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14 July 2020
How to create 3D book covers using GIMP for Amazon KDP ebooks
This blog post is for self-publishing authors. At the end of the video, you will see a glimpse of my ebook creation/editing process.
- Add the front and back covers on Gimp.
- Align them exactly to the middle.
- Flip one of them and LOCK them both
- Place guide lines where the far edge of the cover will be.
- Use perspective tool to move the corners to the interior guide lines.
- Remove the locks.
- Flip the previously flipped layer and move it to the left.
- Create a background layer (above the covers) for the spine, preferably using the background color of the front cover.
- Add text layers for book name and author name.
- Apply rotation to the right to the text layers and merge them on the spine.
- Duplicate this layer and flip the duplicate.
- Lock both spine layers.
- Add guide lines and apply perspective on the original layer. The flipped duplicate layer will also be affected.
- Remove the lock.
- Flip the flipped spine.
- Position the spine next to the covers.
- Add a transparent layer above the spines.
- Select the non-alpha regions of a cover and intersect it with a selection on the new layer over the edge of the cover near the spine.
- Apply white-to-transparent shadow using gradient tool in the selection.
- Add another transparent layer.
- Similarly, select non-alpha regions of the spine, select a region over the edge of the spine near the cover and apply a shadow.
- Disable guide lines.
- Adjust the opacity of the two new layers until the 3d look looks best.
- Save and export.
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