Pen tool isn't making a path as i drop my anchor points.

hey guys,
my pen tool isn't making a path as i drop down each anchor point. it goes invisible after each anchor point is dropped, which makes it hard for me to know what i am doing.. any help? suggestions?!

What fill and/or stroke is applied to the Pen tool?

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How do I enable automatic +/- pen tool when hovering over a path/anchor with the tool in AI CC?

I've noticed that in Illustrator CC (17.1) the pen cursor doesn't automatically let you add or delete an anchor point anymore, when in Pen tool mode (P). It used to be an automatic feature in CS5, where a + or - sign would show up whenever I hovered over a selected path with the tool. Help please?

here it is in CS5. i couldn't say if they've changed it for CC, but I can't imagine it's gone completely.

Photoshop CS3, using pen tool to make selection or path without any color

OK, here is my problem. I'm using CS3 photoshop right now. Last time I was using it regularly was in 2001, so it was version 5 or 6. At that time you could use the pen tool to make a selection or a path without ANY color. I'm trying to cut out something that needs precision (therefore the pen tool) but I need to be able to see what I'm doing. Therefore, would prefer no color option. This used to be easy, with paths, it was the default.
Can't figure it out now, HELP is no help. And, the User Guide is no longer available on Adobe.com. Looked for the one for the CS4 suite, not much much luck there either. I can call them tomorrow about that. *Right now, all I'm trying to do is put together a little pasted together thing for my niece. Two stuffed animals with antlers and santa hats on a Xmas background. Everything is done but cutting out around the stuffed animals. They need their little tufts of stuffing, so I need a tool that can create a smooth path without blocking what I'm doing with color.* Any help will me appreciated. I've tried for days to figure this out on my own, since last time I posted, I figured it out before someone responded. And, the response was quick, so I didn't want to waste anyone's time.
The pdf user guide for this is unavailable, I just ordered a book to help me with the stuff I can't figure out by myself. Thanks for everyone's quick help. –Suze

{quote:title=Suze159 wrote:}
I'm trying to cut out something that needs precision (therefore the pen tool) but I need to be able to see what I'm doing. *Right now, all I'm trying to do is put together a little pasted together thing for my niece. Two stuffed animals with antlers and santa hats on a Xmas background. Everything is done but cutting out around the stuffed animals. They need their little tufts of stuffing, so I need a tool that can create a smooth path without blocking what I'm doing with color.*{quote}
Suze,
I too use CS3 and I may be confused about your post. If so, I apologize for wasting any reader's time.
When I need a precision tool for rotoscoping a subject, I usually choose the Polygonal Lasso tool. Of all the Lasso tools, using the polygonal is the most labor intensive, but gives you the highest degree of control. With a little practice you can get quite good at it. If necessary, blow up the image to help you see what you are doing.
-- Duplicate the background layer
-- Rotoscope the subject
-- Click Refine Edge and adjust Radius, Contrast, Contract/Expand, Smooth and Feather to taste
-- Choose New>Layer via Copy or Cut
-- Hide background layer(s) and Save As or Move this layer onto your original graphic.
There may be other ways of doing it but this is what works for me. I hope that helps.
Eddie

Pen tool wont snap to existing paths - PLEASE HELP ME OUT!

Before, I could draw on a new layer with the pen tool and when i hovered over paths on existing other layers, they would appear red, or blue etc. NOW... I hover over those paths with my pen tool and they arent flashing up, meaning I can't use them as a reference! I am so upset, please someone give me a hand, please!

Larry, I love you. You're a hero, a life saver! I can't thank you enough!

My pen tool isn't cutting my selection! Help...

Hello,
I've been trying to cut out a part of a circle using the pen tool.
Usually, I add the points, right-click and make selection, then just hit delete and it disappears.
However, now it isn't doing that - it's blurring the selection, almost as if I've rubbed it using smudge!
Here's my selection:
Then, I right-click, make selection... and when I hit delete, instead of the selection disappearing, I get this:
I haven't knowingly changed anything, can anyone help me figure this one out please?

Hi:
You must have had your document on a Background layer because in Photoshop CS5, if you have a selection and press Delete, you get the Fill dialog box set to Content Aware Fill. However, if you press Command Delete, then you will excise out the selection as desired.
Herman R.

Pen tool lag after upgrading to CC

Hi everyone, after upgrading to CC my pen tool is seriously lagging. Whenever I click a new anchor point, it takes about 1 second for it to appear. Any thoughts?

