© The Author(s), under exclusive license to APress Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2022
J. HarderPerspective Warps and Distorts with Adobe Tools: Volume 2https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-8829-0_4

4. Working with the Puppet Warp Tool

Jennifer Harder1  
(1)
Delta, BC, Canada
 

Chapter Goal: In Photoshop, it is possible to manipulate or twist a graphic using the Puppet Warp smart filter on a Smart Object layer, as will be seen later in the chapter. However, for now we will practice that similar effect using the Puppet Warp tool in Illustrator before briefly comparing it against how that file would appear in Photoshop.

At the same time, we’ll look at the differences and similarities between using it in the two applications with vector art and logos.

Note

You can find the projects for this chapter in the Chapter 4 folder.

Puppet Warp Tool

In Illustrator, the Puppet Warp tool, instead of being found in the Edit menu, is found in the Toolbars panel; it is located with the Free Transform tool that we looked at in Chapter 3. Refer to Figure 4-1.
Figure 4-1

Toolbars panel, Puppet Warp tool

To use this tool correctly, you need to have a shape, a grouped object of shapes or paths, or a symbol present on the artboard. We will look at symbols in more detail in Chapters 6 and 12.

Let’s try working with the Puppet Warp tool now.

Project: Warped Mandala T-Shirt Art

Go to File ➤ Open ➤ puppet_warp_start.ai. Then go to File ➤ Save As and make a copy if you want to practice.

This is an image that contains two layers: one with a drawing of a T-shirt and the other with the original Mandala design that I created. Refer to Figure 4-2.
Figure 4-2

The Layers panel has two layers: one with a T-shirt illustration and the other with a mandala design

The T-shirt layer is locked so that when I move my mandala pattern, I do not move the shirt along with it. This is a good way of practicing fashion design to see how your designs will look on clothing.

Designing a Mandala

Parts of my mandala design use various lines as well as clip art that I acquired from my Brushes panel: Decorative ➤ Elegant Curl & Floral Brush Set and Arrows ➤ Pattern Arrows. Refer to Figure 4-3 and Figure 4-4.
Figure 4-3

Locate unique pieces of clip art from the Brushes panel that you can use to create your own patterns

Figure 4-4

Brushes panel library of pattern arrows has many unique vector shapes

While I won’t demo how to build the whole mandala, I will point out that if you want to build something similar in a new file you can open your various brush libraries and drag the components of the brush onto the artboard—for example, Arrow Brush Fancy 2—and then use your Selection tool to Shift + Drag it to scale it to a larger size. Refer to Figure 4-5.
Figure 4-5

Drag a pattern out of the Brushes library and onto the artboard and ungroup the pattern from the invisible boxes (Stroke and Fill of none)

Then select Object ➤ Ungroup, twice, so that the objects are separate from their invisible boxes.

Then you can move, colorize using the Control panel, and modify each of the objects and patterns separately. Refer to Figure 4-6.
Figure 4-6

Drag the parts of the pattern you want away from the invisible boxes and use the Control panel or Swatches panel to colorize your selected object

Tip

Make sure to select your invisible box later with the Selection tool and press the Backspace/Delete key to remove the box path so that it does not get added back to your design by mistake. If you can’t locate the box path then, as we did in Chapter 2, use View ➤ Outline (Ctrl/CMD+Y) so that you can find it and delete it, and then use View ➤ Preview to return to normal viewing mode. Refer to Figure 4-7.

Figure 4-7

Use View ➤ Outline mode if you have difficulty finding the invisible boxes so you can delete them

Acquiring shapes and paths from the Brushes library is a great way to practice building repeating patterns. Afterward, as you saw in Chapter 3, with your selected path you can use your Rotate tool to click a reference point.

Then click Alt/Option and drag your mouse to make a copy of your paths. Click the reference point again to keep it in the same location and then repeat the Alt/Option and drag step to place more copies around a circle.

The circle is created with the Ellipse tool, using Smart Guides to assist with finding the center point of the circle. Refer to Figure 4-8.
Figure 4-8

Use the Rotate tool and its reference point to help rotate copies of the object around a circle to create a pattern

In my case, once I completed my design, with the Selection tool I dragged a rectangular marquee around the entire design and then chose Object ➤ Group so that the design would be one grouped object. Refer to Figure 4-9.
Figure 4-9

After creating your modified pattern, use the Selection tool to select all parts of the pattern and group it as one object

We will look at more pattern-creation options in Chapter 5 and Chapter 7.

