User Guide

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ADOBE PHOTOSHOP 5.0
User Guide
About paths
Paths provide an effective way to draw precise
selection borders. A path is any line or shape you
draw using the pen, magnetic pen, or freeform pen
tool. Unlike the bitmap shapes drawn by the pencil
or other painting tools, paths are vector objects
that contain no pixels. As a result, paths remain
separate from the bitmap image and do not print,
with the exception of clipping paths. (See “About
bitmap images and vector graphics” on page 41.)
Once you have created a path, you can save it in the
Paths palette, convert it to a selection border, or fill
or stroke the path outline with color. In addition,
you can convert a selection to a path. Because they
take up less disk space than pixel-based data, paths
can be used for long-term storage of simple masks.
Paths can also be used to clip sections of your
image for export to an illustration or page-layout
application (see “Using clipping paths” on
page 327).
Pen tool used as selection tool, and as drawing tool
Using the Paths palette
The Paths palette lists the name of each saved path
and a thumbnail of its contents. Decreasing the
size of thumbnails or turning them off lets you
view more paths at one time in the palette and can
improve performance. To view a path, you must
first select the path name in the Paths palette.
To display the Paths palette:
Choose Windows > Show Paths.
A. Selected path B. Fill Path C. Stroke Path
D. Make Selection E. Make Work Path F. New Path
To select or deselect a path:
Do one of the following:
• To select a path, click the path name in the Paths
palette. Only one path can be selected at a time.
• To deselect a path, click in the blank area of the
Paths palette, or choose Turn Off Path from the
Paths palette menu.
BA C D E F