Use Case
3D can mockup: the whole label, all the way round
A can label has no front, yet most mockups still pick one angle and hide the rest. Turn the can instead and every side, seam included, is visible.
3 min
Can label mockup artwork, step by step: size the label to the can's print band, keep type off the seam, and pick a full wrap or a front print.
The label comes out of the design tool as a long rectangle. On screen it reads left to right, like a poster. On the can it reads as a loop, and the two ends that looked far apart in the file sit side by side at the back.
Getting a can label mockup right is mostly getting that rectangle right. i3Dify's Can project prints the file around a drink can in the browser, and it follows a few fixed rules.
The printable band on the can runs from under the shoulder to where the base curves in, 360 degrees around. On a standard can it is 2.2 times as long as it is tall. A label exported at that ratio fills it exactly, with the left and right edges of the file meeting at the seam at the back.
With the height on Auto, any other ratio changes the can instead: a taller label makes a taller can and a wider one a shorter can, from about 1.5 to 3.1 times as long as it is tall. With a fixed height, any other ratio is scaled to cover the band and the overflow is cropped, never stretched. That protects the art from distortion and costs its edges. A label that is too wide loses its ends at the seam. One that is too tall loses its top and bottom.
The middle of the file is the front of the can, so the name and the main mark go there. The ends of the file are the back, the natural place for ingredients, a barcode and the legal lines. The very ends meet at the seam.
Leave a margin at both ends with nothing that has to be read across it. A word split by the seam is fine in the file and broken on the can. The mockup turns to that angle and shows the break plainly.
Not every can wants a full label. A logo on bare metal, or a sticker-style badge, is a front print. With placement on Auto, any image less than 1.4 times as wide as it is tall goes on the front, centred, at about four fifths of the band's height. It never wraps more than 130 degrees around.
Export these as PNG with transparency. Transparent pixels stay unprinted and show the can's metal, in the colour and finish you set: body colour is a picker, finish is glossy or matte. If Auto picks the wrong placement, the Print placement setting forces Wrap or Front for every design in the project.
Upload every version you want compared: flavours, colourways, the before and after of a redesign. Each image is one design on the same can, and the visitor switches with a tap, the arrow keys or the dock. Publish and share the link, or embed it with an iframe. On the free plan the viewer carries the i3Dify watermark.
The mockup checks proportion and placement. It does not check bleed, dielines or colour against a printer's profile, so the production file still goes through your printer's template. For the finished presentation, see the 3D can mockup guide or the beer can mockup release workflow.
Fix the file once and every angle of the can is right. Make a can label mockup.
Upload a PDF or a few images, pick a project type and share the link. The free plan is enough to try it.
Create Can