[...]... is to outline an object without any points on the Photoshop file to show you where to drag to Of course, you could always just look at the examples here and use the paths shown as a guide This is a compound path, in that it includes one element within another You don’t need to do anything to the path within the handle to make it subtract from the main outline: Photoshop will take care of this automatically,... drag to make the curves both behind and in front of this point 11 Click point 11, right at the bottom, and drag to the red dot to make the large curve along the base 15 Instead, hold as you click the starting point, to make a corner instead of a curve To make the Pen tool much, much easier to use, make sure it’s in Rubber Band mode – this shows you the path you’re about to create before you click the tool... hate learning keyboard commands, you owe it to your productivity and your sanity to learn these Temporarily accessing the Move tool, using the shortcut shown in step 8, works when any other tool is active – not just the selection tools This makes it easy to move any layer around while painting, selecting or using type, without having to reach for the toolbar 4 1 Normal drawing with the Marquee tool is... each point If you want to constrain a line to horizontal, vertical or 45°, hold down the key before clicking the second point 1 T HE PEN TOOL is one of the key tools available to the illustrator – not just in Photoshop but in Illustrator, FreeHand and many other programs as well The Pen tool creates paths using Bézier curves (named after the French designer who devised them, so legend has it, to design... anchor points will disappear, showing just the path’s outline You can leave a path openended instead, if you like – for example, if you want to stroke it with a painting tool (see pipes and cables in Chapter 12) A path can be adjusted by moving the anchor points, moving the handles, or dragging on the curve itself Hold to move points with the Pen tool active; or press for the path selection tool – use... outline selected, we can address the detail Lower the brush size using until you have a size that’s small enough to paint in the outline detail comfortably 7 6 2 Now the outline is selected, leave QuickMask by pressing again, and the selection will be shown as a familiar ‘marching ants’ outline You can now press to make a new layer from the selection 3 It’s easy to make a simple mistake when painting... numbers T HE PEN TOOL confuses people more than any other in Photoshop Here’s a step-by-step guide to cutting out a simple object – in this case, a child’s toy The Photoshop file on the DVD has all the numbers, click points and drag points marked on it, so you can follow the instructions here as you trace around the toy If you make a mistake, use Undo to go back one point – no need to start again Start at... Drag in the wall as required No amount of automatic adding and removal will capture fine detail such as the top of this crown Zoom in, switch to the Lasso tool and hold as you drag around those fiddly areas by hand to include them The trouble with increasing the radius is that we increase the fuzziness as well We’ve smoothed out the lumps, but at the expense of clarity in the cutout Once again, turn to. .. not included in the original selection, so we need to hold the key and click there to add it to our selection area 4 Now to add the horizontals Hold the key and then, after clicking the first corner point, add the key and continue to click each corner as before Be sure not to hold before beginning to click or its effect will be to subtract the new selection from the old one, rather than adding to it... existing anchor point you’ll delete it SHORTCUTS MAC WIN BOTH 25 Losing the edges W HETHER YOU ISOLATE AN OBJECT from its background using the Magic Wand tool, or by loading a pre-drawn path, you’ll frequently find a slight fringe of the background color surrounding the layer This is due to the anti-aliasing technique used in Photoshop to ensure a smooth edge There are two built -in methods for removing . How to Cheat in Photoshop 2002 Reprinted 2002, 2003 Second edition 2004 Third edition 2005 Reprinted 2006 First published as How to Cheat in Photoshop CS3 2007 Copyright © 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, . you’ll find an Interlude, in which I discuss an issue of relevance to the Photoshop artist. Think of them as light relief. Photoshop terminology In Photoshop 7, a collection of layers in a folder. using one layer to mask those above it was called Grouping. In Photoshop CS, the word Grouping was replaced with the cumbersome ‘Make a Clipping Mask’; How to cheat, and why vii in Photoshop