Full Circle: Photoshop 6.0'sVector Editing

Looking back in time, we still remem-ber when we had a computer with awhopping 64K memory, 360K floppydrive, and a black-and-white screen thatcould only display text. It worked fineuntil someone had the bright idea ofadding drawing features to softwareprograms. Since the mouse was stillconsidered a furry creature, we enteredcodes using the keyboard to draw linesfrom one point to the next. Using theconnect-the-dot method, we made

squares, triangles, and eventually coulddraw circles by setting a center pointand a radius. Wow!

Eventually, computers became morepowerful, faster, and could handle moresophisticated graphics programs. Themouse came into being, and computergraphics blossomed as bitmap editingprograms and vector programs wereintroduced. In those days if you wanteddrawings, you used a vector programand if you needed photos, you used thebitmap software. Bitmaps differed fromvector images in that they were con-structed of rows and columns of col-ored dots, very much like a TV image.The resulting images and files weremuch larger, and the tonal values close-ly resembled the real object.

Some programs offered translators soyou could move and convert imagesfrom one type to the other, but theprocess was slow and not very practical.The need for mixed graphics became anecessity as the Internet became thenorm for visual communication. Sinceboth vector and bitmap images are usedon the Internet, programs were soondeveloped to incorporate into this newfast-track communication system.

The mixture of vector shapes with

DRAFAHL

bitmap images in Adobe Photoshop 6.0makes it the most versatile graphics-editing program available. With thissoftware you can import both bitmapand vector drawings into the samework area, and layer them to make acomposite image.

In past versions of Photoshop, thefinal image was converted to a bitmapimage and sent to the printer. Withthis new version, the high quality ofvector shapes and text and the tonalquality of bitmaps can be output indi-vidually. Who said you can't have itboth ways? To fully understand howthese two graphics systems worktogether, we will take you through thebasic steps of using vectors in a bitmap-editing application.

First, you start with a bitmap back-ground image. When you go to thefloating toolbox, you will find a shapetool that breaks out into six separatetools, from basic to custom. The customsection breaks into more than threedozen basic shapes, like circles, arrows,stars, footprints, handprints and textballoons. Using the mouse, drag to thearea where the shape will fit, and holddown the shift key so the proportionsof the shape will remain the same as

Vector graphic on left and bitmap on right

Bitmap stock image. Vector graphic on bitmap with KPT 6 plug-in filterfor lens flare.

Final image

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Stock bitmap image of palm tree

Original image left, pasted image right, and result-ing shape in center of screen.

Enlarged shape in middle showing edit pointsalong shape path.

Point of palm leaf extended, (center screen) Original image on left, pasted layer on right, andresulting shape in the center of the screen. The stylepalette used to create the shape in the next screenis in the lower right portion of the screen.

Original image on left, pasted layer on right, andresulting shape in the center of the screen. The stylepalette used to create the color, shadows andbevels of the shape in the center screen.

Variation of styles used on the palm tree shape cre-ated from a bitmap selection.

KPT6 plug-in lens flare filter applied to palm treeshape.

the original. Once you have the sizeand placement of the shape, you cannow use the styles pull-down menu tobevel edges, add shadows, fill with coloror texture, add keylines, and more thana dozen other effects common to vec-tor-shape editing. You can even fine-tune the edges of the shape using thepoint-edit tool found in the toolbox.

Selecting an anchor point or curvehandle, you can change the shape toany configuration you like. Each

change to the shape translates to all theeffects you added since you created theoriginal shape. If you add additionalshapes, you have the option of addingto the first shape, subtracting from thefirst shape, or showing the area wherethe two shapes cross.

Each shape has dozens of creativecontrols in the layers and styles menu.The knockout function is great for whatwe used to call cookie-cutter effect.Place a vector or bitmap drawing on the

background layer, and then add a colorlayer to cover the background layer.Add a text or shape to the top layer anduse the knockout function to displaythe background layer underneath. If theimage underneath is not comingthrough the knockout area properly,move the top layer over to match theimage underneath.

Adobe realized that users would wantmore than the basic shapes, so theyhave added the capability for creating

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Composite image of stock photos, complete withdrop shadows.

Fill layer added with blue style applied to layer.Text "STOCK" was then added to layer.

Knockout effect was applied to text shape so thatcomposite image on bottom would show through.

your own custom shapes. Select thearea in a bitmap image that you want asa shape and fine-tune the selectionuntil it is exactly the area you want.Open the path palette (part of the lay-ers/channel/path pull-down menu),and use the path tool to create a pathfor the selection. Move back to thefloating toolbox and select the shapetool, and then right-click on the selec-tion. After you name and save this newshape, it will open up in the shape tool-box every time. This is a great functionif you work with custom shapes inlogos, and advertising symbols.

Most of the filters, third party plug-insand styles can be applied directly to anyshape in Photoshop 6. If an effect is notavailable for a specific shape (grayedout), you can easily convert the shapeto a bitmap using a shape rasterize func-tion, found in the layers pull-downmenu. Vector shapes and bitmaps canbe mixed and converted back and forth

to fit your needs.The text function uses vector shapes

so text can be sized or changed withoutsacrificing image quality. After typingthe text directly on screen, you canright-click on the selected text andapply warping, anti-aliasing at differentlevels, add a work path for customwarps, add shape styles, or rasterize tobitmap text. The sky is the limit! Forexample, if you have a text logo thatyou often use in your images, you canconvert the text to a shape and store itin the shape toolbox. When you needthe logo, simply go the shape toolbox,select it and magically, the logo textappears on the screen. You can still sizeand style the text shape as you wouldany other shape.

We also found that clip-art fromother vector-based programs can beimported into Photoshop and convert-ed to bitmap clip-art or shapes via thePostscript file export/import function.

The quality of these imports can bechanged via settings on the file importfunction. You can also save out specificcustom shape libraries that you havecreated for a specific job. When youstart to work on a project requiring aspecific custom shape, just load in thatlibrary and select the custom shapesrelated to that project.

The incorporation of vector graphicsinto Photoshop 6 has brought theworld of image editing full circle. Wecan now enjoy the full potential ofboth vector and bitmap graphics in oneprogram. All the creative tools are therefor you to use in Photoshop 6. All thatis missing is your imagination. For fur-ther information regarding Photoshop6.0 visit: www.adobe.com. -̂ S^

lack and Sue Drafahl are freelance journalists/photographers living in the Pacific Northwest. Theyhave owned and operated a custom lab and servicebureau, Image Concepts, for many years. They canbe reached at: concepts@pacifier.com/.

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