Translating Boxshot

Boxshot ships with several community-made translations. You can switch between them using Help → Language.

If your language isn’t listed, you can add it by creating and editing your own translation file. This tutorial walks you through the workflow and a few important details to watch for.

English Translation

Boxshot’s primary UI language is English. It also serves as the reference for all other translations. If something isn’t translated in your language file, Boxshot will fall back to English for that item.

Exporting a Language File

To start a new translation, export an existing language file and use it as your base. Open Help → Language → Export Translation menu to see the list of available translations.

You’ll see both built-in community translations and any user translations you’ve added. Pick the closest match to use as a starting point.

After you select a translation, Boxshot will show a save dialog. By default, it points to the folder Boxshot uses for language files, so you can save it there. The suggested filename is based on the translation you selected.

Make sure the translation filename is unique. If another translation with the same name appears in the menu, Boxshot can’t reliably tell them apart.

Editing Language Files

Once exported, open the file in a plain text editor, such as Notepad on Windows or TextEdit (set to plain text) on Mac. Avoid rich text editors like Word or Pages.

The format is simple:

block.identifier1 = User interface text 1
block.identifier2 = User interface text 2

Each line defines one UI string. The part on the left of the equals sign is the identifier for that interface element and must stay exactly as-is. The part on the right is the text you translate.

You can add empty lines to separate sections, and you can use # at the beginning of a line for comments:

# block 1
b1.id1 = ui text 1
b2.id2 = ui text 2

# block 2
b2.i1 = ui text 3
b1.i2 = ui text 4

In this example, “b1.id1” is the identifier, and “ui text 1” is the string to translate. The rest works the same way.

Translate items one by one and save often. When you’ve translated a few sections, select your translation in Help → Language menu, restart Boxshot, and review the UI. Language files are loaded on startup, so you’ll need to restart the app to see updates.

Using AI for Translation

Because the translation file is plain text, you can also run it through an AI translator such as ChatGPT, DeepSeek, or a similar tool.

The workflow is straightforward: export a language file, paste it into your AI tool, and ask it to translate only the text to the right of each equals sign into your target language. It also helps to mention that this is an application UI translation file and that the identifiers on the left are keys that must not be changed, so the AI can keep the structure intact and choose more natural UI wording.

You can usually get a solid first pass in a minute, then fine-tune the terms and tone manually.

Updating Translations

When Boxshot is updated, the main English translation is updated as well, along with the built-in community translations.

User-made translations can’t be updated automatically, so you’ll need to refresh yours from time to time.

After installing a new version of Boxshot, export your translation again, but save it under a different filename. Open the exported file in a text editor. If there are new strings to translate, they’ll appear at the top of the file, separated from the rest by a couple of blank lines.

Translate that top section, then replace your old translation file with the updated one.

Sharing Translations

If you’d like to share your translation, use Help → Language → Open Translations Folder menu item to reveal the files you created. Find your language file and send it to whoever needs it.

To install a shared translation on another machine, open the translations folder there as well and drop the file in. After that, select it in Help → Language menu and restart Boxshot to activate it.

If your translation is polished and likely useful to others, feel free to send it to us and we can consider adding it to the community translation bundle shipped with the software.

More Tutorials

Rendering

• Realistic Rendering — improving scenes visual appearance;
• Lighting — control environment and directional lighting;
• Saturated Reflection — make "rich" colorful reflections;
• Floor Reflection — reflecting scene objects in the floor;
• Job Manager — rendering jobs later;
• GPU Rendering — rendering scenes faster on GPU;
• Rendering Time and Quality — getting more control on rendering;
• Simple and Realistic Lighting — speeding up scene rendering.

Materials

• Texture Slots — how to use texture slots in Boxshot;
• Glass Materials — how to make semi–transparent objects look attractive;
• UV–Spot — how to make a UV–spot effect easily;
• Foil Effect — how to add foil–finishing to your shapes;
• Bump — adding relief to your materials;
• Copying Materials — how to copy materials to other shapes;
• Custom Materials — extend the materials library with your own ones;
• Semi–Transparent Labels — making semi–transparent and partial labels;
• Boxshot Materials — more details about Boxshot materials.

Features

• Boolean Operations — combining and subtracting shapes, making holes;
• Decals — applying decals and configuring them;
• Bump Decals — applying bump where it is needed;
• Depth Of Field — adding more realism to your renderings;
• Tools — read more about Boxshot tools;
• Managing Images — how to manage image files used by Boxshot projects;
• Shapes Instances — creating lightweight copies of other shapes;
• Model Editor — edit embedded models in many ways;
• Shrink Wrap — heat–shrink film simulation for objects wrapping;
• Physics Simulation — applying gravity to your scene;
• Palletize — arrange scene objects for the pallet;
• Snapshots — save scene state to re–use it later;
• Translation — teach Boxshot to speak your language;
• Vector Artwork — how to maintain the quality of vector artwork.

Shapes

• Lathe Objects — making symmetrical objects using revolving curves;
• Loft Objects — making custom objects with 2D cross–sections;
• 3D Text — making 3D text objects in Boxshot;
• Extruded Objects — how to make thick 3D object of your flat 2D curve;
• Conical Labels — making conical labels with distorted artwork;
• Dieline Box — a very realistic dieline–based box;
• Custom Shapes — adding custom shapes to the left panel;
• Solid Shapes — create boolean-friendly shapes;
• Script-Based Solids — create complex solid shapes with code;
• Third Party Shapes — importing third party shapes to Boxshot.