Adobe Photoshop CS2 On Demand [Electronic resources]

Creating Work Paths and Shapes from Type Layers

When you work with type, there are certain restrictions to what you can do. You can't apply filter effects to type, and many of Photoshop's commands do not function with type. One solution is to rasterize the type layer. However, rasterized type is converted to pixels. What if you want the text converted into a vector path? Once type is saved as a path, you can manipulate it like any other vector path. The text path is no longer considered text; however the original type layer is intact, and editable. Creating a path and at the same time preserving the original type layer, gives you the best of both creative worlds.

Create Work Paths

Open a document containing a type layer.

Select the

Layers palette, and then select one of the type layers.

Click the

Layer menu, point to

Type , and then click

Create Work Path .

IMPORTANT

Paths cannot be created from fonts that do not contain outline data, such as bitmap fonts.

Select the

Paths palette.

Select any of Photoshop's Pen tools to modify the path.