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.

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
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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.
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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.)
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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.
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.
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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.
