Video:How to Use the Photoshop CS5 Puppet Warp Tool

Transcript:How to Use the Photoshop CS5 Puppet Warp Tool

What is the Photoshop CS5 Puppet Warp Tool?

The new Puppet Warp functionality in Photoshop CS5 allows for drastic distortions and manipulations to images quickly and easily, and with some practice, advanced users can accomplish amazing photo edits utilizing this incredibly intuitive tool. The Puppet Warp control can be applied to any image, shape, text layer, and content layer or vector mask. Puppet warp can also be used with Smart Objects to make edits to content non-destructive.

Instructions to Use the Photoshop CS5 Puppet Warp Tool

To turn on Puppet Warp, select the layer, or portion of the layer you wish to manipulate. In our case we are going to make some adjustments to the position of a photo subject's arm, just to illustrate the power of this tool.

With your selection made, go to the Edit Menu and select Puppet Warp. A visual mesh will appear over the editable object. This mesh is what controls how the Puppet Warp functions. In the Options bar, you are presented with a series of controls for adjusting the behavior of this mesh, induding Mode, which determines the elasticity of the mesh, Density, or how many mesh points exist which in turn increases or decreases editing precision, Expansion for growing or shrinking the mesh area, and an options to show or hide the mesh, to preview the results of your edit.

The Puppet Warp mesh is control by Pins that can be added to the mesh by clicking. These pins can be selected and dragged inside the image to make an edit. The other pins in the mesh not being affected will hold that area of the mesh in place, allowing for the image selection to warp while still staying connected to the remainder of the image.

Unwanted or unneeded pins can be removed by selecting them and hitting the Delete Key, or by hovering over a pin and pressing the Option Key to call up the scissors icon, at which point a simple click will remove the pin.

In addition to dragging pins around the canvas, the entire mesh can be rotated around a pin point by selecting the pin and while hovering near it, pressing the Option Key. This will call up a rotation circle around your cursor. With this on screen, dragging the mouse will rotate the mesh around the selected pin.

Once you have made your adjustments to your liking, you can apply your edits by clicking the Check icon in the Options bar, or by pressing Enter or Return. To discard your edits, remove all pins and return to the original image, you can click the Cancel icon in the Option Bar, or simply strike the Esc key.