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Look at that bounding box. Have you ever seen anything
so sweet. Vectors have arrived.
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| Photoshop has vectors. How long have I been waiting
to say that? And they have done a great job with them, too. It all
starts with this new little tool in the Toolbox. Click on it, glance
up to the Toolbar, and a whole new world opens up. You will have
to get used to thinking of layers in a different way if you are
familiar with vector programs, and it will take a while to make
the leap from Photoshop raster format, but the time spent learning
will be well rewarded. |
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Take a look at the Layer palette at the left. The vector objects are
built on layers, with the color assigned by the layer. I can see great
possibilities for this in proofing for clients. Double click on the
color in the layer listing and the color palette opens up, ready for
you to instantly change the color for the entire layer.
The real excitement for me is in the Custom Shapes option. You can
use predefined shapes, or start from a predefined shape and create your
own using the shape tools.
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The shot above shows the predefined shapes, but take a look to the
left. I have taken one of the shapes and reshaped it using the path
controls. If you have not had reason to brush up on the path capabilities,
now is the time. Once you have your shape as you want it, the real fun
begins. You can add effects to vector layers, just as for raster layers.
But even that is not what has me so excited. Look at the image below.
See that selection boundary? I took my vector shape and with a couple
of clicks, converted it to a selection boundary. Now, your imagination
should be running wild. Add this to the power of raster tools, like
channels, layer masks, feathering, etc., and the full implication should
start to emerge.
And the vectors are truly resolution independent until you rasterize
the layer. Great stuff, and I know I have just scratched the surface.
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