Creating a work path (Photoshop)

A work path is a temporary path that appears in the Paths palette and defines the outline of a shape. You can use paths in several ways:

• You can use a path as a vector mask to hide areas of a layer. (See Masking layers.)
• You can convert a path to a selection. For more information, see Converting between paths and selection borders (Photoshop).
• You can edit a path to change its shape. For more information, see Editing paths (Photoshop).
• You can designate a saved path as a clipping path to make part of an image transparent when exporting the image to a page-layout or vector-editing application.

Create a new path in the Paths palette before you begin drawing to automatically save the work path as a named path.

To create a new work path:

1. Select a shape tool or a pen tool, and click the Paths button in the options bar.
2. Set tool-specific options, and draw the path. For more information, see Using the shape tools and Using the pen tools (Photoshop).
3. Draw additional path components if desired. You can easily switch between drawing tools by clicking a tool button in the options bar. Choose a path area option to determine how overlapping path components intersect:
• Add to Path Area to add the new area to overlapping path areas.
• Subtract from Path Area to remove the new area from the overlapping path area.
• Intersect Path Areas to restrict the path to the intersection of the new area and the existing area.
• Exclude Overlapping Path Areas to exclude the overlap area in the consolidated path.

Use the following keyboard shortcuts while drawing with a shape tool: Hold down Shift to temporarily select the Add to Path Area option; hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) to temporarily select the Subtract from Path Area option.

For more information on working with paths, see Using the Paths palette (Photoshop).