Masking with The Photoshop Pen Tool. Creating a good mask is one of the essential skills in compositing images within Photoshop. Recognizing the right tool for the masking job is an art in itself. Today, well look at an often overlooked, but highly effective way of creating a very good mask using the Pen Tool in Photoshop. Lets consider this image We want to extract the lizard from a seemingly simple background. So, why not go to the go to tool for starting a mask the Quick Select tool W. Install Vim In Ubuntu 11 04 2017 on this page. After all, with the great new Adobe technology, the Quick Select tool can perform small miracles. Grab it and start dragging to select the image After dragging out a selection in the inside of the lizards body, we have the beginnings of a selection that can become a mask. But, lets look closer Looking closely, we can see that the edge isnt as smooth as wed hoped. There are several places where the selection tool under or over selected, and the edges are a bit lumpy. Were missing the holes in the middle, too. Lets hold the Alt PC or Option Mac key down to subtract from the selection and paint in the gaps Again, not bad, but not real good either. A few more passes of the quick select tool, and well have something ok but not something great. The shadows around the edge of the lizard really interfere with the Quick Select tool and can cause it to create irregular boundaries. We can continue tweaking, adding and subtracting as we go, and then even go on to Refine Selection and burn a lot of time trying to finalize our mask. But due to the way these tools work, well still end up with an edge that wants to be a little rough and organic. This is great for soft edged objects, but sometimes, you want a really crisp, razor edge to  your mask. Enter the Pen Tool. Now, dont be scared off the pen tool takes some getting used to, but it really isnt all that difficult you can find many excellent tips on using the Pen Tool right here on Tip. Squirrel. But, heres what to do if you have a target that has or should have clean edges First, grab the Pen Tool P and make sure the toolbar option is set to create a Path not pixels or shapes. Then, zoom in quite closely to start dragging out your path. As you draw, try not to create too many points. Lots of points make a jagged path, fewer points will make gently curving paths with really clean lines. Stay zoomed in close try to keep the path  at least 1 2 pixels inside the edge of the object youre selecting, so that you dont have a fringe of color. Staying inside the edge is better than going out of bounds, as the fringe will be noticeable. Use the Space Bar to momentarily switch to the hand tool, and drag your drawing around as you create your path. If you get a point in the wrong place, hold down the Control PC or Command Mac key to temporarily switch to the white arrow tool, and drag your points into better position. You can also adjust the control handles the same way. If you edit one of the points you already drew, you can hover over the last point on the path athe pen cursor will change so that you see a stroke icon next to it and click the last point you can now continue where you left off Once you have the outline complete, click on the first point to complete the loop and finish the path. The pen cursor changes again so that you see a O icon, indicating that you will close the path Now, its time to add the interior sections. Make sure the en tool option to Exclude Overlapping Shape Areas is selected or for simple paths such as this, Subtract Front Shape Area will do. Adobe Indesign Cs6 Portable Key Rare Cancer' title='Adobe Indesign Cs6 Portable Key Rare Cancer' />November 16, 2017 in Tutorial How to Create Rain in Photoshop November 3, 2017 in Tutorial Adding Decal to an Object in Adobe Dimension September 4, 2017 in. November 3, 2017 in Tutorial Adding Decal to an Object in Adobe Dimension September 4, 2017 in Tutorial A Simple Magazine Cover Mock Up in Photoshop. It football, let us watch it if we want to. Former Paramus Catholic graduate Jabrill Peppers was next, going 25th overa. It football, let us watch it if we want to. Philosophy Metaphilosophy Metaphysics Epistemology Ethics Politics Aesthetics Thought Mental Cognition. Download the free trial version below to get started. Doubleclick the downloaded file to install the software. Torrentz will always love you. Farewell. 20032016 Torrentz. RSSby Ameba. Now draw in the holes with additional paths The great thing about the path tool is its ability to make smooth lines, even when the edges of your object are ragged or out of focus. Once you have your path created, you have a couple of choices In any version of Photoshop, you can open the Paths panel, and Control Click PC or Command Click Mack to load the path as a selection. In CS6 new you can click on the Selection button in the Toolbar of the Pen Tool. This brings up a dialog In this case, we dont want a feathered edge, so well just accept the default and click OK. The marching ants appear, and we have our selection Now, in the Layers panel, just click the Add Layer Mask icon to mask our object from the background And the image is masked, nice and clean If we zoom in closer, we can see that the edges are as clean as you can get given the resolution of the image, thanks to the smooth paths So if youre looking to select or mask an object that has a clean edge, consider the Pen Tool. With a little practice, youll find this can be much more effective at getting sharp edges and nice corners compared to the quick select tool or similar methods. And, more often than not, youll save time, because you wont be going back to try to refine your selection over and over. I hope you learned something from todays tip Next week, well look at combining selections made by a path with selections made in other ways.