I've commented on this bug in another thread and am still simply shocked that Adobe hasn't addressed this for what seems like Windows users(fyi, I'm on Win7 64, plenty of ram, latest version of PS CC 14.2.1, latest video card driver for Nvidia GT630).
The latest update looks to have fixed the pen tool issues for Mac users, from what I'm hearing from others. The very irritating pen tool lag isn't the only problem, as I'm also unable to press the + or - keys to preset the path operation mode, as in CS6. Does anyone know of a time frame to fix this, or better, a temporary fix/workaround? I've already done a total reinstall, trashed prefs, turned off and on lots of different options under Performace in preferences. To almost make matters worse, the pen tool will randomly work fine with no lag, then start lagging again(although the preset path operation mode never works.. considering using Autohotkey for that). I've tried to pay attention to any setting I may have changed when it suddenly works, but it truly does seem random. And oh yes, the pen tool lag goes away if I use my very outdated Wacom, but using a tablet is counterproductive for me.
Any reply/suggestion is truly appreciated, thanks guys and gals
-Andy

How to hide the extra line when use the AI pen tool

When I use AI CC pen tool to draw a line, when i click the 1st anchor point, " - " shows next to the Poniter ( I did not drag ) ,I tried to move, but an extra line coming out before I click another point. So I could not draw lines or curves! That extra line just follow the Pointer direction. I am using Window 32 bit, will it affect this? please help.

suetsuetwong,
Apologizing for my being so slow in the uptake, I believe I have finally grasped the meaning.
As I now (mis)understand it, you are seeing the (maybe overly) helpful Smart Guides in action.
You may ignore the line or untick Smart Guides in the View dropdown, or change their settings as desired.
The Smart Guides are trying to help you with snapping to directions, paths, Anchor Points, whatever, and also telling you where you are.

MAGNETIC PEN TOOL, AUTO DELETE ANCHOR POINT.

MAGNETIC PEN TOOL, AUTO DELETE ANCHOR POINT.
How would you like the feature to work?
like pen tool in AI, when clicking out around shape and creating anchor points, ability to hover over previous anchors and click on them to delete them,
also right click to automatically delete most recent path created , and ability for consecutive right clicks to keep deleting previous segments of anchor and path.
Why is this feature important to you?
easier editability on the fly with the magnetic pen tool..

Many people seem to confuse joining with averaging. Like Ray says, only endpoints can be joined. In your case you don't need to join the points. Select the points you want to have in the same position and Cmd-alt-J, Both, and all the points will hop to the average position.
Alternatively you can snap an endpoint to an anchor point. Put your cursor on the selected endpoint that you want to move and drag it till it snaps onto the anchor point you're aiming at.

The !**(% pen tool, yet again....

CS4
(Ultimately, I want to have a shape with curves that I can use to create slices.)
I've drawn two parallel lines with the pen tool. I want to create a shape that has a series of parallel curved lines which have end points that intersect the two parallel lines. (You could imagine maybe a step ladder where the steps are all bowed downward by the same amount.)
Drawing the path segments are no problem. Here's what I can't do...
Get the independent path segments to intersect as one path. How do I do that?
If I draw the parallel curves so that they extend beyond the two parallel sides, I can combine the paths, but there are no anchor points created at the intersections. Therefore, the intersect shape button does not work (I guess that's why.)
Or If I draw the two sides, then add anchors along the parallel lines, then the pen tool will not create a path segment from one new anchor to another new anchor on the opposite side. Why or how?
Or as a third approach I've tried, I've drawn all the "step" paths. Now, how can I get them to intersect with the two sides?
Let me add one twist. What if the two parallel sides were actually a rectangle. Then of course, this is a closed path already. Then the problem seems to be different for the way the pen tool would work.
TIA,
Karl

I'm sitting here thinking about this and not relishing the idea of trying to learn more about Illustrator in order to solve this one problem.
So let me restate my original post in a simpler way.
Is this not possible with the Photoshop pen tool, and if so, how do I do it.
I want to create a square and then I want to divide it into thirds. This should become one path, not a collection of path segments.
TIA.

Question about Pen Tool

Why does the Pen tool have feedback (ie. the "+" and "x" icons when near a shape etc.) only when starting to draw a path, but not after that?
For example, I have 2 parallel lines at some distance apart. With the Pen tool, I want to draw a path that unites their middles.
I click on the first line to set an Anchor point; then I keep drawing and setting Anchor points. But when I get near the second line, there is no more "feedback" on the Pen tool. So I don't know if my next Anchor Point I set will end exactly on the line (as I want) or "overshoot".
Is there any way to know?

Hmmm. I masked my actor. Hit the stopwatch on Mask Path, then went to the next frame. I added another keyframe and changed the mask to fit the new position but noticed it still changed the mask for the previous frames. I can't seem to figure out how to edit frames individually...

