The Hidden Power of Photoshop Elements 4 PHẦN 8 pdf

Making Custom Shapes Say for some reason you want to make a custom shape—for example, a fishhook—that you can’t find in the shape libraries, and you can’t imagine how to construct it by join- ing shapes from these libraries. One task you can’t do with standard Photoshop Elements Shape tools is to make freehand shapes. You could spend most of the day using the existing shapes that are supplied—adding, subtracting, and combining—but creating a custom shape this way will probably prove a little tough, will take lots of time, and can be frustrating. Hidden Power tools add some functionality that can help you change any selection to a shape, and this gives you the power to make any custom shape you need. All you have to do is make a selection (any shape or size, using tools you have), and then double-click Shape From Selection in the Power_Paths category of the Hidden Power tools on the Effects palette. This will turn the selection you made into a custom shape on its own shape layer. Once the selection is a shape, you can use it just like any other shape created with the Shape tool: copy and paste the shape to other shape layers, and size, mix, and combine the shape with other shapes. The difference is that the shape you make can be your own, unique from the limitations of the provided libraries. Using this Hidden Power tool, you can create shapes from any selection, even highly complex ones. One way to create custom shapes is by making a rough sketch of the shape you want with a painting tool and then converting that shape to a selection (Command+ click the layer / Ctrl+click the layer where you have drawn the shape to load it as a selec- tion). You can even refine the selection before conversion using other selection tools (the Lasso tools are a favorite). Figure 9.4 shows how a very rough sketch of a fishhook made in its own layer is turned into the final fishhook illustration. The shape is roughed in with a painting tool and loaded as a selection; the selection is refined with the Lasso tool and made into a new filled object. Once the object is refined, the object is blurred to smooth out the curvature and edges, and then a final selection is made and converted to a shape using the Hidden Power tool. Tolerance settings on the Make Work Path dialog that appears after you click the Shape From Selection tool allow you to choose how closely you want the vector to conform to the pixels. Higher numbers simplify and smooth the vector while sacrificing accuracy; lower numbers add vector anchors and may produce a blockier result. Shooting for a balance between the two extremes will get the best results. It is sometimes best to increase the image size (upsam- ple the image) to create the vector if you want to retain smooth vector results. making custom shapes ■ 227 4456c09.qxd 3/1/06 3:06 PM Page 227 Shapes can be created from loaded selections, selections made with any selection tool, selections made from layer transparency, and selections made with any combination thereof. Once you have made the selection and converted it to a custom shape, you can store the shape and use it as you might use one of the shapes from the shape libraries. The process for storing your custom shapes is a little different from using shapes in the library in that you will not save the shapes you create to a shape set for display in the submenu. You will save the shape to a dedicated image where you can store the shapes as a library. When you need a shape you have created, you just open the library image and then copy and paste the shape from it as needed. The ability to store and reuse shapes that you create gives you much greater flexibility with vectors than using shape libraries alone. For an example of how to store shapes in a library image, see hiddenlibrary.psd on the CD. If you have shapes that you want to store, follow these steps: 1. Have the image open in which you created the shape you want to store (e.g., the cus- tom fishhook shape created from a selection). 2. Open the hiddenlibrary_template.psd file on the Hidden Power CD, or you can create your own library file. The file can be any size, but 500 × 500 pixels at 72 ppi will cover what you need the file for, even if the original shape is larger than that size. The advantage of using the Hidden Power template is that it will have a template layer for use in step 8. abcde fghi j Figure 9.4 A very rough sketch (a) is used as a simple guide for creating a more refined selec- tion (b) made with the Polygonal Lasso tool. The polygon selection is refined and smoothed by filling with black (c) and using Gaussian Blur (d) and then Threshold (e). Addi- tional selections (f) are used to make alterations (g), and the final selection (h) is converted to a shape (i). Once the shape is in a layer, layer effects can be applied (j). 228 ■ chapter 9: Creating and Using Vectors 4456c09.qxd 3/1/06 3:06 PM Page 228 3. Save the image file with a name that reflects the shape types you expect to save there (in other words, name your shape library what this image will contain). If you will have only one shape library, you might name it something simple, like My Shape Library. 4. Choose the Shape Selection tool. 5. Click on (highlight) the shape you want to store from the image in step 1 to activate it. The shape can be from any open image. 6. Copy the shape (Command+C / Ctrl+C). 7. Activate the library image that you opened or created in step 2. 