Practical tips for Photoshop pen paths

Photoshop handles the bitmap, and the pen tool is the only vector tool inside Photoshop. Just getting in touch with this tool may make you feel a bit sweaty, but when you understand how it works, you'll feel the beauty of it. Hopefully this technique will help you a little bit with this tool.

First, press the button on the pen tool with your mouse. You will see another pop-up of the toolbar, all of which belong to the pen tool. Now describe their usage in detail.

Pen tool: Often used to make complex lines, with which you can draw very precise curves.

Magnetic Pen tool: Just like a magnet, suck the edge. Do not own good careful and slow strokes. The premise is that the edges of the object should be very clear.

Free Pen tool: Draw lines, just like you would use a pencil to draw on a piece of paper.

Add Anchor Point tool: New anchor points can be added to any path. That's the little dots on the line.

Delete Anchor Point tool: You can delete any anchor points on the path.

Direct Selection Tool: You can change the direction of the line, if the painting is wrong, use it to change.

When you use the Pen tool, you can switch to the free pen tool at any time by pressing the CTRL key.

Conversion Point tool: You can turn a smooth curve into a straight line, and vice versa.

You will now use each of the pen tools described in the following example, you can also use this graphic to try the following. You can Copy the image first and then pull it out in Photoshop. Right-click the image on the left and choose Save picture as to be saved to your hard drive.

Select the Pen tool to click on Point A.

Now click on point B to confirm that you are pressing to drag the mouse so that you can draw a curve. Pull the dots until the lines are aligned along the edges of the image, but do not have to be too perfect.

Now click on the C point, remember to drag the curve when the mouse do not let go, so that the curve as close to the edge of the image.

Each painting can never be perfect, sometimes leaving a gap. To fix it, press the Ctrl key and switch to the Select Direct Selection tool. Click on the anchor point, as the part of the left figure, to move it so that the path matches the edge of the image. This will help you understand the use of the free pen tool.

Click the D point. Drag it to make it match.

Now click on Point A to make it connected. Remember to try to keep it close to the edge of the image.

Use the Free Pen tool again to make another adjustment. Press the Ctrl key and click on the anchor point. Move it to make the path coincide with the edge of the image.

Try increasing the anchor point with the Add Anchor Point tool. Like the picture on the left to be corrected. Once you have added an anchor point, press the CTRL key and move the anchor point toward the edge of the image.

When you are done, you can store the path in the Path tool window (Windows > Show Paths).

Click in the Path tool window

button to convert the path to a selection. At this time, you like to fill color, draw lines can be arbitrary.

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• PS Getting Started Tutorial