> PHOTOSHOP USER>^ AUGUST 2019[ 84 ]
GEOMETRIC SELECTIONS
WITH TRANSFORMATIONS
Geometry is everywhere, and we can see shapes in many
of the forms that we select. Even shapes that are presented
in a perspective view, and that’s what we’re going to cover
this time around. If you’ve been using Photoshop for at
least a little while, you’re probably familiar with Free Trans-
form. If you aren’t, let me give you a quick crash course.
When you have pixels isolated on a layer, or if you have a
set of pixels already selected, you can press Command-T
(PC: Ctrl-T) or go to Edit>Free Transform, which will give
you a bounding box, with transform handles on the sides
and the corners of the box, that allow you to resize or dis-
tort the pixels you’ve selected.
In this image, we’re distorting some type to scale it
up to the sign. As you c lick-and-hold on a corner, you
can drag the type up to a size you want for the area you
need it to fill. (Tip: If you want it to scale up from the
center position, hold the Option [PC: Alt] key; otherwise,
it scales up from the diagonally opposite corner from the
one you’re dragging.)There are many options for different types of transfor-
mations. You can, and should, regularly remind yourself
of what they are by looking at the Edit>Transform menu.
Here’s the list.For instance, if you wanted to make this text fit the angle
and perspective of the sign, choose Edit>Transform>Skew,
then drag the corner handles to angle it and match the sign.
Press Enter to complete the transformation.
Distort is another really good transform option for this
kind of edit, but it doesn’t work on a type layer! If youDISTORTED GEOMETRY
In this selection series, we’ve talked a lot about the traditional means of making selections and
offered lots of case studies about selecting by sampling color or luminosity. We’ve also discussed
the popular approach of painting selections in masks, especially the Quick Mask mode. There’s also
been the less popular, but extremely precise, use of the Pen tool to produce a selection. This issue,
however, we’re ignoring all of that. In fact, we’re going to get back to basics and use a little feature
that’s less utilized than it probably should be.MARKHEAPS
The Perfect Selection
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