Keyboard Short Cuts
Command (Mac), Control (PC) lets you shift between the Pen Tool and the Direct Selection Tool.
Paths --Photoshop Only
In Photoshop, the outline of a vector shape is a path.
A path is a curved or straight line segment drawn using the Pen or Freeform Pen tool.
The Pen tool draws paths with the greatest precision (sub-pixel accuracy)
The Freeform Pen tool draws paths as if you were drawing with a pencil on paper. Recommended you use a drawing pen/tablet with the Freeform tool.
You can convert all selections made with any selection tool into a path.
Drawing paths with the pen tools
A. Curved line segment
B. Direction point
C. Direction line
D. Selected anchor point
E. Unselected anchor point
Pen Tool Options
Make sure the Option bar for the pen tool looks like this, and you have the "Rubber band" option turned off. (Unchecked)
Creating a straight path
Just click the mouse button. The first time you click, you set the starting point. Each time that you click thereafter, a straight line is drawn between the previous point and the current point. To draw complex straight-segment paths with the Pen tool, simply continue to add points.Objective: Draw a simple shape using the pen tool
1. Make a new blank layer
2. Select the pen tool by pressing the letter P
3. Make a rectangle by clicking on the canvas in 4 different spots.
4. Close the rectangle (path) by clicking on the first point you added to the screen.
5. Press the keys Control Enter (PC) Command Return (Mac) to select the rectangle.
6. Choose a foreground color like green
7. To color the selection with the foreground color press Alt + Delete (PC) Option + Delete (Mac)
8. You can add special effects fx to the rectangle using the fx button at the bottom of the Layers palette.
A simple banner for a web page or a scrap book page.
But wait... there is much more to come!
Creating a curved path
Just click to place an anchor point, but while holding down the mouse button drag to create a direction line for that point and release the mouse button. Now click again in another location to place the next anchor point. Click and drag in the direction you want the curve to go...Each direction line ends in two direction points; the position of the direction lines and its points determine the size and shape of the curved segment.
Moving the direction lines and points reshapes the curves in a path.
Smooth curves
--are connected by anchor points called smooth points.
Sharply curved paths
--are connected by corner points. You can change an anchor point to a corner point using the "Convert Point Tool"
Convert a point from a smooth point to a corner point
Use the Convert Anchor Point tool nested in the pen toolset
To select the Convert Point Tool, Press the Option key (mac) Alt (PC) place the cursor over an anchor point and click to make the change.
When you move a direction line on a smooth point with the Direct Selection Tool (control key PC) (Command key Mac), the curved segments on both sides of the point adjust simultaneously
-- when you move a direction line on a corner point, only the curve on the same side of the point as the direction line is adjusted.
Moving anchor points and line segments
- Path segments and anchor points can be moved after they're drawn, either individually or as a group. When a path contains more than one segment, you can drag individual anchor points to adjust individual segments of the path, or select all of the anchor points in a path to edit the entire path.
- Use the Direct Selection tool to select and adjust an anchor point, a path segment, or an entire path.
Creating a closed path vs open path
To end an open path
click the Pen tool in the Tools panel.
To create a closed path,
position the Pen tool pointer over the starting point (you'll see a small circle beside the pen tool cursor) and click.
Closing a path automatically ends the path. After the path closes, the Pen tool pointer appears with a small x, indicating that your next click will start a new path.
As you draw paths, a temporary storage area named Work Path appears in the Paths panel.
It’s a good idea to save work paths
and it’s essential if you use multiple discrete paths in the same image file. If you deselect an existing Work Path in the Paths panel and then start drawing again, a new work path will replace the original one, which will be lost.
To save a work path,
double-click it in the Paths panel, type a name in the Save Path dialog box, and click OK to rename and save the path. The path remains selected in the Paths panel.
So what can you so with a path anyway?
Stroking a Path -19 Choices!
Before we invoke the stoke menu, we need to choose a "brush" to paint the stroke.
Choose Brush FIRST
Keyboard --press the B Key
Choose a "holey" or in CS5 a new fancy "paint Brush. Try Brush # 66. Experiment!
Choose a foreground color like red or blue, or?
Right click (PC), Click + Control (Mac) on the path you drew.
If you select the drop down menu, you'll get to choose 19 different types of tools to stroke the path!
If you click the "stroke path button"" at the bottom of the the path palette... Photoshop will apply what ever brush you have choosen!
The mark of Zed composited on a photo
A real World Example ---painting with the Content Aware Brush
The second part of this Russell Brown video
References
Adobe Creative Team (2010). Adobe Photoshop CS5 Classroom in a Book (Kindle Locations 3381-3383). Adobe Press. Kindle Edition.
Snider, Lesa (2010). Photoshop CS5: The Missing Manual (p. 558). Pogue Press. Kindle Edition.