Photoshop Tutorial for Fashion Design (Part 21)
Paths Palette, Vector Graphics

You’re already pretty much familiar with all the functions in the Paths tab. We covered them in the Toolbox Vectors section. This time I will go over it briefly. If you recall, to have anything listed in the Paths palette you need to create vector graphics. Your vector graphics will be listed as a work path which can be saved, duplicated and deleted.

Just like with channels, you can have mutiple paths and create new ones. To do so, click on “Create New Path” and draw your objects. Keep in mind that when you first start working with vector graphics Adobe Photoshop creates a work path. If the work path is not saved, any shapes you’ve created can be easily overwritten. For example, if I were to use a selection to convert into path Adobe Photoshop will use the working path for conversion overwriting existing shapes. If it’s not your intention, to prevent this from happening, make sure to save your path. You can give it a name and you can see that the name of your work path changed to the new name you gave it. Now, if I were to convert a selection into a path, Adobe Photoshop will preserve your saved path and create a new work path.

And just like with most of the palettes, some features and commands will be listed in more than one location, generally at the bottom of the palette, in the palette menu or right-click on the path. Keep in mind: although the icons at the bottom of the palette give you quick access to the features and commands, they will perform based on the previous settings. Now, if you want to change the settings and apply different effects, I suggest to use the menu list.

And just as a reminder, using these commands without a specific shape selected will affect the entire path, all the shapes. So, if you only need to use one of the shapes on the active path, make sure to select it with the Path Selection tool. In this case, some features and commands will also be available through the right-click.