Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers - Martin Evening [221]
Figure 9.48 The Layer Align submenu.
Rather than use the layer menu options you can also click on the Align and Distribute buttons in the move tool Options bar (Figure 9.49). Generally, I would say the Align and Distribute features are perhaps more useful for graphic designers, where they might need to precisely align image or text layer objects in a Photoshop layout.
Figure 9.49 This shows the move tool Options bar in alignment/distribution mode. Note that the alignment options (shaded blue) will only become available when two or more layers are selected and the distribution options (shaded green) are only available when three or more layers are selected.
Using transforms to create a kaleidoscope pattern
1.
The following steps show how I created a kaleidoscope image from a single shoe image that was cut out using a vector mask (see pages: 536–538).
2.
I dragged and placed this layer in a new image document, with the layer aligned to the guides shown here. I then converted the layer to a Smart Object (I did this by going to the Layers panel fl y-out menu and chose ‘Convert to Smart Object’).
3.
I duplicated the Smart Object layer by dragging it to the New Layer button in the Layers panel. I then selected ‘Free Transform’ from the Edit menu and positioned the central axis point on the point where the two guides crossed, and dragged outside the bounding box to rotate the layer. I held down the key as I did this to constrain the rotation to 4 × 15° increments (i.e. I rotated it 60°).
4.
I repeated this exercise four more times until I ended up with the kaleidoscope pattern image shown here. You can also apply such Repeat Transforms using the keyboard shortcut.
5.
I then clicked on the Add New Adjustment/Fill button in the Layers panel (circled), to add a radial Gradient Fill layer just above the Background layer using the colors shown here.
6.
Lastly, just for fun, I selected all the shoe layers and clicked on the Align Bottom Edges button in the move tool Options bar. This aligned all the shoe layers to the layer with the bottom-most edge.
Warp transforms
When the Warp Transform first appeared in Photoshop it provided a perfect solution for all those Photoshop users who had longed for a means to carry out direct, on-canvas image warping. The Warp Transform is therefore more like an extension of the Free Transform. All you have to do is to select the ‘Free Transform’ option from the Edit menu and then click on the Transform/ Warp mode button (circled in Figure 9.50) to toggle between the Free Transform and Warp modes. The beauty of this is that you can combine a free transform and warp distortion into a single pixel transformation. It has to be said that the magic of the Warp Transform has been somewhat superseded by the new Puppet Warp adjustment, but it is still nonetheless a useful tool.
Figure 9.50 To apply a Warp Transform you need to select a layer or an image selection and choose Edit Transform Warp. Alternatively, choose Edit Free Transform ( ) and click on the Transform/Warp mode selection button (circled) in the Options bar. Once this is selected, you will be in the default Custom warp mode, but you can also select from any of the preset warp mode options that are listed in the Warp menu on the left. When you select one of these preset options, you can adjust the warp settings using the Options bar controls.
When the ‘Warp’ option is selected you can control the shape of the warp bounding box using the bezier handles at each corner. The box itself contains a 3 × 3 mesh and you can click in any of the nine warp sectors, and drag with the mouse to fine-tune the warp shape. What is also great about the warp transform is the way that you can make a warp overlap on itself (as shown on the