Photoshop® CS4 Bible

13.6. Type on a Path

Being able to create type that flows in a straight line or within a rectangle is great, and it's exactly what you'll need for the vast majority of your design work. But we're talking about Photoshop here, so you know there's more to be had from the Type tool than standard text boxes.

One of the much-appreciated features that Photoshop CS introduced was the ability to create a vector path and flow type along that path. Fast-forward to Photoshop CS3, where this feature has become even more robust, allowing multiple, independent text layers to flow along a single vector path. On top of that, you can have text flowing in different directions along a path, you can flow text around a circle, and you can fill a vector shape with text. Let's dive in with an example.

13.6.1. Type on a curved, open path

Flowing type along a curved path (as illustrated in Figure 13.23) basically requires two things: a path and some text. Follow these steps to create type on a curved path:

1. Press the P key on your keyboard to select the Pen tool (learn more about the Pen tool in Chapter 12).

2. Create a vector path by clicking with your mouse to lay down several points. Clicking and dragging produces handles that allow you to create smooth curves in your path. Generally, you can achieve better results with more gradual paths — sharp turns and corners result in awkward placement of the letters. Not to worry — it is, after all, a vector path, which means you can edit it at any time by repositioning ...