Working with the Puppet Warp Tool

Once your grouped pattern is complete, you will want to make sure that you keep a backup of the original for other projects, as the Puppet Warp tool in Illustrator is a bit destructive compared to that in Photoshop. I will explain a workaround later in the chapter.

For now, make sure that your layer Original is selected in the Layers panel and then drag it over the Create New Layer button. This creates a copy of the layer and all artwork on it. Refer to Figure 4-10.
Figure 4-10

Make a copy of your pattern on a new layer so that you can preserve the original for other projects

Now, lock your original layer and turn off the visibility of that layer for now, and make sure to select your Original Copy layer. Refer to Figure 4-11.
Figure 4-11

Lock the original layer so that you can work on the copy and not move the original by accident

With the Selection tool, select the mandala pattern. Scale the pattern down, using the bounding box handles and the Shift key, to the size you want it to be on the T-shirt and move it into position. Refer to Figure 4-12.
Figure 4-12

Use your Selection tool to scale the copy

Then, choose the Puppet Warp tool from the Toolbars panel. Refer to Figure 4-13.
Figure 4-13

Select the Puppet Warp tool from the Toolbars panel

A mesh will then appear and cover the pattern, with some pins already in place that you can move and drag. Refer to Figure 4-14.
Figure 4-14

Pins and mesh in Puppet Warp tool

The mesh options in this case are much more simplified than what is found in Photoshop, and you will find them in the Properties panel or Control panel. Refer to Figure 4-15.
Figure 4-15

Options for Puppet Warp can be found in the Properties and Control panels

They are similar to the ones shown in Photoshop, such as Expand Mesh, which ranges from 1px to 100px and brings disjointed objects together for transformation, and the option to show and hide the mesh. Refer to Figure 4-16.
Figure 4-16

Expanding the mesh, and the mesh at 2px

In this case, I will leave the Expand Mesh field at the default of 2px.

Also, there is only one mesh mode and density. But the mesh becomes more complex as pins are added.

As noted, some pins for the shape are already created, but you can click to add more pins to the mesh. The most recently added pin is currently selected. Refer to Figure 4-17.
Figure 4-17

Adding a pin to the mesh when you click on a point

These pins already have a rotate preview added, allowing you to twist clockwise or counter-clockwise the pin, causing a distort. Refer to Figure 4-18.
Figure 4-18

You can rotate the pin when you hover over the rotation circle and the mouse pointer changes, then drag

You can use the Shift key to click select multiple pins so that you can drag and move them at the same time. Use the Properties panel’s Quick Actions option to choose Select All Pins. Refer to Figure 4-19.
Figure 4-19

Click Shift and select multiple points in the mesh, or use your Properties panel’s Quick Actions to choose Select All Pins

Pins can only be rotated one at a time, so Shift + Click to deselect a pin, or the other pins, so that only one is selected. Refer to Figure 4-20.
Figure 4-20

Select only one pin when you want to rotate

Hollow pins are selected, while solid pins are deselected.

To delete a pin while selected, press the Delete/Backspace key. Refer to Figure 4-21.
Figure 4-21

Delete a pin using the Delete/Backspace key

Click on the pin and drag and move it to cause a warp. The mesh will temporarily disappear while you are dragging the pin. Refer to Figure 4-22.
Figure 4-22

Drag the pin to edit the warp

If you need to undo a drag that you just made, use Edit ➤ Undo or Ctrl/CMD+Z, or use the History panel.

At this point, continue to click to add pins to the mesh and drag the pins to the locations that you want them placed. You can see my result here, but it’s OK if your result is slightly different. Refer to Figure 4-23.
Figure 4-23

Multiple pins added to the mesh and seen with the mesh hidden

After you are finished adding your warps, you can then choose the Selection tool from the Toolbars panel and click outside the artboard to deselect the grouped object. Refer to Figure 4-24.
Figure 4-24

The current Puppet Warp deselected

While you are in the copy of your file puppet_warp_start.ai, you can continue to work with the Puppet Warp tool to adjust the warp for the shape. But other than removing pins, there is no way to reset the warp back to its original design after you have saved and closed the file.

Note

It should be mentioned, you can use an Illustrator symbol, which is similar to a Photoshop Smart Object layer. However, upon clicking on the symbol the Puppet Warp is fully applied, breaking the symbol and turning it into a grouped object. An informational message will appear indicating the expansion. Refer to Figure 4-25.

Figure 4-25

Symbols that are puppet warped on the artboard become broken from the original symbol and become a grouped object

Therefore, when working with Puppet Warp in Illustrator, you should always make sure to save copies of non-warped objects, either on separate layers, as we did earlier in the chapter, or stored as symbols in the Symbols panel for later use. Refer to Figure 4-26.
Figure 4-26

Always store a copy of your original pattern in the Layers panel on its own layer or in the Symbols panel

As mentioned, we will discover more about symbols in Chapters 6, 12, and 13.

