Working with the Pen Tool - Adobe Photoshop CC - page 228

You can deactivate a path by clicking in any blank area in the Paths panel. You should deactivate
paths when transforming layers, since the Path will be transformed, rather than the layer content, if
it is active.
2 Make sure that your Work Path is still highlighted; then, from the Paths panel menu, choose Save Path.
In the Save Path dialog box, type flower , and then click OK.
Choose to save your Work Path.
3 Choose File > Save; keep the file open for the next part of this lesson.
Turning the path into a selection
Now that you have created and saved a path, you can use it in many ways; for example, you can use it as a
selection, a mask, or leave it as path. In this next part of the lesson, you will activate your path as a mar-
quee selection.
1 Make sure that your Paths panel is visible; if it is not, choose Window > Paths.
2 Press and hold the Ctrl key (Windows) or Command key (Mac OS) and hover over the flower path
thumbnail in the Paths panel. Click the thumbnail when a dashed marquee appears. Your path is now
converted into a marquee selection.
Press and hold the Ctrl/Command key and click a path to create a selection.
3 Choose Edit > Copy to copy your selection.
4 Choose File > New. When you copy a selection, the new document is automatically sized to fit the
copied item in the clipboard, so you can just click OK in the New dialog box.
5 Choose Edit > Paste to paste just the flower selection on the new file.
6 You don't need to keep this new file; choose File > Close and choose to not save the file.
Turning the path into a vector mask
You will now return to your ps1102_work file and convert your path into a vector mask.
1 If the ps1102_work file is not forward, make sure it is the active image file in Photoshop.
2 Make sure there are no active selections by pressing Ctrl+D (Windows) or Command+D (Mac OS)
3 If you do not see the Layers panel, choose Window > Layers.