Mockup Generator — turn screenshots into polished mockups

'Mockup' really means two different things, and knowing which one you want saves a lot of grief. The first is a device / window frame mockup: your web or app screenshot dropped into a clean browser window or phone frame on a gradient background — the point is to present the interface itself crisply, for portfolios, Product Hunt thumbnails, landing-page heroes and docs. The second is a real photographic scene mockup: your design printed onto a t-shirt, a mug, a storefront sign or a gift box in a real photo — the point is the 'placed in the real world' vibe, for e-commerce shots, brand pitches and merch previews. Shape Cat's mockup generator does the first kind: every frame is drawn in code, so it stays vector-crisp at any export size, with no image assets and no licensing strings.

A few details make a device mockup look finished: pick the right frame — a browser bar with a URL gives a website the most context, a phone frame suits a mobile experience, plain is just a clean crop; keep the background from competing — one coordinated gradient that lifts the interface off a dead-white field, with enough padding to breathe; and keep the shadow soft, for a hint of float rather than a hard black edge. Shape Cat tunes these into sensible defaults, so you drop an image, pick a frame, set padding and you're done — all composited locally in your browser, nothing uploaded, ideal for cranking out shots fast.

When should you leave this tool for a paid photographic library? When what you need is a photo-real 'product in the real world' — thousands of shot-on-camera tees, hoodies, phone cases, storefronts and posters-on-walls that code frames simply can't fake. That's where a dedicated library like Placeit fits: drag your design and it composites into a real photo. In short: to present an interface crisply, use Shape Cat (free, local, vector-sharp); for a real-world photographic vibe, use a dedicated photo-mockup library. They don't compete — pick by purpose.