Photoshop 6.0 & 7.0 vs. CS (Pen Tool & Paths)

I am interested in the tutorials that have you draw with the pen tool and then create a path, which allows you to enhance the lines drawn with the pen tool. Hopefully that is stated somewhat correctly.
Anyhow, I currently have Photoshop 6.0, are these features (pen tool & paths) available to me? Will they be available in Photoshop 7.0? If so, how do I get to them. If not, do I need to upgrade to a CS version?
My goal, is to convert my drawing from paper, place it on the computer, and add coloring, etc. to it.
Currently, I am drawing the picture on paper, taking a photo of it with my digital camera, opening it with Photoshop 6.0, converting it to black & white, filtering with photocopy (using black & white), and then setting it to multiply. The I color and add effects in the layers below.
Help!!! I am truly a novice and would like to get much better at this type work. Finding a book, or tutorial that matching my situation has been difficult.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
-Robert

Robert...
Are you talking about Photoshop
Elements
? Some of what you've written sounds like you are.
Yes, the Pen Tool is available in Photoshop 6 and newer (but not in Elements 6); Custom Shapes are available in PS
Elements
6 and Photoshop 6 and newer versions of both. From what I can discover through the online documentation Elements 6 & 7 will allow you to edit anchor points of a Custom Shape (I don't know to what extent, though), but it doesn't have the tools and function to allow you to create your own vector-based objects.

One point circle path with pen tool

I have heard or people drawing a circle path with one point and dragging or something like this. I would really like to be able to do this! Is this possible?

Absolutely just hold down the shift key while dragging one of the ellipse tools. Add the Alt|CMD key then circle center will be where you start dragging from. Marque ellipse tool or ellipse tool. Selection can be turned into path. But the Ellipse tool is better for its a vector tool. Can create shapes layers, Paths and fill pixels... Pen Tool circle is hard but you can use the pen tool to edit the circle path created with the ellipse tool.

Pen Tool in Flash

Whenever I select the pen tool in Flash, in the properties
panel it only gives me an option for stroke color, not fill, so I
can only make stroked objects. I want to make a colored object
without a stroke. How do I do this? (running cs3).

The Pen tool is only for making strokes - therefore the fill
color swatch is
simply not an option - if you want to make shapes then use
any of the shape
tools or the brush tool. You can always draw with the pen
tool and then
connect the paths and use the bucket tool to fill them.
Adobe Certified Expert
www.keyframer.com
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(if you want to email me, don't look)
"xslamx" <[email protected]> wrote in
message
news:g40pmj$hcl$[email protected]..
> Whenever I select the pen tool in Flash, in the
properties panel it only
> gives
> me an option for stroke color, not fill, so I can only
make stroked
> objects. I
> want to make a colored object without a stroke. How do I
do this?
> (running
> cs3).
>

Make selection with pen tool?

In photoshop, you can create a path with the pen tool and then make that path a selection as if you'd used the lasso tool. How do you turn a pen path into a lasso selection in Flash (CS4)?
Thanks,
Keith

Essentially, any path that you drawn in Flash, that you want to use to make a sub-selection of your artwork, has to be pasted onto your artwork layer and the "outside" portion deleted.
Let's say you imported JPG into Flash of a house, and you wanted to remove the background. First, break it apart so that it's a fill. Then, it can help to draw your manually-drawn pen selection on a new layer above. Once you have traced the house/drawn your selection (making sure it's a closed selection) , copy the lines and paste that onto your layer of artwork. Click outside of the selection and delete the edges.
One could also decide to fill the drawn selection lines, and use that as a mask for the artwork.
Flash has fewer of the drawing tools than Photoshop or Illustrator. But even if this doesn't answer your question, there is a way to do what you want.

Problem creating vector mask with Pen Tool

Using Photoshop CS5, Mac OS 10.6.8
I'm trying to create a simple vector mask using the pen tool to create a curved line at the top and bottom of a photo. Here's what I'm doing:
1. Create a new layer and select it.
2. Select Pen tool.
3. Choose "work path" by selecting button at top menu.
4. I draw my shape with the pen tool.
5. Now comes the problem... I can not select this shape, or assign it a color. When I create a clipping mask, it does not recognize my path. When I throw away the layer, the shape is still there in outline only. What am I missing here? I'm familiar with doing this in Illustrator, but I don't understand how it works in PSD.
I need some help, please.
Thanks.

The main thing i use paths for in photoshop is extracting objects from photos.
Other uses include stroking paths with the paint tools. For example, if you had
a powerline to remove, one could trace the line with the pen tool and then stroke
the path with spot healing brush set to content aware fill.
more info on photoshop paths:
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/photoshop/cs/using/WSfd1234e1c4b69f30ea53e41001031ab64-73ada.h tml
MTSTUNER

Pen tool isn't making a path as i drop my anchor points.

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