Comparisons / Photoshop
Manual compositing
Photoshop is the tool designers already trust for a vehicle comp: warp, displacement, masks, type, and lighting, with full manual control over the pixels. That control is why a careful comp takes a block of designer time. Shop-facing pages here describe a manual vehicle comp as a 2–4 hour job when a designer is available — often the whole afternoon the walk-in wanted an answer. MockMapr is the same-day proof path for the moment the client is standing there. The first shareable proof is a minutes-long step in the browser. Photoshop and Illustrator stay in the shop for production art after the yes. Export for Design is the ZIP that handoff uses. 3 mockups when you sign up (lifetime), not per month. HD from $5 or Pro $49/mo. Export for Design is 2 kits a month on Pro, 10 on Production, unlimited on Business, or $19 a kit. HD proofs do not need a kit.
| Capability | MockMapr | Photoshop |
|---|---|---|
| Time to first client proof | Minutes in the browser | A manual comp, often a 2–4 hour block |
| Who can run the quote | Shop staff in the browser | Whoever has the file and the skill |
| Manual control | You direct the layout; the proof is generated | Full control: warp, masks, type, lighting |
| Walk-in approvals | Built for the visit | Depends on the designer’s queue |
| After they say yes | 2/mo Pro · 10/mo Production · unlimited Business · or $19/kit — Illustrator ZIP | Native PSD, then Illustrator for cut files |
| HD proof without a kit | Yes | The comp is the file you built |
| Cost shape | $5/HD or from $49/mo | Adobe subscription plus labor hours |
| Free try | 3 mockups on signup, lifetime (not monthly) | Adobe’s own trial, when they offer one |
The hours in a manual wrap comp are real work. The grid splits the sales proof from the production file so the queue matches the job.
Name, services, and phone on the cargo doors. They are parked outside and have twenty minutes.
MockMapr
A proof during the visit. HD from $5 or Pro at $49/mo. They can approve the picture the same day.
Photoshop
A designer warps art onto a photo, masks the glass, and sets the type. That is the 2–4 hour block when someone is free.
They liked the layout and want the number higher, still off the window.
MockMapr
Regenerate the proof with the phone moved. The visit does not restart a comp from a flat PSD.
Photoshop
Reopen the PSD, nudge the smart object, recheck the warp, export again. Accurate, and it waits on the same person.
A cargo van, a Sprinter, and a box truck, same name and phone, sent today.
MockMapr
One proof per body. Signup covers 3 mockups when you sign up (lifetime), not per month, which is this exact first fleet if you are new.
Photoshop
Three manual comps. The calendar cost is three afternoons, or one designer splitting the week.
Panel scale, cut paths, and a file production trusts.
MockMapr
Export for Design is 2 kits a month on Pro, 10 on Production, unlimited on Business, or $19 a kit. The designer opens it in Illustrator. HD proofs do not need a kit.
Photoshop
Photoshop and Illustrator are the production desk. The manual comp can continue into that file if that is how the shop builds art.
Something to open before the client photo exists, without buying a stock stage.
MockMapr
The free library is layered SVG presentation boards. A PSD is not included. Generate the client proof when their photo arrives.
Photoshop
Build the comp in Photoshop from your own photo, or from a file you already own.
A Photoshop wrap mockup is a composite. Someone places the vehicle photo, builds a surface for the art, warps it so the doors and the box recede correctly, masks glass and handles, sets type that survives the curve, and matches the light so the graphic looks stuck to paint. Full manual control is the point. Every handle can be painted back in. Every highlight can be dodged.
That work is skilled. It is also why the file sits in a queue. The person who can do it is often the person who also builds the print file, answers prepress, and finishes yesterday’s install art. A walk-in does not get a picture until that queue opens.
Shop pages on MockMapr describe the manual vehicle comp as a 2–4 hour job when a designer is available. That range is a shop description of the work, not a stopwatch study. Some comps are faster on a clean side photo. A three-quarter Sprinter with a bad phone snapshot takes longer. The pattern is the same: the proof waits on a person and a PSD.
MockMapr takes the sales step out of that queue. Staff start from the client’s photo, an AI picture they already sent, or a short brief, and send a proof while the conversation is still open. The first shareable proof is meant to happen in minutes in the browser, during the visit, not after the designer is free.
