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basic tools: free transformation
things like that in less than a minute with the default tools...
warning: it's addictive *g*
Fun with your Free Transform Tool
I have to admit I love this tool. it's so much fun to play with it, I easily get addicted *g*
some people haven't discovered the fun functions yet, though. therefore a step by step guide what you can do ;)
Step 01: getting started
- make a new document and draw a custom shape (use one of the default one's for a start), just because I love them...
Step 02: call my name
- you probably already know that you can call the Free Transform Tool with ctrl+t
- you'll get a box around your shape with points to drag and a center and you can start to transform
- you can make it bigger and smaller, squish and stretch, or rotate it just by dragging the handles
- but did you know that when you call the tool with ctrl+alt+t it will automatically duplicate your original?
- you will still have the original shape present in the background, try it, it's fancy *g*
Step 03: push the button, don't push the button
now on to all the shiny options you have with the Free Transform Tool
- drag the handles and at the same time...
- ...press shift to resize proportional (meaning no squishing or squeezing)
- ...press alt to transform relatively to the center (meaning the center stays the same)
- ...press shift+alt to resize proportionally and relatively to the center
- ...press control to get access to the Distort Functions (meaning now you can move all the handles any way you want)
- ...press control+shift to get access to the Scew Function (meaning with the middle handles on each side you can scew)
Step 04: you spin me right round, baby, right round
- if you leave the transform rectangle with you cursor it will change to the rotate pointer (a curved, two-sided arrow)
- now you can drag to rotate
- if you press shift while dragging you rotate in 15° steps
- you can change the center to rotate around another reference point
- just drag the handle indicating the center (small corss hairs) to another point and start rotating around your new center
Step 05: like a record, baby
now we're getting into the fun area ;)
- after you committed your transformation with Enter you can do it again
- just press ctrl+shift+t to do the exactly same transformation again
- and if you press ctrl+shift+alt+t it will duplicate the original and leave that one intact
- here the original alt-transformation (to duplicate the original) was a rotation (40° around a new center)
- while here I just resized it (alt+t-pressed to duplicate the original)
- and here I combined resizing and rotating :)
Step 06: shape/path specific things
in case you wondered why I used custom shapes, because up to now you could have done the same thing with a brush or whatever...
the advantage is simply if you transform the Path of your custom shape it will duplicate the shape but on the same layer
just make sure the path is selected before you use ctrl+alt+t (e.g. with the path selection tool or just make sure you're working ont he vector mask)
the other great thing for funky effects is that you can Exclude overlapping shape areas
which means that if you select this option everything that is covered by the new shape will be invisible
and examples with just that one single custom shape :)
now imagine what you can do if you start using more than one shape! *gasp*
or, or, colors!
backgrounds!
combinations!
weeee!
and to give you even more ideas here an interlude:
How to make custom shapes out of pretty fonts
step 01
- choose a pretty font, type a letter
- here we have an "i" in Fleurons
- make it rather large (80 pt in this case)
Step 02
- on your Layers Palette click on your text layer while holding the control-key
- now that you have the selection of the layer loaded switch to your Paths Palette
- click on the Make work path from selection icon
- when you press alt while making the new path you can define the tolerance (i.e. how accurate the converting will be)
- make sure you're new path is highlighted, then go Edit - Define Custom Shape
- give it a name and click OK
Step 03
- now that you've created your shiny new custom shape, select your Custom Shape Tool
- and choose your new shape
- you're ready to use it :)
the easy feedback system
Poll helpful?
Have fun playing! :)
warning: it's addictive *g*
Fun with your Free Transform Tool
I have to admit I love this tool. it's so much fun to play with it, I easily get addicted *g*
some people haven't discovered the fun functions yet, though. therefore a step by step guide what you can do ;)
Step 01: getting started
- make a new document and draw a custom shape (use one of the default one's for a start), just because I love them...
Step 02: call my name
- you probably already know that you can call the Free Transform Tool with ctrl+t
- you'll get a box around your shape with points to drag and a center and you can start to transform
- you can make it bigger and smaller, squish and stretch, or rotate it just by dragging the handles
- but did you know that when you call the tool with ctrl+alt+t it will automatically duplicate your original?
- you will still have the original shape present in the background, try it, it's fancy *g*
Step 03: push the button, don't push the button
now on to all the shiny options you have with the Free Transform Tool
- drag the handles and at the same time...
- ...press shift to resize proportional (meaning no squishing or squeezing)
- ...press alt to transform relatively to the center (meaning the center stays the same)
- ...press shift+alt to resize proportionally and relatively to the center
- ...press control to get access to the Distort Functions (meaning now you can move all the handles any way you want)
- ...press control+shift to get access to the Scew Function (meaning with the middle handles on each side you can scew)
Step 04: you spin me right round, baby, right round
- if you leave the transform rectangle with you cursor it will change to the rotate pointer (a curved, two-sided arrow)
- now you can drag to rotate
- if you press shift while dragging you rotate in 15° steps
- you can change the center to rotate around another reference point
- just drag the handle indicating the center (small corss hairs) to another point and start rotating around your new center
Step 05: like a record, baby
now we're getting into the fun area ;)
- after you committed your transformation with Enter you can do it again
- just press ctrl+shift+t to do the exactly same transformation again
- and if you press ctrl+shift+alt+t it will duplicate the original and leave that one intact
- here the original alt-transformation (to duplicate the original) was a rotation (40° around a new center)
- while here I just resized it (alt+t-pressed to duplicate the original)
- and here I combined resizing and rotating :)
Step 06: shape/path specific things
in case you wondered why I used custom shapes, because up to now you could have done the same thing with a brush or whatever...
the advantage is simply if you transform the Path of your custom shape it will duplicate the shape but on the same layer
just make sure the path is selected before you use ctrl+alt+t (e.g. with the path selection tool or just make sure you're working ont he vector mask)
the other great thing for funky effects is that you can Exclude overlapping shape areas
which means that if you select this option everything that is covered by the new shape will be invisible
and examples with just that one single custom shape :)
now imagine what you can do if you start using more than one shape! *gasp*
or, or, colors!
backgrounds!
combinations!
weeee!
and to give you even more ideas here an interlude:
How to make custom shapes out of pretty fonts
step 01
- choose a pretty font, type a letter
- here we have an "i" in Fleurons
- make it rather large (80 pt in this case)
Step 02
- on your Layers Palette click on your text layer while holding the control-key
- now that you have the selection of the layer loaded switch to your Paths Palette
- click on the Make work path from selection icon
- when you press alt while making the new path you can define the tolerance (i.e. how accurate the converting will be)
- make sure you're new path is highlighted, then go Edit - Define Custom Shape
- give it a name and click OK
Step 03
- now that you've created your shiny new custom shape, select your Custom Shape Tool
- and choose your new shape
- you're ready to use it :)
the easy feedback system
Poll helpful?
Have fun playing! :)