Calling graphic designers....

[OdiN]

Do any of you have a good tutorial or explanation of the Pen tool for photoshop? This is like the only tool that I have never been able to get it to do what I want it to do. I want to change that. For whatever reason I just can't wrap my head around the how and why it does what it does. Call me names, laugh in my general direction, but then please help 😛

 

[OdiN]

anyone?

 

[mryellow2]

http://graphicssoft.about.com/gi/dynami...2Fwww.arraich.com%2Fps6_tips_ppen1.htm

 

[Injury]

Where are you having problems?

I would suggest using the pen tool in Illustrator to learn it as the one in Photoshop, while strikingly similar, sucks. They do not work the same and the one in Photoshop is harder to work with because it isn't as dynamic as it is with raster graphics.

The general idea is like playing connect the dots. If you simply click in places it makes straight lines. If you click then drag (or drag an existing point) you will notice two handles, one in each direction of the lines connected to the point. The handle that corresponds to a line influences the curve of the line... it's kinda like a magnet that just isn't powerful enough to draw something completely to it.

There is a correlation between the distance the anchor is away from the point and the amount of the line that is affected by this "magnetism". If the anchor is almost right up against the point, there is little influence... if the anchor is half the length of the line, then half of the line will be affected.

The trick is to realize that for every line there are TWO anchors that affect it... so if one is controlling half of the line, and the other is controlling more than half, your curve will generally be messy and hard to work with.

I suggest making a circle and/or square in Illustrator then messing with the achor points on them to understand how the curves react to changes in the anchors.

 

[OdiN]

Originally posted by: Injury
Where are you having problems?

I would suggest using the pen tool in Illustrator to learn it as the one in Photoshop, while strikingly similar, sucks. They do not work the same and the one in Photoshop is harder to work with because it isn't as dynamic as it is with raster graphics.

The general idea is like playing connect the dots. If you simply click in places it makes straight lines. If you click then drag (or drag an existing point) you will notice two handles, one in each direction of the lines connected to the point. The handle that corresponds to a line influences the curve of the line... it's kinda like a magnet that just isn't powerful enough to draw something completely to it.

There is a correlation between the distance the anchor is away from the point and the amount of the line that is affected by this "magnetism". If the anchor is almost right up against the point, there is little influence... if the anchor is half the length of the line, then half of the line will be affected.

The trick is to realize that for every line there are TWO anchors that affect it... so if one is controlling half of the line, and the other is controlling more than half, your curve will generally be messy and hard to work with.

I suggest making a circle and/or square in Illustrator then messing with the achor points on them to understand how the curves react to changes in the anchors.

The above link may help me.

I use photoshop for everything. I have never really liked illustrator. All I usually do is webpages anyway. But there are curves that I want to make but can't seem to get them where/how I want them.

Like a header graphic at the top of a page.

Let me just see if I can find something on template monster which will let you see what I mean....


This one...

I want to do curves like in the header for a site..just to enclose a photo. Instead of having just a square-ish type header...something that flows a bit. Those types of curves should be just what the pen tool is for right? In the past I just mess with combining circle/oval selections to get a curve...but it doesn't work so well that way.

 

[OdiN]

Okay I finally figured out the best way to use this thing...and it was totally by accident.

When I went to make a curve, sometimes the third or fourth point would make this really wonky curve that I couldn't get to do anything near what I wanted. Then by pure luck I accidentally deleted the previous point, and then the curve would go somewhat where I wanted it. I think I may have finally gotten this.

It's also pretty easy to trace stuff I found...so what I may do is draw something how I want it on paper and then scan it and match it up that way.

 

[UglyCasanova]

Learn Illustrator. I didn't like Illustrator either till I learned it. The entire Creative Suite works together very well, and each program is its own distinct entity that does its own thing, and sometimes you simply need to use the program that is right for the task at hand. Photoshop sucks at vector (for the most part, it is possible to *kinda* work with vector in it but is much much more difficult than it is worth), it simply does, use Illustrator.

 

[dugweb]

I used to be like you Odin, and just use Photoshop for everything... but I have seen the light and that light is illustrator. I only use photoshop to apply the finishing touches to things now.

I also could never figure out the pen tool until I tried illustrator, and now I can't imagine there being any other way that could possibly be better. I love it. I would much rather use the pen tool to cut something out than the lasso/magnetic lasso

 

[OdiN]

Originally posted by: dugweb
I used to be like you Odin, and just use Photoshop for everything... but I have seen the light and that light is illustrator. I only use photoshop to apply the finishing touches to things now.

I also could never figure out the pen tool until I tried illustrator, and now I can't imagine there being any other way that could possibly be better. I love it. I would much rather use the pen tool to cut something out than the lasso/magnetic lasso

See I tried the pen tool in illustrator...maybe I should try again now that I think I figured it out.

The problem is...I could only use illustrator for some simple vector things. Most of what I do for web design in photoshop illustrator just won't do nearly as easily as I can do it in photoshop. I've been using photoshop since version 4 so I'm much more familiar with design process in it than illustrator.

Nothing I do is printed, except my photography (which obviously photoshop is the best for that) so I don't usually have need for vector drawing much. That and I'm not that great at actually drawing anything complex. I'm no artist. But some simple shapes are needed from time to time.

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: dugweb
I used to be like you Odin, and just use Photoshop for everything... but I have seen the light and that light is illustrator. I only use photoshop to apply the finishing touches to things now.

I also could never figure out the pen tool until I tried illustrator, and now I can't imagine there being any other way that could possibly be better. I love it. I would much rather use the pen tool to cut something out than the lasso/magnetic lasso

It's how it always happens.

I hated Illustrator, then once I took a class on it... well... I only open photoshop when I have to work with actual photos or to add effects to things I made in Illustrator.

Check out this file I whipped up to show you how to get started with the pen tool:
pentool.psd

Each layer is a step.

Step 1: Make the general shape that you want. It's important to remember that the pen tool will do the work making the curves, so you want to put your points where the shape smooths out, not on the curves. Sure, you could make 10 or 20 points with the pen tool, but it will be harder to make your shape smoother. Sometimes photoshop isn't very good about letting you work off of the canvas, if your shape extends off the sides and you're having problems with that, you'll want to expand your canvas to work.

Once you make a couple of points, turn the opacity down to about 20-30 (or less if you can still see it!) to make it easier to work if you have an image below.

Step 2: Once you've made your shape, switch to the anchor tool (it looks like a "<" tilted to point up.) and grab one of the points, or "knots" as some people call them and drag just a tiny little bit so that your anchors pull away. When you first grab the point, both anchors will pull, and that's why you don't want to go too far. Then, grab just one anchor and it will adjust it independantly of the other. Try to fit to the shape of the curve you want, but you don't have to make it exact to the full curve, really just the half closest to the knot.

Then do the same with the knots on the other end of the segment of line. You can see this done on step 2.

Step 3: Step 3 illustrates how far out you should pull the anchors to start working with them. You really don't have to go further than that. When the shape comes to an angle like on the point that has not yet been worked with, your anchors will make a sort of "V" shape.

Step 4: This step illustrates the final shape. Remember, less points is better!


This was just an example to show you how to use the pen tool with an odd shape. Ideally, instead of using the pen tool for the center shape, you would want to make 4 seperate grey shapes on top of the image instead. It would be a lot easier and look better.

( Something like this )... (Yes, I half-assed this entire post, but it's good enough to get it across)