Photoshop 6.0 & 7.0 vs. CS (Pen Tool & Paths)

RS
Posted By
robert_slaymaker
Nov 11, 2008
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370
Replies
5
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Closed
I am interested in the tutorials that have you draw with the pen tool and then create a path, which allows you to enhance the lines drawn with the pen tool. Hopefully that is stated somewhat correctly.

Anyhow, I currently have Photoshop 6.0, are these features (pen tool & paths) available to me? Will they be available in Photoshop 7.0? If so, how do I get to them. If not, do I need to upgrade to a CS version?

My goal, is to convert my drawing from paper, place it on the computer, and add coloring, etc. to it.

Currently, I am drawing the picture on paper, taking a photo of it with my digital camera, opening it with Photoshop 6.0, converting it to black & white, filtering with photocopy (using black & white), and then setting it to multiply. The I color and add effects in the layers below.

Help!!! I am truly a novice and would like to get much better at this type work. Finding a book, or tutorial that matching my situation has been difficult.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

-Robert
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M
Mylenium
Nov 12, 2008
* uggh* Why Photoshop? You would have a much better workflow in Illustrator, which is actually what you should look into if you’re doing this regularly. Beyond that – the path tools haven’t been changed in ages, except for some bug cleaning and changes in the shortcuts, so one could assume they provide the same (limited) feature set in any version of PS, including v6. You should see the pen and anchor point tools in your toolbar…

Mylenium
P
Phosphor
Nov 12, 2008
Robert…

Are you talking about Photoshop Elements? Some of what you’ve written sounds like you are.

Yes, the Pen Tool is available in Photoshop 6 and newer (but not in Elements 6); Custom Shapes are available in PS Elements 6 and Photoshop 6 and newer versions of both. From what I can discover through the online documentation Elements 6 & 7 will allow you to edit anchor points of a Custom Shape (I don’t know to what extent, though), but it doesn’t have the tools and function to allow you to create your own vector-based objects.
RS
robert_slaymaker
Nov 12, 2008
Thank you very much for your assistance. Yes, it appears I have Photoshop Elements. Do you know if I can upgrade from Elements to Photoshop? As you can see, I don’t understand the release terms.

Does photoshop = photoshop CS? or is there a photoshop 6.0, photoshop elements 6.0, and photoshop CS#?

As mentioned, I really just want to experiment with capturing my hand drawn image on the computer for finishing work. My current approach has the image lines look too inconsistent.

Again, thanks for your help and patience.

-Robert
P
Phosphor
Nov 12, 2008
These may help explain things for you:

Photoshop release history < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Photoshop_release_history>

Comparing Photoshop ( PS CS3) vs. Photoshop Elements (version 6) features < http://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/photoshop/f/elementscompare .htm>

Photoshop, general info <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Photoshop>
P
Phosphor
Nov 12, 2008
Oh, and do you have a digitizing tablet, like a Wacom?

You might enjoy using it to hand "ink" your scanned drawings. No vector path capabilities necessary.

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