Photoshop pen tool.

[2Sticky]

Quick question about the pen tool.

If you do a curve, so click to make an anchor point, then click somewhere else and hold down CMD to to make a curve, now once thats done, if you click somewhere else it then makes another curve, what happens if you want a straight line from the first curve that was done?

Hope that makes sense...

 

[snickelfritz]

Option-click a point to convert a point to straight corners.
(this essentially resets the point to default)
You can also Option-drag the handles to limit the movement to only that side of the point.
Command-drag to move a point or manipulate handles without converting it.

Save the path to preserve it.
This allows you to create many paths in a single document.
Select the path in the paths palette to add to or manipulate it; deselect it to create a new work path.

As an example, I tend to quickly click along the perimeter of an object to create a set of straight points forming a closed "polygonal" path.
I then option-drag or command-drag the points and handles to shape the path into curved and straight segments where needed.
When the path is complete, I load the path as a selection, feathered 1 pixel for highrez (300ppi or higher) documents. I then contract the selection by 1 pixel.
This results in a clean edge selection that blends perfectly with the background, and does not look like a "paper doll cut-out".

There are other (probably better) ways to do this; this is mine.
Learn and commit to memory all keyboard shortcuts for using the path tools.

GL

 

[dogbone]

OP,

To make the sort of curve/corner as you draw do this...

Drag out the curve then without letting go hold down the Option key and drag the handle back into the point. That will achieve what you are after in one smooth motion.

 

[2Sticky]

OP,

To make the sort of curve/corner as you draw do this...

Drag out the curve then without letting go hold down the Option key and drag the handle back into the point. That will achieve what you are after in one smooth motion.

Exactly what I wanted thanks, back to the Coca Cola logo I go.

 

[kymac]

they make a coca cola font. that would save you who knows how much time. and also it will look more perfect. http://www.dafont.com/loki-cola.font have fun!

 

[iMeowbot]

Meh. If you're going to snag a prefab vector, you may as well use the real thing (groan). Big companies often include these in super-duper-official documents like annual reports. With illustrator you can fish out the shapes directly, and in PS you can simply import the page at a high enough resolution that you don't care about the pixel count.

 

[radiantm3]

Meh. If you're going to snag a prefab vector, you may as well use the real thing (groan). Big companies often include these in super-duper-official documents like annual reports. With illustrator you can fish out the shapes directly, and in PS you can simply import the page at a high enough resolution that you don't care about the pixel count.

You can get corporate vector art from http://www.brandsoftheworld.com. The cocacola logo is here: http://brandsoftheworld.com/search/?action=search&text=coca+cola

 

[iMeowbot]

You can get corporate vector art from http://www.brandsoftheworld.com.

Just to be clear, that stuff is independently drawn, and shouldn't be relied on if a decent appearance matters. Note the botched curve on the first C's loop in the BoTW tracing (left) compared with the smooth one directly from Coke (right).

 

[radiantm3]

Just to be clear, that stuff is independently drawn, and shouldn't be relied on if a decent appearance matters. Note the botched curve on the first C's loop in the BoTW tracing (left) compared with the smooth one directly from Coke (right).

Technically, if you have the rights to reproduce the logo, you should be able to get the original approved artwork straight from the source anyways.

 

[iMeowbot]

Technically, if you have the rights to reproduce the logo, you should be able to get the original approved artwork straight from the source anyways.

Yeah, right