One of my very favorite tools in Photoshop is Puppet Warp. It was introduced in CS5, and was the sole reason I upgraded from CS3 to CS5 back in 2010. Let’s take a look at this little known tool and see how useful it can be!
The Puppet Warp tool is located in the Edit menu in the top menu bar. Edit > Puppet Warp. I am using CC2015, but I believe the path is the same in both CS5 and 6.
When we activate Puppet Warp, Photoshop places a mesh over the selected image. We then are able to place pins where we would like the image to remain in place, and use other pins to control slight movements on the image. We can use Puppet Warp on shapes, text, Smart Objects, and vector masks. Here’s an example:
This beautiful layout was created by Kabra, a member of my Creative Team, using Chart Your Course. The orange circle is not part of the layout; I put it there to bring your attention to the tail of the bow. Let’s use Puppet Warp to change that just a bit.
1. Click on the bow layer to make it active.
2. Edit > Puppet Warp. A mesh will be placed over the bow.
3. When you move your cursor over your document, it will turn into the image of a “push pin” with a small plus sign to the right. Click down on any part of the bow that you want to remain stationary. For your visual reference, I have drawn orange circles around the places that I have pinned.
4. Next I placed a pin near the end of the left bow “tail,” and pulled it slightly to the right.
5. Once I was happy with the positioning, I clicked the check mark in the top menu bar to commit the change. And here is the result.
This is a great tool to use to make small tweaks, but it can also be used in other ways to make some pretty substantial changes to objects. If you would like to learn more about Puppet Warp, please leave a comment below, and I will revisit this tool next week!
I love Kabra’s page and asked if she would allow me to share it with you as a Quick Page. She graciously agreed. I removed the definitions, however, so you can add your own!
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Click on the image below to download!
If you would like to keep this tutorial on your computer for easy reference, you may download a PDF here: Do You Use Puppet Warp?
If you are a visual learner, you can view this tutorial on SnickerdoodleDesigns You Tube Channel and on theStudio’s You Tube Channel.
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Thank you for coming by! See you next week!
I love this tutorial. I was trying to do this same type of effect last week but did not know about the Puppet Warp. Now I can go back and make the changes I need in my layout using this new information. I would love to learn more about this tool. Thanks so much for pointing it out to me.
Thank you so much for the quick page. It’s gorgeous!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I knew there had to be a way to do it, and of course I could have Googled it (but I didn’t think of it until now), but didn’t know how. This is so helpful!
This is such a cool-looking tool, and your tutorial as usual is excellent. I wish they had this in PSE 11. PSP has a similar tool, but the Photoshop one is much more sophisticated.
[…] Do you use Puppet Warp? – 3 freebie(s) […]
Thanks for the interesting tutorial! Please continue next week giving us more information on the puppet warp tool. I was not at all familiar with it. Love the quick page, I appreciate your generosity!
I have never quite understood puppet warp. Your basic instructions are great!!! Looking forward to more training using puppet warp. Thanks for all you super tutorials!
OH! you’ve done it again, another tool I haven’t used and which will come in very handy, thank you so much for making it appear so very simple.
Thank you for this tut. I have never used puppet warp but know some folks love this tool. I would be very interested in more tut’s to see more examples of how this tool is useful.
Yea!! I’m glad this was helpful for you!! I will give a more detailed tutorial next week then! Can’t wait! It is SUCH a fun tool!!! Thanks for your comments!
Love your tutorials! Would love to see more on the puppet warp tool.
Thank you! I would love to see more puppet warp tutes. Very nice that you allowed us to save it in a .pdf too! Very kind of you!
thank you so much, Karen. I didn’t know about this tool. I also have CS6. I may have to switch from 3 now. I would love to learn more about puppet warp for sure!
omgosh, not enough coffee yet, thanks so much for the beautiful qp too!
Thank you for letting me know you want to learn more about Puppet Warp. I’ll talk more about it this Friday!
[…] week we took a very quick look at the Puppet Warp tool in Photoshop. (Do you Use Puppet Warp?) You asked for a more in-depth study of this tool, so let’s look at all of its features […]
[…] to create the ghost on the left. In addition, I used Puppet Warp to warp the stars just a bit (Do you use Puppet Warp and Puppet Warp, Part 2) . I duplicated the stars, clipped a paper to them (Clipping Masks in […]
[…] better, but it looks a little odd to me….so using what we learned about the Puppet Warp Tool (Do You Use Puppet Warp? and Puppet Warp Part 2), I added just a slight bend to the top leaf. I like that a lot better. […]
[…] Do you use Puppet Warp? […]
[…] but it looks a little odd to me….so using what we learned about the Puppet Warp Tool (Do You Use Puppet Warp? and Puppet Warp Part 2), I added just a slight bend to the top leaf. I like that a lot […]