How to use the PS path to create personalized graphics-PS tutorial

Send a practical skill ~ With the path tool, text layout becomes more flexible. We can make the text into any desired pattern with the path tool, the text layout will become more flexible. We can make the text into any desired pattern. For example, in the tutorial, we can put the text into a closed path to form a solid image, or we can typeset it into a cute text curve based on a curve path. More difficult is to make creative text patterns by combining paths. I believe that after learning this tutorial, you will be able to use your creativity to create more creative graphics.
Final effect

1. create a new 400x300 image (which can be customized) and select the custom shape tool.

Note that the drawing method should be the first (shape layer), such as at the Red Arrow. Then select a heart shape in the shape list (if not in the list, you can restore the default shape), such as at the Green Arrow. Select none as the style. You can also select a color.

2. then draw a heart shape in the image (you can press SHIFT to maintain the aspect ratio during the painting process), which is actually a color fill layer with a vector mask. As shown in the left figure below, a color fill layer is displayed in the layer palette. Double-click the thumbnail to change the fill color, and the right side of the thumbnail of the layer has a thumbnail of the mask (the blue arrow in the lower left). This is the thumbnail of the vector mask, which indicates the hidden area in gray. We will learn about vector masks later.

Before proceeding to the next step, make sure that the path in the path mask is displayed by clicking the path mask thumbnail. An external box appears in the heart shape of the image, and a fine box appears around the path mask thumbnail in the layer palette, as shown in the right figure below.

3. select the text tool and place it on the heart-shaped path. the mouse cursor varies depending on the position. It is displayed when it stays above the path line, and when it stays within the graph, it is displayed. Note the differences between the two. The former indicates that the text is arranged along the path, and the latter indicates that the text is typeset in the closed area. The function is completely different.

4. now let's move the text tool inside the heart shape (with the cursor as), click, and enter the text cursor and text. For example, "LOVE" (note that each letter is followed by a space. The reason is described later ). Select an English font (such as Tohoma), select a smaller font size (such as 6px), and copy and paste it several times to fill the entire graph (it does not matter if it exceeds the limit ), the result is shown on the left. At this point, we can see that the text is arranged in the graph and asymmetrical. next we will set the center in the section palette, and set the left indent and right indent values (such as 5px) as appropriate ), this looks more comfortable. In general, these settings are required for typographical text in closed graphs to achieve better visual effects. See the following picture on the right.

5. hide (or even delete) the heart-shaped color fill layer. we can see that there is still a closed path on the periphery of the text, which is the same as the original heart-shaped path. The left figure is shown below. It can be understood that although the layout path of the text layer comes from the vector path in another layer, after the completion, it also "cloned" the same path and "reserved ".

We can modify the "Clone and retain" path to change the text layout. The method is to use the direct selection tool "A/SHIFT_A" and click on the path of the text layer (not the earlier fill layer, at this time the fill layer should be hidden, the path shows many small blocks. As shown in the following figure. Use the direct selection tool to move the square at the blue arrow to the top left to see the effect. We will learn more about paths in the future. we can make more and more complex modifications at that time. now we can remember that paths can be modified.

As mentioned above, we need to add spaces behind each English letter to move a single letter to the next line at the end of the line. if we use the entire English word LOVE, when the row is changed at the end of the row, the entire word will be moved to the next row to maintain integrity. this effect looks rather stiff (some may like this effect), as shown in the right figure below. You can refer to this space-adding method in practical applications. if you think that the space increases the letter spacing, you can set the spacing to a negative value in the character board.

6. hide the completed text layer. Click the vector mask of the color fill layer to display the path, even if the fill layer is hidden. The left figure is shown below. Place the text tool on the line of the path. Note that the cursor indicator should be. click at the left of the following to display the text input cursor. Change the font size to 12px, align the paragraph to the left, and enter "She once was a true love of mine" to form a text effect arranged along the path, similar to the bottom right image. Note that there is a small circle mark at the starting point of the text.

You can also change the path of the completed path to 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 and the latter is A white arrow. pay attention to the difference. Move the path selection tool to the left and right sides of the small circle. the cursor and the cursor will appear based on different positions. they represent the start and end points of the text respectively. Therefore, we call them the start and end points. Now, move the start and end of the text to the position of the left graph, where the Red Arrow is the start point and the Green Arrow is the end point. In this case, you can view the overlapping text start and end signs on the path.

7. if the distance between the two is not enough to fully display the text, the end mark will be changed to, indicating that some text is not displayed. Just as in the box text we learned earlier, the Mark appears when the text is not fully displayed, as shown in the following figure.

If you drag the start or end point to the other side of the path, the position of the text is changed and the start and end points are changed. As shown in the following figure, drag the start point to the bottom right, and move the text from the inside of the path to the outside of the path (the inside is relatively not strictly standard ).

8. a characteristic of path to text is that it uses path as the baseline. the bottom of the text is always taken as the path in the above right image, whether inside or outside, suppose we need to arrange the text on a heart-shaped path that is larger (or smaller) than the existing heart-shaped path, then whether to draw a bigger (or smaller)? Needless to say, you only need to change the vertical offset value in the character palette to achieve the effect. as shown in the left figure below, two existing paths are copied to the text layer, then, change the vertical offset values to 15px and-15px in sequence to form the effect. Note that after changing the value, the text spacing may be different on the path curve. In addition, you can use the carriage return to wrap the line.

9. now, you can arrange multiple text layers in the original heart-shaped path, and adjust the color, font size, font size, vertical offset, and other options to form incorrect results, the left figure is shown below.

10. In general, it is difficult to draw dotted lines and dotted lines in Photoshop, but we can achieve this through path to text. "-" And "." are arranged along the path to form a dotted line and a dotted line. You can also use other characters, as shown in the right figure below. The dotted line can be controlled by the character palette. the font size controls the size of the dotted line, and the character spacing controls the gap size of the dotted line.

Many beginners can also try to learn these practical skills very helpful.