(upbeat music)
- [Gareth] Hello and welcome to this video tutorial.
Gareth here from Tastytuts.com.
As you create in Photoshop,
there will be occasions where you will want
to change the size, shape, and form
of creative objects in your composition
to meet your design and imagination.
In this tutorial I'm going
to discuss and demonstrate how to
manipulate creative elements in our canvas area
by using the transform tools.
By the end of this tutorial
you will feel comfortable transforming
and manipulating creative elements in Photoshop.
Now, the best way to learn is by watching and doing.
So to help you, I have created this worksheet.
To follow along with this video
you will need to open this document
I have prepared especially for this tutorial.
This document can be found in the Essential Practice folder
in the project folder.
Now you can download this project folder for free,
the download link is in the description.
So with the project folder open, click Essential Practice,
open the Transform folder, and open the Transform PSD.
Then you should have something that looks like this.
Now along the way, I will be mentioning
some useful shortcut keys which you can find
in the description and in the shortcut key page
in the project PDF.
Which you can also download in the description.
So here we have the document opened and if we look
in the layers panel, we can see this document
consists of multiple layers.
Here we have a blue background layer
and some Origami birds each on their individual layers.
Now, in Photoshop there are lots of ways
to transform your creative.
So let's say we want to flip the entire canvas.
This can be done easily by coming up to the top menu
and clicking on Image.
If I scroll down there is an option
here called, Image Rotate.
If I place my mouse cursor over this
we can see a few options.
I can flip the canvas in various degrees.
I can flip vertically or horizontally.
On this occasion, I'm going to select, Flip Horizontal.
So upon click, the entire document has flipped horizontal.
So this can be useful if I have a photo
I would like to flip.
Now, as you just saw, there are other options there
in the Image Rotate menu.
Be sure to experiment with those.
So I'll press Command-Zed to undo that.
Now, what if I want to flip a particular layer
in my composition horizontally?
Now this can be done easily,
but we need to follow a different path.
So first I need to select the
particular layer I wish to transform.
So I'll select the red bird layer.
This time, instead of coming to Image, I'll come to Edit.
If I scroll down, and come to Transform,
you will see a number of transform options.
On this occasion, I will select, Flip Horizontal.
Upon click, we will see the layer flip horizontal.
So remember, to flip the entire document
we need to go to Image, Image Rotate,
and to flip a layer we must first select a layer
and go to Edit, Transform.
So, with the move tool, I'll just move my red bird
up a little like so.
So next, I want to introduce you
to the Free Transform tool.
The Free Transform tool in Photoshop will allow you
to edit in multiple ways.
I find this tool to be one of the most common
transform tasks used in Photoshop.
So, for example, I'm going to focus on the blue bird here.
So to use the Free Transform
we must first select the layer we wish to edit.
In the layers panel I will select the blue bird layer.
With the blue bird layer selected, I will come up to edit,
scroll down and select, Free Transform.
Now upon click, we will see a square bounding box
around the contents of the layer.
Now since this layer only consists of the blue bird,
it's put square bounding box around the blue bird.
Okay, so for now I will just press enter.
Upon pressing enter, the Free Transform will be turned off
and we will go back to normal.
This time, I'm going to use the keyboard shortcut.
To quickly activate the Free Transform tool,
we can press Command-T on the keyboard.
Upon pressing Command-T, we will activate the free
transform, and just like before, we can see
the square bounding box appear around the item on the layer.
So what do we have here?
So upon activating Free Transform,
we now have an outline around the object.
This bounding box.
If we look closely, we can see a number of details.
We can see we have eight mini squares
around the outline around the bounding box.
Now these are points that we can use
to manipulate this object in various ways.
So as I move my mouse cursor over anyone of these points,
you will notice the mouse cursor change.
This is Photoshop indicating what task
this point will perform.
So the points on the top and bottom give us the ability
to transform the image vertically.
For example, I'll place my mouse cursor over the top handle
and pull down and up like so.
If I place my mouse cursor over the bottom point
and pull up and down you can see I can edit this, too.
Now, as you have probably already guessed
we can do the same to the sides, as well.
If I move my mouse cursor over to the right point
I can drag it in and out and likewise
with the point on the left.
Now, you can also click and drag on the corner points
by clicking and dragging
on any one of the corner points we can alter the scale.
