PhotoShop Transform Effects

Dont you want to warp, twist, resize, and stretch parts of your image? Sure, we all do.

This part of PhotoShop web design course is really fun.

Youre going to learn how to resize a part of an image to meet your needs. Youll be able to resize part of an image after you put it into another image, to make it look natural. Youre going to learn how to apply perspective to a flat image. Youre going to learn how to make yourself look taller, thinner, or more muscular.

Ready?

To Transform an Object

To change, or transform an object, you must first select it.

1. Open guitar.psd
   The checkerboard areas wont print. PhotoShop is just trying to tell you "theres nothing here".

2. Select the Guitar.
   The easiest way to do this would be to select outside of the guitar with the magic wand and inverse the selection (SELECT-> INVERSE)

3. Click EDIT-> TRANSFORM-> SCALE

4. Drag one of the handles (boxes on the corners and centers of the line) to resize.
   Hold SHIFT on your keyboard to resize proportionally.
5. Hit ENTER on your keyboard to accept the changes, or ESC to reject them

Transform Tools

There are a number of other tools kept under EDIT-> TRANSFORM

Rotate: Allows you to rotate an object
Adjust the rotate center point, if desired

Skew: Allows you to lean or bend an object in different ways. Useful for mapping something to a flat surface, or giving an item perspective.

Distort: Allows you to bend and push the item any way you want to. Go crazy.

Perspective: Gives an image that "its coming closer" or that "its going away" look.

Numeric: Allows you to set precise transform numbers, useful when you need something exactly this or that size, or rotated exactly a certain amount.

Rotate 180, 90 CW, 90CCW: allows you to instantly rotate an image 180 degrees, 90 degrees clockwise, or counter clockwise.

Flip Horizontal/Vertical: Flips an image.

Try this:

1. Open giraffe.psd and dune.psd
2. Select the giraffe and paste him into dune.
3. Click EDIT-> TRANSFORM-> SCALE to resize the giraffe so it looks right
   (if you paste an item you can immediately transform it without reselecting.)
   See tips below for this exercise

Tips:

�.       Cutting the giraffe out will be the hardest part of this exercise. Have patience. Use the polygonal lasso first and clean up the selection with the normal lasso.

�.       Before you cut and paste contract your selection and feather by one pixel. This will help your selection look more natural when you paste. (SELECT-> MODIFY-> CONTRACT: 1 pixel) & (SELECT -> FEATHER 1 PIXEL)

�.       After you paste and transform the giraffe, move him with the move tool

�.       Select the bottoms of his feet and delete them to make them "disappear" behind the dune. Dont forget to use a one pixel feather

Filter Transform Effects

PhotoShop has a number of built-in effects called Filters, later well use many of them for image retouching. There are some filters that come in really handy for transforming an object.

Some of the filters are useful for real-world photo editing. They can be used to turn something on a 3-D axis, or to make lips look more full. Many of the filters can be used for effect, and some look pain goofy.

Distort Filters

1. Open Emily.tif
   Were going to really mess with this poor girl. Heh, heh, heh.
2. Select her face with the lasso. Dont worry about getting it perfect.

3. Click FILTER-> DISTORT-> PINCH
   Crank it all the way up.

Kinda scary, isnt it?

4. Undo, and try PINCH the other way.
   Pinch can also expand items and can be used to make lips look fuller, if youre into that kind of thing
5. Try some of the other DISTORT filters on different items

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