True or False about the pen tool in Photoshop?

Since Photoshop is mostly a raster image program,
and the Pen Tool is better for vector drawing in vector programs,
the Pen Tool is virtually useless in Photoshop, even if you want to
outline and mask something.
I always thought it was easier to use the paintbrush.
The pen tool in Photoshop is just silly.

Buko:
Don't be silly. I use the pen tool all the time (for cutouts, as a tool, text on path, you name it). Read post 17 -- 75 hours a week for four months cutting paths. Only cutting paths. A client that wanted the path between the dark and light pixels in the USM halo. The psychological damage is probably starting to surface now.
I understand how paths can be useful. I also wonder if their usefulness might have run its course. The reason I used paths 10 year ago was that I **had** to use paths. Don't you use them less for your mag now than you used to? Aren't you a big proponent of PSD outlines? In my workflow I find less and less of a need for them. But I make Medicaid brochures. It would be great to hear from some folks who use vector masks and need them for x reason.
I'm having trouble visualizing x.
J

Similar Messages

  • Photoshop CS4 Crash Using the Pen Tool

    We have experienced an issue where creating a line/path using the Pen tool in Photoshop CS4 caused a system-wide freeze, regardless of operating system, other software installed, etc....
    Not even a kernal panic, but just a complete freeze.
    We found that it only occurred on our white, 24-inch iMacs (2.16 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo). I tried it on 5 different white iMacs, with various builds of Tiger or Leopard, and they all froze up completely.
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    Oddly enough, the workaround was having Photoshop CS4 run using Rosetta, and then the Pen Tool works fine. It is odd considering the iMacs have Intel processors, and not PowerPC that would need Rosetta.
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    A complete system freeze means a kernel or driver level bug, or a hardware problem.
    Rosetta won't process as fast - meaning that the processor is less taxed, and it may call the drivers differently.
    Upgrading to MacOS 10.6 might avoid driver problems (that were in 10.5), but hardware issues would remain.
    But first you might try disabling OpenGL drawing in preferences (avoiding the most problematic drivers, and reducing the load in the graphics hardware).

  • PLEASE tell me there is a way to apply automatic strokes using the Pen Tool.

    To apply pencil and brush strokes using the Pen Tool (in Photoshop CC - the version I'm using), I would constantly have to right-click on my path, and on the dialog menu that pops up, select "Stroke Path...," then select which "Tool" (I namely use the Pencil and Brush tools), then hit "OK." And that gets ANNOYING. This is Photoshop CC - which means there should be a way for the Pen Tool to automatically apply the (Pencil/Brush) strokes while I'm creating paths. Illustrator does that - so there should be a way for Photoshop to do that as well. It's a software a majority of artists use; there SHOULD be a way to automatically apply pen strokes. PLEASE tell me there is.

    You can do a shape rather than a plain path, and apply a stroke there. But, just plain vanilla; no fancy brush tips or scatter or anything like that.

  • What happened to the 'Shape Mode' shortcut keys on the Pen Tool?

    For the longest time I've used both the Shape and Pen Tools for drawing vectors in Photoshop, but with CS6 I noticed a lot of weird behaviours. The one that is really getting to me is the lack of 'Shape Mode' shortcut keys when using the Pen Tool. When on the 'Shape Tool', fo example Cirle or Rectange, you can press the Shift to change the Shape Mode to 'Add', Alt to change it to 'Subtract' or both together to get 'Intersect'. This functionality used to exist on the Pen Tool too, but in CS6 I can't seem to get it working.
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    cheers,
    Jon

    The modifier keys "Alt|Opt", "Ctrl|Cmd" and "Shift" work differently depending on the tool being used but the individual keys seem to provide somewhat related functions.
    For example the "Shift" key tends to be a constraining key Rectangle tools are constrained to square ellipse tools to Circles. However if there is an Active selection when you hold down the skey when you drag out a new selection it does not reset the current selection instead the new selection is not constrained and is added to the current selection. Shift constrains Transform tool to current aspect ratio,  Shift constrains Line tools to vertical, horizontal or 45 degree angles. Pen tool like line tool shift constrains the angle.
    The "Alt|Opt" key changes the way tools operate. Transforms are from the center not from the side or corner being dragged.  Selection tools like the rectangle and ellipse will cause the intal drag out be from the center however it there is a Active selection dragging out a new selection will be subtracted from the current selection. This key changes the Pen tool from draw mode to anchor point adjusting.
    The "Shift" and "Alt|Opt" modifier keys can be used together to have an operation be both constrain and from the center.
    The "Ctrl|Cmd" key seems to change the way a tool works on a control anchor point.  The Pen Tool changes from Pen Draw mode to Direct Selection tool to facilitate moving the point.  Transform can be distorted a single corner point can be moved and distort the rectangle bounding box.
    These keys may have other functions I don't know about.  Photoshop has many features so many I don't know if any one person know and uses all of them. For the rest of us they seem to be Photoshop hidden secrets.

