Jen
Creative Chick
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Post by Jen on Oct 2, 2009 22:02:19 GMT -6
While the pen tool can be a challenge at first to some, it's a tool that's well worth the time mastering. For more on the pen tool check out the thread Pen tool exercise.
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Jen
Creative Chick
Admin
Posts: 8,309
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Post by Jen on Oct 2, 2009 22:03:36 GMT -6
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Jen
Creative Chick
Admin
Posts: 8,309
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Post by Jen on Oct 2, 2009 22:04:17 GMT -6
Paths are made up of one or more straight or curved segments. When you click you create an anchor point. As you continue you are making segments that are connected by anchor points. When you drag you create curved segments. Curved segments have direction lines that you can use to change the size and shape of the curved segment. You do this by taking the Direct Selection tool from the toolbox, has a red outline, and clicking on a direction point and moving it. When you click on an anchor point with the direct selection tool it will become solid and be selected. You can now move this anchor point independently of all the others by clicking on the anchor point and moving it. To change the curve from how it looks above, I just grabbed the direction points with the Direct Selection tool and moved them in the direction of the purple arrows.
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Jen
Creative Chick
Admin
Posts: 8,309
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Post by Jen on Oct 2, 2009 22:04:48 GMT -6
You can have an open or a closed path. To close a path your final click should be on the very first anchor point.
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Jen
Creative Chick
Admin
Posts: 8,309
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Post by Jen on Oct 2, 2009 22:05:24 GMT -6
When you're creating your path if it starts to fill in with the foreground color change the Fill to 0 in the layers palette.
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Jen
Creative Chick
Admin
Posts: 8,309
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Post by Jen on Oct 2, 2009 22:06:00 GMT -6
To move your entire path take the Path Selection tool from the toolbox, has a red outline, and click on your path. You'll see that all the anchor points become selected. You can also select a path with the Direct Selection tool. You would start your click outside the path and drag around your entire path making sure to include all the anchor points. With large paths it's very easy to miss an anchor point so I recommend when moving paths to use the Path Selection tool.
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Jen
Creative Chick
Admin
Posts: 8,309
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Post by Jen on Oct 2, 2009 22:06:30 GMT -6
When you take your pen tool and start to make a path it's called a Work Path which is a temporary path.
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Jen
Creative Chick
Admin
Posts: 8,309
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Post by Jen on Oct 2, 2009 22:06:54 GMT -6
To save and name a work path click on the path's layer so it's active and then click on the tiny arrow in the top corner of the paths palette. Choose Save Path... In the Name Path window that pops up name your path and click OK.
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Jen
Creative Chick
Admin
Posts: 8,309
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Post by Jen on Oct 2, 2009 22:07:16 GMT -6
And there you have your saved path.
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Jen
Creative Chick
Admin
Posts: 8,309
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Post by Jen on Oct 2, 2009 22:07:40 GMT -6
To save a work path as a named path from the beginning go to your paths palette and click the arrow at the top. Choose New Path...
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