Now, if you move your mouse cursor
just off the corner point, and float the mouse
near the corner, you will notice the mouse cursor
change to a curve with arrows on each end.
Well, this is Photoshop communicating
you can now click and rotate.
So if I click and drag I can rotate.
So with the Free Transform active on our layer,
we can change the height, width and rotation very easily.
So I'll just play with the Free Transform tool
on this blue bird to make it change of it like so.
Once I'm happy with the change, I'll simply press enter
and the transform will be applied.
Simple.
So I'm gonna press Command-Zed to undo that
and go back to what I had, previously.
So now I want to demonstrate some useful tips you need
to be aware of when using the Free Transform tool.
So I'll activate Free Transform again
on this layer by pressing Command-T.
Upon click, we will have the bounding box back.
Now, there are a number of buttons you can press
on the keyboard to control how you make transformations
as you apply them.
For example, if I press and hold shift on the keyboard
and click and drag in and out on one of the corner points
you will notice you can increase
or decrease the object to scale.
So without shift held down, you can increase
and decrease freely, but with shift
held down, you can increase and decrease to scale.
Convenient.
Now, here is another interesting one.
This time I will click and hold alt on the keyboard.
By pressing and holding alt on the keyboard
and dragging in and out this time we will increase
and decrease from the center of the image.
As we drag we can do this quite freely.
Now, with alt held down, this time I will also press
and hold shift.
So with shift and alt held down
on the keyboard, this time if I click and drag
in and out I can increase and decrease
from the center but to scale.
This is really useful to increase
or decrease a creative element really fast.
Now, another important tip you should be aware of
with Free Transform active on the layer, this time I'm going
to move my mouse cursor up to the corner.
Instead of putting my mouse cursor on the cursor point,
I'll move it just off to get the rotate arrows.
So instead of clicking and dragging freely like before,
this time I will press and hold shift on the keyboard.
With shift held down on the keyboard, as I click
to rotate, you will notice the bounding box snap
to small increments.
This can help if you want to rotate accurately
to degrees of 90.
One last tip you should keep in mind
when using Free Transform is the distort
and perspective transform.
With the bounding box around your creative object, this time
instead of pressing alt or shift, this time I'm going
to press and hold command.
By pressing and holding command on the keyboard,
if I move my mouse over a point,
you will notice it turn white.
Now, if I click on a corner point and drag out,
I can distort the image by clicking and dragging
on other points I can alter the perspective
and make some quite drastic changes.
Once I am happy I'll press enter to commit.
Though on this occasion, I'll press Comman-Zed to undo.
So those are some techniques you can use
with the Free Transform tool.
Be sure to practice with those techniques to get a good grip
of them as you will be using those techniques
a lot in future.
Now, you can also transform multiple layers
in one go.
So I'll come over to the layers panel.
I'll select the top layer by pressing and holding shift
on the keyboard,
I'll then select the blue background layer.
Upon click, I will select all the layers
in the layers panel, bar the bottom point base layer.
So, with all the layers above selected,
I will press Command-T to activate Free Transform.
Notice, upon click, the bounding box is now
around the biggest element in the selection
and here, the bounding box is around the outside
of the canvas area.
So with the bounding box active, I can attempt
to make any of the transforms you saw
in the previous demonstrations.
For example, if I wish for all these creative elements
to be smaller, I can hold alt and shift on the keyboard,
click and drag on the top right point
and drag in like so.
So that's how we can apply modifications
to multiple layers at the same time.
So I'll just press Command-Zed to undo that
and go back to what I had previous.
Now, there are various other transform tools
you can explore.
This time, I'll select the purple bird,
I'll come to Edit,
scroll down to Transform, and this time I'll select, Warp.
Upon click, we will have a different kind of bounding box.
With this active, I can click and drag
on the corners like with the Free Transform
and also on parts of the grid to create a warp effect.
I'll press enter to apply, and Command-Zed to undo.
Next, I'll come to Edit, Transform,
and select, Perspective.
And this time I can click and drag the points
to alter the perspective.
So that is how to manipulate your creative elements
in Adobe Photoshop using the transform tools.
In the next video we will be looking
at one of the most significant tools
in Photoshop, the brush tool.
I will be discussing and demonstrating brushes
and how we can use them in our compositions.
See you in the next video.
(upbeat music)