  • Better ways to work with the pen tool

    I'm finding the pen tool a real aggravation to use... first off you cannot hardly see the points once a path is completed.  Even blowing the artwork up really big doesn't help much.
    Then its really easy to loose the ability to move individual points... at least I've found that at one point I can select and move the points easily with keyboard and somehow I loose that ability and seems to difficult to regain it.  Instead I'm moving the whole path.
    I wondered if any of the plugins out there might be dedicated to making the pen tool points easier to manipulate and edit.  Just making them easily visible would probably be enough.

    Jacob Bugge wrote:
    Harry,
    The Direct Selection Tool is the one to use for moving Anchor Points after the path has been drawn. Always work on paths without anything selected when you start; this is one place where Smart Guides are your friends because they let you see highlights of what you may select.
    If you Click an Anchor Point, you will see that it is shown as a filled square; the other (non selected) Anchor Points are shown as hollow squares; you can select additional Anchor Points by ShiftClicking them.
    With the desired Anchor Point(s) chosen, you may ClickDrag (either of them), or use the Arrow keys, or Object>Transform>Move, to move it/them.
    You can also ClickDrag across the desired Anchor Point(s), starting from an empty spot with no fill (normally outside the path).
    If I'm following you above... I do not see that behavior here.  I speaking particularly of your third and fourth points.
    You are talking about doing point 3 and 4 with direct select right?
    To make it simple I'll just work with one point on a closed path  :... I first click on an empty part of art board, then click a single point.  At that point all the points light up and show there handles.  The clicked one is a solid red dot, the others are a hollow dot with red stroke.
    Now according to what I got of your comments, I should be able to move that single selected point with the arrow keys.... but I cannot.
    Far as point 4, same thing applies... It is good to know that I can select multiple points that way, but after selecting ... the keyboard arrows do nothing to the selected points.   But at least I can quickly pull mutiple points around with the mouse... so thanks for that bit.
    Are you able to select a point on a closed path, and control it with arrow keys?
    Is there some circumstance I may have initiated inadvertantly that would prevent the arrow keys moving points around.
    I pretty sure there was while early on where I was moving individual points with keyboard but cannot get it to happen now.

  • How do you change the color of the path the pen tool makes?

    There must be some way to change the color of the path the pen tool makes from that grey color to something that will contrast with the image underneath. I found one thread about this from 2010 or so and the answer led to a dead link. This seems like it would be a very helpful feature that would be easy to implement. Someone please tell me in 2014, after a zillion version of photoshop have come out in the past 30 or so years, how do we do this? Thank in advance.

    Why? When you zoom in too close sometimes it become too pixelated to see what's going on and the point on the pen become to close to each other. Why can't you change the path to a color so that it doesn't blend into the image you're trying to trace? Why is the unchangeable color one of the most likely colors to become invisible on most images? So frustrating!

  • Drawing with the Pen tools

    This question was posted in response to the following article: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/photoshop/cs/using/WSfd1234e1c4b69f30ea53e41001031ab64-73a0a.h tml

    Correction: same issue -- pen tool drawing shows up only on the digital image on the screen. Not when printed. Well sounded like a good theory.
    Problem remains: how to get pen tool drawing, made on photographs, to print.
    From: [email protected]
    To: [email protected]
    Subject: Drawing with the Pen tools o photographi
    Date: Sat, 5 May 2012 20:08:05 +0000
    Curt, believe I found the answer:
    Create a new blank page, the size of the photograph to be worked on. The blank page is what the pen tool responds to only.
    Add the photographic image to the new blank page (same size).
    Now you can use the pen tool over the photographic image. When finished drawing, flatten the image with drawing, and print. 
    Date: Fri, 4 May 2012 21:00:54 -0600
    From: [email protected]
    To: [email protected]
    Subject: Drawing with the Pen tools
        Re:  Drawing with the Pen tools
        created by Curt Y in Photoshop General Discussion - View the full discussion
    Perhaps you are talking about stroking the line? 
    Set the color and size with brush, then in Path window click on Stroke Path with Brush.
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  • Ai Beginner, Can I make the pen tool function like it does in Photoshop?