8. Create a new shape layer. If you’re using the template image provided, just duplicate the template layer. 9. Paste in the shape copied in step 6. 10. Name the layer something meaningful so you will know what it is from the descrip- tion. When you need to use the shape, you can just locate it by name and copy it to the image in which you want to use it. An alternative to the steps above would be to drag layers from the image that you want to copy to the library. With both images in view on the screen, locate the shape you want to copy in the source image in the Layers palette, click on it, hold down the Shift key, and drag it to the library image window. This will copy any effects you have applied as well. Shapes can be resized to fit the 500 × 500 pixel image you are using as a library, because vector shapes do not change as they are scaled. If you have pasted or dragged and dropped a path and you do not see the shape, zoom out from the image, be sure the layer is active, and choose Free Transform. If you can see the outline of the path and the bounding box (the Show Bounding Box option must be checked), hold down the Shift key and fit the bounding box to the image. Holding down the Shift key will retain the ratio of height to width for the path. Another way to store shapes in a library is to save all the shapes as separate files in a directory (for example, named MyShapes) and then use Photoshop Elements’ Create Web Photo Gallery function (see Photoshop Elements 4 Help) to create a preview of all the shapes in the folder. This will be easy to update and will enable you to scan previews of many shapes quickly in your web browser or in the Elements File Browser, rather than having to remember the names or search through various library files. If you use another image, you will have to create a new layer using one of the shape tools, draw a shape, follow steps 9 and 10, and then delete the shape. Elements will not allow you to create a shape layer that does not contain a vector. making custom shapes ■ 229 4456c09.qxd 3/1/06 3:06 PM Page 229 Another handy tool provided with the Hidden Power tools is one that will make a shape from any text you’ve created. The Shape From Text tool is located in the Power_ Paths category of the Hidden Power tools on the Effects palette. Converting text to vectors may not seem to be much of an advantage when I tell you that you won’t be able to edit the text anymore. However, converting text to vectors can save you from having to worry about transferring fonts with your Elements images; vec- torized fonts will show up correctly even on computers that don’t have the same fonts you used to create the text, and the vectors will render the result without softening (as would happen if you rasterized the text by converting it to pixels). Changing the fonts to vectors locks the shape of the font and makes it a graphical part of the image, while still allowing you to scale the image and not have a fuzzy font result. Vectors will produce sharper text results than rasterized text when used correctly. Converting to vectors also puts to rest some potentially annoying font errors. The application of these Hidden Power vector-conversion tools should become clearer in the following example, where we’ll use shapes to create scalable vector art. Creating Scalable Vector Art Pixel images are normally trapped by their content in that pixel content is inflexible and must be interpolated to be resized. Interpolation can cause softening or loss of detail. Using vectors can help you create art that can be scaled to any size while retaining sharpness in the shape of objects. Although you can’t turn all elements of a standard photograph into vectors, you can create artwork as vectors so it can be scaled to suit your needs. Captain Hook’s Bait & Tackle is the name of an imaginary tackle shop. Let’s say the owner wants a logo and asks you to make it. He wants to use the logo on his letterhead, business card, and website and on promotional items such as caps and T-shirts. One other thing the logo will be used for is a 10 foot × 16 foot billboard next to the Fishingtown exit from the I-1000 freeway. The only answer you get when you ask how big the logo will be on the billboard is “Big.” So it’s safe to assume that the logo will run about 9 feet tall. A 9-foot-tall image in Photoshop Elements at 100 ppi would be almost 11,000 pixels square. That’s about 333 MB. It isn’t a file that you’ll want to transfer over the Internet even if you have a fast connection. Interestingly, if you are careful, you can probably create the file you need and do it in less than 1000 pixels square (technically, even smaller than that!) and satisfy all of the client’s needs with one image. Shapes can be another means of storing selections—as long as you want to store the selec- tion without anti-aliasing, feathering, or other grayscale manipulations. Such hard selections can be converted to shapes by using the Hidden Power tools, and the visibility can be turned off. To create a selection from the stored shape, Command+click the layer / Ctrl+click the layer where the shape is stored. 