How to Make Pen Tool Automatically Draw in the Line

You have probably been told to master the Pen Tool in Photoshop a thousand multiplication and you might already be pretty groovy at using it. However, it never hurts to copse up on this pivotal attainment and learn the secrets of true Pen Tool around mastery.

With soh many another exciting untested tools in Photoshop, you may think the pen tool International Relations and Security Network't so important any more. For example, using the Adobe brick sensei artificial intelligence engineering science, the object survival of the fittest tool can automatically snap to the object you want to select. And information technology backside do a pretty good job; however, the edges bequeath not be as perfect and precise equally those created using the indite tool.

If you're not confident, then check away Martin's latest video tutorial. Martin shows you wherefore he believes the playpen tool is still the best when it comes to making selection of objects with hard edges. By the end, you will understand the power of the pen you bet it is a crucial skill to master.

Settings

When you select the pen tool, you leave amaze a couple on of options in the cogwheel. One option is to exchange the colour of the outline, which is helpful if the default colour is likewise similar to the preponderating colour of the image.

Another useful pick is the rubber band. Turned off, you will only see the side by side path section you'Ra drafting when you Lashkar-e-Toiba the mouse button go; when you move the pointer, nothing appears. When upside-down on, the next segment displays before you place it down – generous you a preview before committing to the next anchor point.

Setting 2

Precise-settings

You can also modification the cursor from the default standard cursor (pen tool ikon) to the precise pointer (a much more subtle crosshair which doesn't get in the way).

Shortcuts

Get doomed you watch the video where St. Martin illustrates tons of shortcuts that can save you time and give you extra flexibility when running in Photoshop. Below are just a small selection.

600x360 Pen Tool

Drag cast anchor point –If you're not prosperous with the locating of an anchor point, hold spacebar and move it around.

Create an independent curve – When you create curves, you will take in symmetrical handle points that help oneself guarantee a smooth transition between segments. If you want a completely different curve, hold down Altitude/Choose + Click to create an independent curve.

Refine handle points – Book Cmd/Ctrl and move it around.

Swap between smooth and corner point – You can change an existing smooth point to a corner point and vice versa by holding the Alt/Opt key and clicking to falsify the ground channelize.

Create autonomous segments – You can disconnected direction handles to create independent segments from on-line segments. Hold Alt/Prefer key, and you can adjust the points independently. Employment Cmd/Ctrl key, and they move together.

Start a new path – If you hold Cmd/Ctrl + Click, you don't have to swap to a several tool, you can start drawing a new path, and later on, you can join them to become a single path.

Creating a Transmitter Cloak

The pen creature and the vector masquerade put together is the best method for creating selections not-destructively happening objects. Once you've created the whole track, you can make a vector mask aside holding the Cmd/Ctrl key and clicking on the 'Add transmitter mask' icon.

Add Vector Mask

It's now that you can adjust and tidy the selection which is so easy with the pen tool. You send away zoom in to the point and interpolate the path using the direct selection tool or function the arrow keys to push points round. If you select multiple anchor points, you can move them at the indistinguishable time using the arrow keys.

If you Don't require to finish up splintering away at the object likewise much, you can create a trim masqu and sample a colour from around where you would like to refine. To avert this overriding the texture, you force out interchange the blend mode to colouring material. Smartly it only alters the people of color and non the texture – beautiful cool right?

The Curvature Joyride

The curvature tool is an disjunctive to the compose tool around that mechanically creates curves, so it is nonsuch if you are working with an physical object where in that respect are very some flat lines. Watch the video as Martin creates a path about a curved beer bottle.

Generally, it does a beautiful good job, but if you neediness to complicate the details, you can hold Cmd/Ctrl and move the anchor points around without having to alter focus handles or anchorman points. If you double click on an extant anchor point, it bequeath turn it into a sharp corner and become information technology back again with another repeat click. If you use the pen tool and curvature tool a circumstances, you can assign shortcuts so that you butt quickly switch backward and forward between the deuce.

A great clock time-saving tip with symmetrical objects (like a beer bottleful), is to draw half of the selection and then duplicate the path. By holding Alt/Opt and dragging the path, you make up a double up. Victimization the free transform tool, you can put a negative before the W value in the control bar and mouse click recruit, which flips the details allowing you to join the cardinal paths together into a single path. Follow along with Martin in the video for clarity.

Combining Multiple Paths

Information technology's also beneficial to learn how to combine multiple paths to create a single vector dissemble sol you can, e.g., stick eliminate hollow inside information within an object. After completing the mask for the outline, with the pen tool around selected, switch to 'Subtract Front Shape' in the top control bar, and you buns have as many paths as you want inside the same vector mask, which you buttocks individually refine pro re nata.

Conclusion

Hopefully, you now have a better perceptive of how powerful the pen tool is. In these examples, Mary Martin focuses on using the pen puppet to make selections and extracting inside information from backgrounds, but you can also enjoyment IT for then many other things.

These include adding shading along specific details (the television explains how), and drawing lines, dashed lines and shapes. And the best act is that everything is not-destructive, which is how you neediness to glucinium working in Photoshop. Make a point you watch the video to learn the secrets of real pen tool mastery.

If you enjoyed this tutorial, and then you may like the following: