Photoshop Actions are an incredibly powerful but frequently underutilized aspect of everyone’s favorite photo editing tool.  In a new tutorial on TutsPlus, marvel at the massive action they create to take a single flattened image and turn it into a beautiful 3D box, properly lit and shadowed.

Actions can be used to quickly automate repetitive tasks. In this tutorial, we will demonstrate how to create an action that will automatically create a 3D software box from a flat template.

It’s a big tutorial (72 steps), and the resulting action can take minutes on a slower computer, but it’s a great example of the sheer power of Photoshop Actions.

via Create a 3D Software Box in Photoshop Using Actions | Psdtuts+.