230 ■ chapter 9: Creating and Using Vectors 4456c09.qxd 3/1/06 3:06 PM Page 230 Follow these steps to create the logo: 1. Open a new, blank 1000-pixel-square image. Set the resolution to 72 ppi. 2. Click the Shape tool on the toolbar. Then on the Options bar choose the Ellipse Shape tool. Create a new shape layer by drawing a circle to fill the square image. Start draw- ing at the center. You can find this center of the image by opening the Info palette, setting the measure to pixels, and then watching the coordinates change as you move your cursor in the image window. The center will be at 500,500. When you have located the center, hold down the Shift+Option / Shift+Alt keys and drag your shape; the shape will constrain to a circle and draw from the center point, where you first clicked. Leave 100 pixels or more at the edge of the image all the way around—you may need some space to maneuver your shapes and artwork. 3. Click the Subtract From Shape Area button on the Options bar, locate the center of the image again, and then draw a second circle from the center, about half the diameter of the first. This will give you a torus—a donut shape—as a result of the two shapes you created that inhabit the same layer. You should not have to adjust this, but if you do, use the Shape Selection tool to click on the shape component you want to move. When the component is highlighted, you can move it freehand by using the Shape Selection tool, or you can change to the Move tool and use the keyboard arrows to position the shape. 4. Create a hook using the technique described earlier in “Making Custom Shapes.” Alternatively, you can copy in the hook you made during that exercise, if you’d like. 5. Create the text to be placed in the donut. This is the toughest part of the exercise, because Elements does not offer a lot of type controls. Fitting the text to the donut will take some experimentation. All you really have to work with are the Create Warped Text function , point size, and Transform. It might be easiest to set one word or phrase at a time. To use the Create Warped Text function, type out your words and then click the icon on the Options bar. Results in the example were achieved by setting the Arc at 100% for the top text and –100% for the bottom text with about 30% Vertical Distortion. Add spaces before and after the text evenly to shorten the arc and control horizontal distortion caused by the arc. To add spaces at the beginning of the text, you have to add an extra junk character (use a period) before the spaces, or the spaces will just move the text to the right—but don’t forget later that the junk character is there, or it will show up in your final image. Once the text is close using Arc and spaces, use Transform to fit it in place if it still needs adjustment. See Figure 9.5 for a quick approximation of these steps. creating scalable vector art ■ 231 4456c09.qxd 3/1/06 3:06 PM Page 231 6. Convert the text to shape layers by using Shape From Text on the Hidden Power tools, found in the Power_Paths category of Effects. You may want to duplicate these text layers and hide them before the conversion, in case you need to come back and make changes. 7. Create the worm. Roughly sketch in its shape as it would appear wrapped around the hook, using a soft brush (0% hardness) on a new layer. Merge with a new white layer (created below the worm), and use Threshold to tighten up the edge. Load the hook as a selection by Command+clicking the Hook layer / Ctrl+clicking the Hook layer (created earlier). Use the selection to erase areas of the worm that would wrap around the hook by using a hard brush (100%). You can’t just hit Delete because you would remove the parts of the worm that appear in front of the hook as well. See Figure 9.6. Figure 9.6 Sketch the worm roughly, and remove parts you don’t need by using the hook as a selection and guide. 232 ■ chapter 9: Creating and Using Vectors Figure 9.5 Make the arc on the bottom of the text match the hole of the donut, and then rotate the text into place. You may have to make other tweaks to the position. 4456c09.qxd 3/1/06 3:06 PM Page 232 8. Convert the worm to a shape layer. To do this, make a selection from the worm you drew (Command+click the Worm / Ctrl+click the Worm layer), and then double- click the Shape From Selection tool in the Hidden Power tools under the Power_ Paths category of Effects. 9. With all the elements in place, apply layer effects and color to achieve the desired depth and effects. You can apply manual effects as long as you want the edges blurred in the result. If you need a tight edge on any effect (such as a hard drop shadow), you can duplicate a shape layer and adjust the color or effects. I used strong bevels on the worm, hook, and donut, along with inner shadows and drop shadows. At the end of this exercise, you should have something that looks like Figure 9.7. Keep the layered version of the image, and store it safely. It is possible to change the size of the image as necessary and correctly target the file for different types of output. Because your image is essentially composed of all vectors, you can retain sharpness in your image at any size. You can also temporarily shrink the image for moving it from one place to another; as long as the person receiving the file has Photoshop Elements (or Photoshop), they can expand the image again. The important edges remain defined by vectors. Any blends and/or effects you used for coloring and shading will simply blur more without damaging the result so long as you resize by using Bicubic or Bilinear interpolation. There will be some difference between these two interpolation types depending on the content of the image. Figure 9.7 Separate layers were used for each effect by