667ac8cf977",[19],{"_key":130,"_type":13,"marks":131,"text":132},"89e7c3e7f3fc",[],", finds the placement, and converts the file once into its own format. Your artwork goes in, the scene's own lighting and texture stay on top.",[134],{"_key":120,"_type":135,"href":136},"link","\u002Ffeatures\u002Fplace",{"_key":138,"_type":9,"children":139,"markDefs":144,"style":35},"2b5003a87378",[140],{"_key":141,"_type":13,"marks":142,"text":143},"9a2ed4a38cd5",[],"The conversion happens once. After that the mockup is a file in your library that you can reuse with different artwork as often as you like, which is usually how mockups get used — one scene, many designs.",[],{"_key":146,"_type":9,"children":147,"markDefs":152,"style":52},"083710dbb50b",[148],{"_key":149,"_type":13,"marks":150,"text":151},"3f721215cab7",[],"What to check before buying a mockup",[],{"_key":154,"_type":9,"children":155,"level":164,"listItem":165,"markDefs":166,"style":35},"ac1a9a249f37",[156,160],{"_key":157,"_type":13,"marks":158,"text":159},"db08211dd785",[28],"Smart object resolution.",{"_key":161,"_type":13,"marks":162,"text":163},"3f5d272b472f",[]," The single thing that decides quality. A placement that is 800px wide will look soft no matter what you put in it, and no export setting recovers detail the scene never had.",1,"bullet",[],{"_key":168,"_type":9,"children":169,"level":164,"listItem":165,"markDefs":178,"style":35},"e3cc38a8d361",[170,174],{"_key":171,"_type":13,"marks":172,"text":173},"e8312d328525",[28],"One smart object or several.",{"_key":175,"_type":13,"marks":176,"text":177},"c627fc8f4fbc",[]," A scene with five placements is five decisions each time you use it.",[],{"_key":180,"_type":9,"children":181,"level":164,"listItem":165,"markDefs":190,"style":35},"ac7aa975a006",[182,186],{"_key":183,"_type":13,"marks":184,"text":185},"6c2e03f59536",[28],"The licence.",{"_key":187,"_type":13,"marks":188,"text":189},"6111d9cab6d7",[]," Most marketplace mockups permit commercial use; some restrict resale or client work. Worth reading once rather than assuming.",[],{"_key":192,"_type":9,"children":193,"markDefs":198,"style":52},"82bed2b0d5eb",[194],{"_key":195,"_type":13,"marks":196,"text":197},"cd7e7fbeaa45",[],"The honest limitation",[],{"_key":200,"_type":9,"children":201,"markDefs":206,"style":35},"b9f46ab8f716",[202],{"_key":203,"_type":13,"marks":204,"text":205},"755a8ea0967e",[],"This does not make you a Photoshop file editor. If a mockup needs its background recoloured, a layer removed, or a shadow adjusted, that is Photoshop work and it stays Photoshop work. What this replaces is the specific, repetitive job of putting artwork into a placement — which is what most people open the file for.",[],{"_key":208,"_type":9,"children":209,"markDefs":223,"style":35},"4561ed817d70",[210,214,219],{"_key":211,"_type":13,"marks":212,"text":213},"13f03bdb2f5b",[],"If what you actually want is a device rather than a scene — a phone, a laptop — that is a different tool: ",{"_key":215,"_type":13,"marks":216,"text":218},"2c3dd436244a",[217],"630b4d78a1a5","Device mockup",{"_key":220,"_type":13,"marks":221,"text":222},"870c6bb4f971",[]," ships photographic chassis, and can put a live website in the screen rather than a screenshot.",[224],{"_key":217,"_type":135,"href":225},"\u002Ffeatures\u002Fmockup","Mockups are sold as layered .psd files with a smart object. Here is how to put your artwork into one on a Mac without an Adobe subscription.","2026-09-07T12:00:00Z",{"_type":229,"description":230,"title":231},"seoFields","Commercial mockups ship as .psd files with a smart object. How to place artwork into one on macOS without Photoshop, and what to check before you buy.","Open and use a PSD mockup without Photoshop (Mac)","psd-mockup-without-photoshop","Use a Photoshop mockup without Photoshop"]