Text Shape Layers

 

Converting text into shapes allows you to distort the text as you like while retaining straight, clean edges.

Corey Barker is Executive Producer of PlanetPhotoshop.com and is an Education and Curriculum Developer for the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. He has earned numerous Photoshop awards in design and illustration and has contributed writing to Photoshop User Magazine and PhotoshopElementsUser.com. Corey has also made numerous appearances on the highly rated podcast, Photoshop TV.

March 28th, 2008 by Corey Barker | Effects, Text, Tutorials, Videos | 17 Comments

17 Comments

  1. Kyle said on — March 28, 2008 @ 8:27 pm

    Great tutorial! On your next one can you show us how you made the logo for the new design? Also, love the new website layout!

  2. Dani Crisan said on — March 29, 2008 @ 4:33 pm

    coooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool

  3. Tammy said on — March 31, 2008 @ 8:06 pm

    dang! I wish I had something to use this on! I am just a digital scrapbooker, but you have taught me so much with your excellent tutorials!

  4. Bob Murray said on — April 1, 2008 @ 7:40 am

    I’ll be converting text to shapes from now on.
    As always, Corey’s teaching is excellent.
    This is a great planet to visit often.
    It has a cool atmosphere!

  5. Geeo said on — April 3, 2008 @ 2:07 pm

    How can I download ?

  6. emmanuel said on — April 3, 2008 @ 11:47 pm

    thank you very much i love how you teach

  7. Craig said on — April 4, 2008 @ 8:37 am

    I have been visiting your website for a little over a year. Always great stuff, love your tuts. It is always the small tips like the hold control to drag without snapping. You show me things that I never knew I wanted or thought was possible, in not only PS but AI as well. So thanks a lot, you have no idea how helpful you have been!

  8. remm pangilinan said on — April 5, 2008 @ 10:51 pm

    Thank You so Much!!! I loved your videos! Thanks

  9. Peter said on — April 6, 2008 @ 1:52 pm

    Thank you ! i can use that for my logo’s and websites

  10. Carl said on — April 6, 2008 @ 3:25 pm

    I get an error when i try to convert to shape “error,could not complete your request because the type layer uses a faux bold style”

    What am i doing wrong?

    Please help

  11. marden kurdistani said on — April 6, 2008 @ 4:07 pm

    that is more simple

  12. Eric said on — April 9, 2008 @ 7:06 pm

    Corey rocks!

  13. jin-jin said on — April 10, 2008 @ 9:06 pm

    great illustration!!

  14. Omar said on — April 11, 2008 @ 9:09 am

    just as carl said,,i get the ssame error

    “error,could not complete your request because the type layer uses a faux bold style”
    is there a missing step ?

    please help

  15. Josh said on — April 15, 2008 @ 8:21 am

    I cannot convert to shape. It dosen’t have the option. Even when i control right click. But i am using a non upgraded photoshop.

  16. Nix said on — April 21, 2008 @ 2:51 pm

    For those of you who receive the “faux bold error”. This is because you have enabled faux bold (a setting that fakes a bold style). You can switch it off in the character palette.

    On a related note, it would be awesome if you could show a quick and easy way to extrude text. The way I know are cumbersome and not very fancy, so I am usually forced to make it in actual 3D-programs instead. Thanks for a very useful tutorial, though.

  17. Venkatx5 said on — May 8, 2008 @ 3:00 am

    Cool One. I am getting low Voulme :(

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Made To Fit: Part Two

This tip relates to a previous tip, where you created what’s called a “text box” so that your type wraps within a text block, rather than running in one straight line. The tip is this: If you’ve created some standard type by just clicking and typing rather than creating a paragraph text block, you’re not out of luck. While the Type layer is active, just go under the Layer menu, under Type, and choose Convert to Paragraph Text. Now your type will wrap within the text box boundaries, and you can edit the boundaries by adjusting the corner and center points.

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