Photoshop text in accordance with the path of typesetting detailed

With the path tool, text typesetting becomes more flexible. We can make the text into any desired pattern. As in the tutorial, we can put the text into a closed path to make solid graphics, but also in accordance with a curve path layout made lovely text curve. The more difficult thing is to create creative text patterns through the combination of paths. Believe that after learning this tutorial, you will be able to create more creative graphics.

Final effect

1, create a new 400x300 image (you can set the size), and then select the Custom Shape tool.

Note that the drawing method should be the first (shape layer), as shown in the red arrow below. Then select a Heart shape in the list of shapes (such as not in the list to restore the default shape), as shown in the green arrow below. Style selection is no style. Alternatively, you can select a color.

2, and then draw a heart in the image (the drawing process can hold down the SHIFT key to maintain the aspect ratio), so in fact, is to create a vector mask with a color fill layer. As shown in the left figure, the layer palette shows exactly one color fill layer. Double-click the thumbnail to change the color of the fill, and the layer thumbnail has a mask thumbnail on the right (the blue arrow at the bottom left), which is the vector mask thumbnail, which is characterized by a gray representation of the hidden area. Knowledge of vector masks we will learn later.

Before proceeding to the next step, make sure that the path in the path mask is displayed by clicking on the path mask thumbnail. You will see an outer frame in the heart of the image, and a thin box appears around the path mask thumbnail in the Layer palette, as shown in the right.

3, now Select Text Tool, and make it stay on the heart-shaped path, depending on the location of the different mouse cursor will have different changes. When stuck on top of a path line, it is displayed as. Notice the difference between the two, which means that the lines move along the path to arrange the text, while the latter indicates that the text is written in a closed area and the function is completely different.

4, now we first stop the text tool within the heart-shaped (the cursor), and then click, the text input cursor, enter some text. such as "Love" (note that after each letter there is a space, the reason later). Select an English font (such as Tohoma), select a small number of font size (such as 6px), and copy and paste several times, so that it fills the entire graphic (beyond also does not matter), the effect is as follows the left figure. When you see the text in the graphic is not symmetrical arrangement, next in the Paragraph Palette set Center, and the appropriate set of left indent and right indent values (such as 5px), so that looks more comfortable. In general, in closed graphics layout text, you have to do these settings to achieve better visual effects. The following is the right figure.

5, now hide (can even delete) heart-shaped color fill layer, we see the text is still retained in the periphery of a closed path, the same as the original heart-shaped path. The following is the left figure. It can be understood that although this text-layer layout path is based on another layer in the vector path, but after completion, it also "clones" a same path and "retained."

We can modify the "clone and retain" path to change the layout of the text. The method is to use the direct selection tool 〖a/shift_a〗, click on the path of the text layer (not the previous fill layer, where the padding layer should be hidden), and you will see many small squares displayed on the path. The following figure. You can see the effect by using the direct selection tool to move the square of the blue arrow slightly above the left. Knowledge of the path we will learn later, we can do more and more complex changes, now we first remember that the path can be modified on it.

We mentioned before that we have to add a space to each English letter, is to move a single letter to the next line at the end of a row, and if you use a whole English word love, you change lines at the end of the line, because the whole word will be moved to the next row for integrity, and the effect looks rather stiff ( Others will like the effect), as shown on the right. Everyone later in the practical application can refer to this method of adding space, if you feel that the space to pull the letter spacing, you can set the pitch in the character palette to make up for negative values.

6, now the completed text layer hidden. and click the vector mask for the color fill layer so that its path is displayed, even if the fill layer itself is hidden. The following is the left figure. Rest the text tool on the line of the path, and note that the cursor indicates that the text input cursor appears in the approximate place at the left figure 1 below. Change the font size to 12px, paragraph alignment to left, and enter "She once is a true love of mine" so that you can form a text effect that flows along the path, similar to the bottom right. Notice that there is a small circle mark at the beginning of the text.

You can also change the location on the path for the completed path to the text. The method is to use the path selection tool 〖a/shift_a〗, note that it is similar to the direct selection tool, but the former is a black arrow, the latter is a white arrow, pay attention to the difference. Move the path selection tool to just the little circle marker, and the cursor and cursor, depending on the position, represent the beginning and end of the text, so we call it the start and end cursors. Now move the beginning and end of the text to the position roughly below the left, where the red arrow is the starting point and the green arrow at the end. At this point, you can look at the overlapping text start and end marks on the path.

7, if the distance between the two is not enough to fully display the text, the end mark will become, indicating that some text is not displayed. As in the box text we learned earlier, the same markup that appears when the text is not fully displayed is shown in the following figure.

If you drag the start or end mark to the other side of the path, you change the display position of the text, and the starting and ending points are swapped. As shown below, drag the starting point to the lower right, and the text moves from the inside of the path to the outside of the path (the medial outer side is only relatively without strict criteria).

8, the path to the text of a feature is that it is based on the path as a baseline, such as the upper right figure, whether it's inside or outside, the bottom of the text always takes the path, so suppose we need to arrange the text in a heart-shaped path that is larger (or smaller) than the existing heart-shaped path, and whether we should draw a larger ( or smaller) heart-shaped path? It's not necessary to change the value of the vertical offset in the character palette to achieve the effect, as shown in the following diagram, which is to copy the existing path to the type layer, and then change the vertical offset by 15px and -15px to form the effect. It is important to note that after you change the value of the item, you may have different text spacing on the curve of the path. In addition, you can use the carriage return line to achieve the purpose.

9, now you can try to the original heart-shaped path on the arrangement of multiple text layers, and color, font size, font, vertical offset and other options are adjusted to form a patchwork effect, the following left figure.

10. Generally speaking, it is troublesome to draw dashes and dots in Photoshop, but we can go to the text through the path to achieve. With several characters "-" and "character". Lines are arranged along the path to form dashes and dots. You can also use a combination of other characters, as shown on the right. The shape of the dotted line can be controlled by the character palette, which controls the size of the dotted line and the size of the dotted space between the character spacing.

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