    I have been using photoshop to do various things over the last few years, and I am trying to move over to Illustrator. The biggest problem I have already is the function of the pen tool in Ai as opposed to Ps. I have to select an entirely different tool to move points? I can't just hold control and move the point? Is there a way that I can make the hot keys and what not function like the pen tool does in Ps. Why the change in the first place?
    (Also, I am using CS4)

    A feature request maybe? But then there's no-one from Adobe listening out there anyway, so what's the point?
    That's not at all true I have made many feature reques and had quite a few realized. Although one of the bestones was killed.
    But if you make a feature request the right way and you give a good argument for it they will look at it and see if they think it is practical for them to implement.
    The key is practical and a really good reason for the feature.
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  • Does photoshop elements 13 have the pen tool and where is it?

    Does Photoshop Elements 13 have the pen tool and if so where is it?

    I don't understand what you mean about the white line, but many tools in PSE are actually groups of tools. The blur tool shares a slot with the sharpen tool and the Smudge tool. Click hold on the one that's visible for a popout menu, or keep tapping the R key till the blur tool comes into view.

  • Creating a bell-shapped (Gaussian) curve with the Pen Tool

    Hello everyone,
    I'm trying to create a bell-shaped (Gaussian) curve in Photoshop CS3, using the Pen Tool, however apparently I am not good enough with it... I can create a curve that resembles a simple parabola - like this one http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BhBX8ycVeL4/SIHhJYmDCgI/AAAAAAAAA-g/2Dc_Tf1Kz5c/s400/400px-Para bola.svg.png only upside-down; however I can't figure out how to further go from here in order to add the extra inflexions on the sides that make the parabola into a Gaussian curve, that would look something like this: http://naturalcureinsomnia.com/img/Bell-Curve.gif
    Can anyone help? Thanks in advance!

    Art,
    Correct me if I'm wrong---I believe you want a schematic Gaussian curve rather than a mathematically precise one.
    If so, set up two horizontal guide lines, one running through the desired apex and the other through the curve's baseline. Add three vertical guides, one through the apex and the other two equally spaced on the left and right sides of the guide through the apex.
    Let point A be at the intersection of the left vertical with the baseline, point B be the apex, and point C be the intersection of the right vertical with the baseline.
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    Experiment with the ABC positions and the drag lengths until you get a decent curve. Should you want a precise curve it would be better to use one of the freeware curve programs out there. But if you want a bit of precision with the pen tool, that's possible by calculating one or two intermediate points between A and B and symmetrically between B and C and then dragging the pen so that curve comes reasonably close to passing through them.

  • How To Use The Pen Tool in Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign CS6 | Creative Suite Podcast: Designers | Adobe TV

    In this episode of the Adobe Creative Suite Podcast Terry White shows how to use the Pen Tool to create Art, Frames and to trace images in Photoshop CS6. If you've never used the Pen Tool before, this is your video!
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    With the pen tool in Indesign, is there a way of making the points not join if you want to make a few single lines?

  • Photoshop CC - Making the Pen Tool on a new layer?

    So I've never had this problem in previous versions of PS. When selecting the Pen Tool and drawing on the document usually leads to it making a new shape layer. However for some reason this option is greyed out in CC. As a workaround I've had to draw a shape box, then draw with the pen tool and delete the shape box afterwards. Is there a reason for this, a bug or something I'm missing?
    Thanks

    It should not be grayed out Pixels are grayed out.

  • Help with using the pen tool

    I have a few different problems with the pen tool.
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    Thanks.

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  • Using the Pen Tool in Flash

    I'm in the process of teaching myself the components of the CS4 Design Premium package using the Adobe Classroom in a Book series.  I'm currently going through the Flash CIAB and i've started using the pen tool. The task involves creating a wave like design across the stage.  Whilst this in itself is simple, the final instruction is to click on the first anchor point to close the shape.  In the illustration, the closed shape seems to automatically extend around the stage, however when I click on the first anchor point, the line automatically connects between the two points in a straight line.
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    If you have any suggestions as to why this may be, I would be greatly appreciative.
    Chris

    Thanks Ned,
    I think I worked out the problem; I think that part of the instruction was missing.  When I looked at the picture again, I noticed that there were anchor points around the stage, so I guess that was what I missed.  I was simply creating the wavy line across the stage, and then clicking on the first anchor point to close the shape.  I resolved the problem by creating three anchor points around the stage and then closing the image by clicking on the first anchor.
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  • After Effects CS6 11.0.2 crashes when using the pen tool (Mac OS X 10.8.2)

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