Guests can see a watermarked preview on /create with no account. 3 mockups when you sign up (lifetime), not per month. HD from $5 or Pro $49/mo. HD proofs do not need a kit. The HD file is what you send when the watermark has to come off.
Revisions stay on the same path. Moving a phone number, trying the name larger, checking a second color — those are new proofs, not a reopened warp. The designer is still available for the file that has to print.
Approval is a picture. Print is a file with panel scale, isolated layers, and notes. MockMapr does not pretend the proof is the cut path. After the client says yes, Export for Design is the handoff: a ZIP your designer opens in Illustrator.
Export for Design is 2 kits a month on Pro, 10 on Production, unlimited on Business, or $19 a kit. HD proofs do not need a kit. Photoshop remains the right place for a manual composite that production still wants to drive by hand. Illustrator remains the right place for the vectors. The proof’s job was to get the yes before those hours start.
The playbook below is the short version of that sequence: the AI or design picture, the proof they approve, then the kit. Read it once if the shop is still treating the mockup as the print file.
Photoshop’s public model is an Adobe subscription — a single-app plan, a photography bundle, or a fuller Creative Cloud seat. Prices change. Use Adobe’s plan page for the license. On a quote, the license is the smaller number. The designer’s afternoon is the cost the client feels, because the proof is late.
MockMapr’s proof pricing is separate from that seat. 3 mockups when you sign up (lifetime), not per month. HD from $5 or Pro $49/mo. Export for Design is 2 kits a month on Pro, 10 on Production, unlimited on Business, or $19 a kit. HD proofs do not need a kit. You can keep every Adobe seat you already pay for. The new line is the same-day picture, plus a kit when the Illustrator handoff is worth it.
A shop that composites two vehicles a month may still prefer to do both in Photoshop. A shop that loses walk-ins while the PSD is open is the shop this page is for.
If you want a starting board without a stock-stage subscription, the free mockup library is the PSD alternative: layered SVGs, and a PSD is not included. The Sprinter three-quarter and the box truck rear are the awkward angles — the ones a manual comp spends the longest on — drawn as presentation groups you can open in Illustrator, Affinity, or Inkscape.
Edit Wrap artwork. The files are free for commercial shop use. Attribution is optional. They are not cut-ready outlines and not a year/make/model template. When the real photo shows up, the proof path is /wrap.
Choose MockMapr when the clock is the quote. A walk-in, a fleet email that needs three body styles today, a revision that moves the phone above the handle. The proof is the sales step. Approval, then the Illustrator file, is the sequence in the AI concept and print-ready playbook. 3 mockups when you sign up (lifetime), not per month. HD from $5 or Pro $49/mo. Export for Design is 2 kits a month on Pro, 10 on Production, unlimited on Business, or $19 a kit. HD proofs do not need a kit.
Choose Photoshop when you already have the yes, or when the camera angle truly needs manual control: a custom displacement, a difficult reflection, production art that has to be exact before print. Photoshop is an Adobe subscription. The larger cost on a live quote is the designer’s hours. Keep Photoshop for that production work. Adobe’s plan page is the source for the current license price.
For the sales proof, yes. The same-day picture is the MockMapr job, in the browser, so the quote does not wait on a manual comp. Photoshop and Illustrator stay for production art. Export for Design is 2 kits a month on Pro, 10 on Production, unlimited on Business, or $19 a kit. HD proofs do not need a kit.
Shop-facing pages here describe a manual vehicle comp as a 2–4 hour job when a designer is available. A clean side photo can be quicker. A difficult three-quarter takes the long end of that range. MockMapr’s first shareable proof is a minutes-long step in the browser.
Yes. Keep Photoshop for the manual control you still want on production art. Export for Design is the ZIP with isolated layers and handoff notes, opened in Illustrator, after the client approves the proof.
No. HD proofs do not need a kit. HD from $5 or Pro $49/mo. 3 mockups when you sign up (lifetime), not per month. The kit is only the Illustrator handoff.
Yes. /free-mockups is a set of layered SVG presentation boards, including a Sprinter three-quarter and a box truck rear. A PSD is not included. Open them in Illustrator, Affinity Designer, or Inkscape.