Warp images, shapes, and paths in Adobe Photoshop

The Warp command lets you drag control points to manipulate the shape of images, shapes, or paths, and so on. You can also warp using a shape in the Warp Style pop‑up menu in the options bar. Shapes in the Warp Style pop‑up menu are also malleable; drag their control points.

When using the control points to distort an item, choosing View > Extras shows or hides the warp mesh and control points.

Using Warp

A. Selecting the shape to be warped B. Choosing a warp from the Warp Style pop‑up menu in the options bar C. Result using several warp options

Select what you want to warp.

Do one of the following:

Choose Edit > Transform > Warp.
If you chose a different transform command or the Free Transform command, click the Switch Between Free Transform And Warp Modes button in the options bar.

Do one or more of the following:

To warp using a specific shape, choose a warp style from the Warp pop‑up menu in the options bar.

Dragging a control point to warp the mesh

To the manipulate the shape, drag the control points, a segment of the bounding box or mesh, or an area within the mesh. When adjusting a curve, use the control point handles. This is similar to adjusting the handles in the curved segment of a vector graphic.

Note:

To undo the last handle adjustment, choose Edit > Undo.

Manipulating the shape of a warp

To change the orientation of a warp style that you chose from the Warp menu, click the Change The Warp Orientation button in the options bar.
To change the reference point, click a square on the Reference point locator in the options bar.
To specify the amount of warp using numeric values, enter the values in the Bend (set bend), X (set horizontal distortion), and Y (set vertical distortion) text boxes in the options bar. You can’t enter numeric values if you have chosen None or Custom from the Warp Style pop‑up menu.

Do one of the following:

Press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS), or click the Commit button in the options bar.
To cancel the transformation, press Esc or click the Cancel button in the options bar.

Note:

When you warp a bitmap image (versus a shape or path), the image becomes slightly less sharp each time you commit a transformation; therefore, performing multiple commands before applying the cumulative transformation is preferable to applying each transformation separately.

Puppet Warp provides a visual mesh that lets you drastically distort specific image areas, while leaving other areas intact. Applications range from subtle image retouching (such as shaping hair) to total transformations (such as repositioning arms or legs).

In addition to image layers, you can apply Puppet Warp to layer and vector masks. To nondestructively distort images, use Smart Objects. (See Create Smart Objects.)

In the Layers panel, select the layer or mask you want to transform.

Choose Edit > Puppet Warp.

In the options bar, adjust the following mesh settings:

Mode

Determines the overall elasticity of the mesh.

Note:

Choose Distort for a highly elastic mesh good for warping wide-angle images or texture maps.

Density

Determines the spacing of mesh points. More Points increases precision but requires more processing time; Fewer Points does the opposite.

Expansion

Expands or contracts the outer edge of the mesh.

Show Mesh

Deselect to show only adjustment pins, providing a clearer preview of your transformations.

Note:

To temporarily hide adjustment pins, press the H key.

In the image window, click to add pins to areas you want to transform and areas you want to anchor in place.

Moving a pin on the puppet mesh. Adjoining pins keep nearby areas intact.

To reposition or remove pins, do any of the following:

Drag pins to warp the mesh.
To reveal a mesh area you’ve overlapped with another, click the Pin Depth buttons in the options bar.
To remove selected pins, press Delete. To remove other individual pins, place the cursor directly over them, and press Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS); when the scissors icon appears, click.
Click the Remove All Pins button in the options bar.

Note:

To select multiple pins, Shift-click them or choose Select All from the context menu.

To rotate the mesh around a pin, select it, and then do either of the following:

To rotate the mesh a fixed number of degrees, press Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS), and position the cursor near to, but not over the pins. When a circle appears, drag to visually rotate the mesh.

Note:

The degree of rotation appears in the options bar.