duplicating the shape to which the effect was to be applied. See captainhook.psd on the CD. creating scalable vector art ■ 233 4456c09.qxd 3/1/06 3:06 PM Page 233 If you wanted to add other details (for example, to define the worm segments), you would have to do so by using an additional shape layer so that the effects would not blur during resizing. When you resize, you will probably need to adjust layer effects to re-create what you had. This is far easier than re-creating the entire image—and far better than just resizing an image by upsampling dramatically. “Oh, what’s the difference in using vectors?” you say! The difference is a quality image rather than a soft one. Look at the comparison in Figure 9.8; these are depictions of the same image. Image A was created at 1000 × 1000 pixels, flattened, and then resized to fit our billboard. Image B was created at 1000 × 1000 pixels and then resized to fit the bill- board by taking advantage of vectors: the image was resized with layers and vectors intact and then flattened. It should be apparent from the comparison that the vector image can be resized with- out losing image quality, whereas pixel images will lose some definition. You can now take your vector logo and happily resize the image for use on a billboard or business card with equal success. You can use similar techniques and custom shapes to define your own unique logos (for example, for use in watermarking your images, business cards, flyers, letterhead, etc.). Vectors not only shape the content of layers, they can actually harness the shape of your entire image. Read on about applying clipping paths that you create from vector shapes that adjust your image boundaries. Applying a Clipping Path Say you want to create an image that isn’t constricted to the rectangular shape of your standard digital image. Suppose you want the image itself, and not just a layer, to be star- shaped or circular. An easy way to do this is to make a selection of what you want to keep, and then invert the selection and delete the area of the image that you don’t want. As long as the background color is set to white, the image shape will appear to be a shape other than a rectangle when printed. White areas of images don’t print with color (unless you are printing with a spot white ink, and you’d know if you were doing that). ab Figure 9.8 This small segment of the billboard was magnified. Note the softness, pixelation, and lack of defini- tion in the upsam- pled image (a) compared to the vectors (b). 234 ■ chapter 9: Creating and Using Vectors 4456c09.qxd 3/1/06 3:06 PM Page 234 This easy solution is okay if you don’t have anything in the background below the image. If you are printing your easy-shaped image over another image or other content in the background of the digital file, using white won’t work. One thing a white background will do in your rectangular image is whitewash anything behind it. If your image is like our Captain Hook logo, and you want to bring it into a layout program to print over a back- ground image, you might want to import just the shape of the logo rather than the whole image. What you really want to do to the image is clip it out of the background and paste it into the layout—as though you were making a collage. Clipping paths do exactly what you want. These are vector shapes that redefine the boundary of your images. They enable you to “float” an image over a background in layout programs and clip the edge of the image with vector accuracy, just as if you’d used scissors. This technique can work best with images that you create with shapes in mind (such as the Captain Hook logo) and that contain text. All you have to do is save a vector in the image as a path and then assign that path as the image-clipping path. Again, the problem with clipping paths in Photoshop Elements is that the program doesn’t let you work with them. You can’t save a path, and you can’t assign a clipping path, because there are no tools in Elements that allow you to do those things. However, the Hidden Power tools will allow you to create clipping paths from active paths or shapes in your image. To use a clipping path with our Captain Hook logo, follow these steps: 1. Prepare the image by creating the shape that you want to use for the clipping path. This requires combining the separate paths for the hook, the worm, and the donut. Use one of these two ways to do this: • Make a merged selection by holding down Command+Shift / Ctrl+Shift while clicking each shape layer in turn on the Layers palette (Figure 9.9). This will merge the selections of each shape as you go. • Copy all the shapes to a single shape layer, change the shape modes of each com- ponent to Add, and then double-click Combine Vectors in the Power_Paths cate- gory of Effects, or click the Simplify button on the Options bar (Figure 9.10). Figure 9.9 You can multiple- select your shape layers… applying a clipping path ■ 235 4456c09.qxd 3/1/06 3:06 PM Page 235 2. Assign the clipping path by double-clicking Make Clipping Path from the Power_Paths category of Effects in the Hidden Power tools. At this point, you’ll be ready to place your Elements image in the layout program. Figure 9.11 shows what your Captain Hook billboard might look like. Be sure to save your file in a format that is compatible with clipping paths, such as EPS or TIFF. Figure 9.11 The clipping path cuts away the white portion of the logo when the image goes to print by considering the clip- ping path as the absolute boundary of the image. To copy the shapes onto one layer, you’ll need to use the Shape Selection tool (part of the Shape tool set) and the Copy and Paste commands. First, duplicate any one of the shape layers you have created, and then get the components you created in the other layers one at a time by copying and pasting them to the duplicate layer. When all the shapes are copied to the duplicate layer, highlight them by clicking and dragging with the Selection tool. Once the shapes are highlighted, add the components by clicking the Add option on the Options bar. ++ = Figure 9.10 …or you can copy them all to a single shape layer and combine them. 236 ■ chapter 9: Creating and Using Vectors 4456c09.qxd 3/1/06 3:06 PM Page 236 [...]