Tips and Tricks: Chicago web design, copy writing, graphics, digital photography, database design, working with people, and getting a web project up and running.

Quick Reference for Photoshop's Pen Tool  - or

Photoshop Pen and Path Edit Tools - Quick Reference

category: graphics, digital photography and image editing

Photoshop's Pen Tool and related path and shape edit tools are complicated but correspondingly powerful. Once you get the hang of how they work, you may still need a little refresher to get you back in the groove. This is it.

Pen Tool Basics:

When drawing a straight segment, click to begin and click again to end the segment. Hold the Shift key when clicking to constrain the direction of segments in 45 degree increments.

When drawing curved segments, drag approximately one-third of the length of the next curved segment in the direction you want the curve to start. Leading control handles go in the same direction as the curve.

If a curved segment is going to change direction or continue as a straight line, hold the Alt key, providing temporary access to the Point Convert Tool, and click the point to remove the leading control handle before drawing the next segment. If a straight segment is going to continue as a curve, simply drag normally out of the end point of the straight segment.

Add a point by clicking on a segment and delete a point by clicking on the point. Select, move, and edit segments, points, and control handles with the Pen tool by holding the Ctrl key providing temporary access to the Direct Selection Tool.

Always make segments as long as possible, making anchor points only where needed to control the path. Finally. never overcompensate to correct a previously drawn but marginal segment because it never gets better, only worse; use the History Palette or edit the marginal segment before continuing.

Edit Tool Basics:

Path Selection Tool, or black arrow, is used to select or move an entire path. Alt drag with this tool to clone selected path(s).

Direct Selection Tool, or white arrow, is THE path edit tool. With it you can select, move, and edit segments, points, and control handles. Pressing the Alt key toggles to the Path Selection Tool. When a point is selected, holding Ctrl+Alt provides you temporary access to the Convert Point Tool.

Convert Point Tool

With this tool you can click an existing point on a curve to remove the control handles, drag one of the handles to change direction in either connected segment independently, or, if they were independent, drag one of the handles to make them symmetrical.

Transform

Select the path with the black arrow and press Ctrl+T to enter Free Transform Path. This works the same way as any other Free Transform. If you're unfamiliar with the options, right click anywhere in the image window to view a popup.

He said on 10.14.05 @ 03:51 PM CST