Can you turn a selection into a path

I found this feature to be very helpful when I was learning the Pen tool. The Magnetic Pen Option — With the Freeform Pen tool selected, enable the Magnetic option in the Option bar to have the Pen tool help create paths by analyzing and creating paths along edge areas in images.

To customize the Magnetic settings, click the gear icon in the Options bar and use the magnetic options to change: Width how many pixels to look at , Contrast what determines an edge and Frequency how often to lay down anchor points.

Hold Option Mac Alt Win to close the path with straight-line segment. Here are several of the shortcuts shown in the video:. Double-click if you want to draw a straight segment next. Note: The first segment of your path created by the first two anchor points you place , always appears as a straight line on the canvas initially.

When you place the third anchor point, Photoshop makes the first segment curve smoothly in relation to the second segment. Note: while the anchor point is deleted, the curve is retained and adjusted in relation to the remaining anchor points.

To convert a path to a selection using the Paths Panel:. The same principles can be applied to photoshop text. Lets give it a try. As before select the pen tool, right click and use the options available. Or you can export it straight into illustrator. Thanks for taking part in this tutorial, if you learned something new feel free to discuss it on our Facebook Fan Page.

Once you have your selection set to your liking, click the Path tool in the toolbox -- it looks like a fountain pen next to a line with three dots. Create a single point anywhere on your image, then right-click anywhere on the image, click "Select" and choose "To Path.

Now click "Stroke" under the Path options like you would with any other path. Once you've created your selection and added one path point to your image, right-click on the image, go to "Select" and choose "Selection Editor. Ashley Poland has been writing since Convert paths to selection borders. Convert a path to a selection border using the current settings.

Select the path in the Paths panel. To convert the path, do one of the following:. Convert a path to a selection border and specify settings. Do one of the following:. Choose Make Selection from the Paths panel menu. In the Make Selection dialog box, select a Rendering option:. Select an Operation option:. Selects only the area defined by the path. Adds the area defined by the path to the original selection. Removes the area defined by the path from the current selection.