Adobe Photoshop CC For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Chapter 11

Precision Edges with Vector Paths

IN THIS CHAPTER

Understanding vector artwork

Creating objects with shapes

Making a new path

Changing the shape of an existing path

Editing the shapes of type characters

Most of the images with which you work in Photoshop — digital photos and scanned artwork, layers on which you paint, and filled selections — are created with pixels. There’s also another type of artwork: vector art, which you create by defining a path (an outline) and adding color within and along that path. That path has a very precise edge, enabling vectors (when printed appropriately) to give you very crisp, clean lines in your artwork.

Typically, vector art consists of specific elements (objects) that are uniform in color (although vector art can also include gradients and patterns). You might have, for example, a red triangle, a blue square, and a green circle as your logo (boring!). These three solid-color objects are best defined as vector artwork. Vectors, however, ...