path tool maybe? help please

[adhd]

ok does anyone know if there is a way to draw a path of lets say the jawbone on someone and then draw a new path from which I want the new jawline to follow? like if I wanna make the jaw narrower or wider. I've been playing with free transform and liquify but none of them turn out good I think / Anders

[Flora]

Hi adhd,

Welcome to RP!

It would be easier if you could post the picture or part of it ...

[adhd]

ok here's a picture, if I wanna make her jawline more straight to add a lil more character to the face, can you do that with paths somehow?

[T Paul]

The biggest mistake most people make when using the liquify filter is moving the brush too fast. Also some people set their brush sizes too large. As a result you lose control and you get the silly putty look. Try adjusting your brush sizes (to the size of the area you want to change) and moving them very slowly over the area you want to change. This gives you much more control over the outcome.

If you really want to avoid the liquify filter, try copying the area you want to change and placing it on a new layer. Then use the transform tools (skew, distort, perspective…)to alter the image. You will probably have to do some cleaning up on the layer underneath such as using the clone tool to cover up areas that you don’t want to show.

I used the the liquify filter to quickly narrow the jaw line. I used the forward warp tool with a brush size of 72.

[adhd]

thank you for the help, looks good, but she's not very pretty though hehe

[Flora]

Originally Posted by adhd

thank you for the help, looks good, but she's not very pretty though hehe

That's always the risk when you try to change somebody's features ....

T Paul just wanted to show how to go about with the Liquify Filter which is very 'delicate' to handle .... and I think she did a great job...

I've never tried to change a face before and, working on this picture, I realized that it's very difficult to keep the 'balance' by changing one feature only ... So, I started with the jaw line but ended up by changing nearly everything .... I used the Free Transform Tool, the Liquify Filter and yes, I used the Path Tool as well, but only on the outside contour of her face.

[adhd]

Originally Posted by Flora

That's always the risk when you try to change somebody's features ....

T Paul just wanted to show how to go about with the Liquify Filter which is very 'delicate' to handle .... and I think she did a great job...

I've never tried to change a face before and, working on this picture, I realized that it's very difficult to keep the 'balance' by changing one feature only ... So, I started with the jaw line but ended up by changing nearly everything .... I used the Free Transform Tool, the Liquify Filter and yes, I used the Path Tool as well, but only on the outside contour of her face.

cool cool, my question is how you used the path tool though, I mean ps should have some option in which you set one set of points or a path and then draw a new path or put new points to a place where you want the old set to morph, I mean simple morph programs can do that. Anyway if there is such a way in ps I don't know (don't know about my whole explaination there I'm swedish)

[philbach]

I guess you are wondering how you can manipulate the path after it is drawn.

In photoshop

To change anchor points you have two sets of tools. On is the Path selection tool. The black one in the tool box will select the entire path. Or the other option is the direct selection tool which will allow you to manipulate individual anchor points.

In the pen tool box you can select the convert point tool to convert a point between a smooth point or a corner point.

Also with the pen tool selected you can look at the options bar to add,subtract, intersect, or exclude two paths.

So after a path is drawn you can adjust it just about any way you like

[Flora]

Beside what Phil so clearly explained, you can also:

1) Create different Paths on the same Layer.
2) Create different Paths on different Layers of the same image. (if you need to change them separately)
3) Change your Path to a selection....
4) or change any selection to a Path by clicking on Path>Make Work Path from Selection. (see Attachment)

[adhd]

thank you for the effort of trying to help however what I wanna do is something else, I've attached a file to try and make it clearer, what I wanna do is to set points along the red path and have those poits merge into the green path instead, kinda just so the jawline fixes itself, is that possible?

[philbach]

To be honest with you I am not sure that this answers your problem. It may be easier to work with selections since you can add or subtract to them at will. However what you can do is draw a path covering the red line on her face. Than use the path select tool to select that path. Hold down the option/alt key drag that path to cover the the green outline. That places a copy of the path moved to the green outline. Select both paths with the path select tool and click combine.

Perhaps an easier way to do what I think you want to do is make a selection using the red line and including the cheek. Copy that selection to a new layer. Use the move tool to move the copied layer inward to shrink the cheek bulge. If you have selected parts of the background that background will nicely cover up the fat parts of the cheek.

[MBChamberlain]

So far as I know the path tool cannot be used as a morph guide, your best bet in this kind of reconstruction is probably the liquify tool, but the trick is that it is very hard to overdo things. Check out my post here for a detailed description of how to effectively morph bodies using the liquify tool. In my experience it is the easiest way to get the job done and yeilds very good results.

Take care,

Michael

PS If there is a way to morph with the path tool, I'd be very interested in knowing how.

[adhd]

Originally Posted by MBChamberlain

So far as I know the path tool cannot be used as a morph guide, your best bet in this kind of reconstruction is probably the liquify tool, but the trick is that it is very hard to overdo things. Check out my post here for a detailed description of how to effectively morph bodies using the liquify tool. In my experience it is the easiest way to get the job done and yeilds very good results.

Take care,

Michael

PS If there is a way to morph with the path tool, I'd be very interested in knowing how.

thanks for all the replies and such, and for you I have a question, how idd you get those grid things ps?

[MBChamberlain]

in the "View Options" area of the liquify tool there is a check box marked "Mesh". Checking that will show the grid. (You should usually use the small mesh for better control.)

Michael

[adhd]

ahaaaaa, thank you very much sir

[byRo]

I think this is what you're looking for......

1) Duplicate background image, make a path around the original feature (here we'll move the chin) and stroke the path in a nice bright colour (pic 1);
2) Make a new empty layer and draw the required new path, stroke this in a different bright colour (pic 2);
3) Select the layer with the original path and go to Liquify;
4) In the bottom right-hand corner check the box "Backdrop" and choose the layer that has the new path;
5) Use the liquify tools to move the old path until it coincides with the new path (pic 3);
6) Now at the top right select "Save Mesh" and save;
7) Cancel the liquify - we only wanted the mesh;
8) Duplicate the background layer (without the old path) and select the Liquify filter again;
9) Select "Load Mesh" and retreive the mesh you saved earlier - now the alterations that you did before will be applied here;
10) Select OK and you're finished (pic 4) - well except for a bit of texture fixing, maybe.

Obs: If you didn't mark the original path, just the new one, you wouldn't need to liquify in two steps like here. Just use the new path as the Backdrop.

Rô

[MBChamberlain]

Brilliant Rô,

I've used saved meshes a few times but that a way of using them that I had never considered.

Michael