Save your document at this point, and you can compare this Puppet Warp to the mandala pattern in my file puppet_warp_final.ai.

Note

If you try to Puppet Warp text in Illustrator, it expands as a shape and becomes an outline and group object, and you can then move each grouped letter freely. We’ll look at type in more detail in Chapters 9 and 10. Refer to Figure 4-27.

Figure 4-27

Type can be warped with the Puppet Warp tool, but it ceases to be editable text, only an outline

Workaround with Puppet Warp and Photoshop

You may have noticed that while you were creating the warp in Illustrator, some of the paths in the grouped object bent in an unexpected way, around the border of the ellipse. Refer to Figure 4-28.
Figure 4-28

Puppet Warp and Illustrator can distort parts of your pattern in unexpected ways

While I enjoy using the Puppet Warp tool in Illustrator, I think that using it on a Smart Object layer in Photoshop is a much less destructive option.

There is an example of that in the Photoshop file, puppet_warp_photoshop.psd. First, in Illustrator I selected my grouped object with the Selection tool and went to Edit ➤ Copy. Then, in Photoshop, I went to Edit ➤ Paste to get it into Photoshop as a Smart Object layer. I clicked OK and clicked the checkmark in the Options panel to commit. Refer to Figure 4-29.
Figure 4-29

Paste a copy of your Illustrator pattern into Photoshop as a Smart Object layer

Then, in Photoshop, I applied the Edit ➤ Puppet Warp and clicked to add numerous pins to the mesh using the settings in the Options panel. I then dragged the pins to create the warp. Selected pins can also be deleted using the Backspace/Delete key. Refer to Figure 4-30.
Figure 4-30

Use Photoshop to Puppet Warp your pattern instead, to better control the pins

After committing the changes in the Options panel with the checkmark icon, the Smart Filter was added to the layer. By using Puppet Warp in Photoshop, you will have greater control over complex patterns. To review my settings in the file, double-click on the Puppet Warp name in the Layers panel then click the cancel icon or commit check icon if you have made changes to the pins. Refer to Figure 4-31.
Figure 4-31

Pins added and the warp committed in Photoshop Layers panel with Puppet Warp Smart Object Filter applied, and the pattern is maintained

The other benefit is that with Photoshop’s Puppet Warp you can go to File ➤ Save and close the file and return to editing, scaling, or deleting the warp smart filter at any time without destroying the original Smart Object layer; you can double-click to enter the filter at any time.

You could even double-click on the Smart Object layer’s thumbnail image to enter the embedded (.ai) file. While in Illustrator, you can then alter colors on paths quickly by using the Group Selection tool to Shift + Click on paths within the group. Then, you can use the Color panel to find a new color or use the Eyedropper tool to click a sample from other colors in the pattern. Refer to Figure 4-31 and Figure 4-32.
Figure 4-32

Enter the Smart Object layer and use Illustrator to alter colors in your pattern

Then save the .ai file, close the Illustrator file, and return to the Photoshop .psd file to see the updated change with the Puppet Warp still applied to the Smart Object layer. Refer to Figure 4-33.
Figure 4-33

Return to Photoshop, and the colors of the mandala are updated but the Puppet Warp is maintained

You would then save the .psd file to commit the change.

Though not required for this book, for more detail on using Puppet Warp in Photoshop, refer to the following link: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/warp-images-shapes-paths.html

Note

In this example, I was using an .ai file in CMYK mode inside of an RGB mode Photoshop file. However, if you are concerned about there being a major color shift, then make sure to change your Illustrator color mode to RGB first before you copy Smart Object layers into Photoshop, as I mentioned in Chapter 1.

So, creating the Puppet Warp later in Photoshop on the Illustrator Vector Smart Object layer might be a better option to keep your artwork preserved and editable, should you need to make changes.

In Chapter 11 we will look at warps that are preserved as Live Effect options in Illustrator.

For further notes on Puppet Warp in Illustrator, visit this link:

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/puppet-warp.html

Summary

The Puppet Warp tool in Illustrator is useful for stretching parts of basic shapes or grouped objects by using a mesh and pins. The Photoshop Puppet Warp tool when applied to a smart object layer does a better job of preserving the original artwork and makes it easy to edit it anytime. In the next chapter, we’ll be looking at a collection of tools that act similarly to the Liquify Filter found in Photoshop, but this time on vector shapes in Illustrator.

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