... the Black layer to the top of the layer stack in the original image Change its mode to Multiply The steps of the black separation covered in the preceding two sections (“Making the Saturation Mask,” “Making the Luminosity Mask”) and in this section (“Applying the Black in the Separation”) can be taken care of by using the (iv) CMYK Black Hidden Power tool located in the Power_ Separations category of. .. 10.15 If you turn off the visibility for any two of the three CMY component layers, you’ll see the separation named in the remaining layer Hidden Power tools will take care of steps 12–17 if you double-click the (ii) CMY Separation Hidden Power tool in the Power_ Separation category of Effects Converting Color to Tone Although you have done the basics of separation at this stage of the process, it is... Ctrl+U Change the Edit selection from Master to Magentas, and move the Lightness slider all the way to the left Then click OK to close the Hue/Saturation dialog box This removes the color from the Magenta layer and enhances the tonality to make a tonal representation of the density of the magenta component 24 Shut off the view for the Magenta layer, and activate the Cyan layer by clicking it in the Layers... Change the Edit selection from Master to Cyan, and move the Lightness slider all the way to the left Then click OK to close the Hue/Saturation dialog box This removes the color from the Cyan layer and enhances the tonality to make a tonal representation of the cyan component The result of these steps has the desired effect of creating the color components as tone, but it also removes the color so that there... the remaining stops See Figure 10 .8 for the mapping used in the example for the black ink The idea here is to lower the influence of the black overall, while using it to emphasize contrast in the darker half of the image The table below with the Color Stop Position column represents the color stops, and the table with the Median Markers column represents the position of the color midpoints Color Stop... the new layer will be at the top of the layer stack, where it should be 9 Duplicate the Background layer, name the new layer Cyan, and change the mode of the layer to Multiply Move the layer to the top of the layer stack (Command+Shift+] / Ctrl+Shift+]) 10 Duplicate the Cyan layer, and name the new layer Magenta 11 Duplicate the Magenta layer, and name the new layer Yellow The image will look awful... duplicate the Black layer, change the name of the layer to Black Adjustment Magenta, change the mode to Screen, make a Levels adjustment (see steps 18 and 19, and move the layer just above the Magenta layer in the layer stack This reduces the gray values in the Magenta layer by the intensity/density of the black component 22 Create the black adjustment for the cyan component To do this, duplicate the Black... with 75% black (You may need to increase or decrease the percentage of black to get the results you desire The greater the percentage, the darker the shadow result.) 3 Change the image to a bitmap by selecting Bitmap from the Color Mode menu When prompted, change the resolution to the output/printer dpi Use the maximum capability of the printer 4 Save the file as a bitmap (BMP) file by using Save As You... to adjust the other color components Where black is used to influence the image, you reduce the influence of other colors—again, to avoid oversaturating the areas 16 Duplicate the Black layer completed in “Making the Luminosity Mask” back to the original CMY separated image (use the Duplicate Layer function by activating the Black layer and then selecting the original image as the target) The layer... 10.16) Then click OK to close the Hue/Saturation dialog box This removes the color from the Yellow layer and enhances the tonality to make tonal representation of the density of the yellow component ■ 257 Figure 10.16 The Hue/Saturation settings for changing the yellow component to a grayscale yellow plate 22 Shut off the view for the Yellow layer, and activate the Magenta layer by clicking it in the . 9.5 Make the arc on the bottom of the text match the hole of the donut, and then rotate the text into place. You may have to make other tweaks to the position. 44 56c09.qxd 3/1/06 3:06 PM Page 232 8. . (just drag them off the preview bar) and adjust colors and positions of the remaining stops. See Figure 10 .8 for the mapping used in the example for the black ink. The idea here is to lower the influence. you’d like. 5. Create the text to be placed in the donut. This is the toughest part of the exercise, because Elements does not offer a lot of type controls. Fitting the text to the donut will take