Converting Paths

The primary reason for using paths is the ease and facility with which you can precisely define regions of an image. Although some of the selection tools offer unique selection techniques, there is nothing quite like the path operations to quickly and precisely surround an area.

Paths are easy to edit and require less real estate on your disk than selections saved as alpha channels. Eventually, though, you will need to convert your path into a selection before you can apply a Photoshop operation to the area it surrounds .

Converting a Path into a Selection

When you convert a path to a selection by using the Make Selection dialog box, you can specify the characteristics of your new selection and its relation to active selections on the image. To do this, target the path in the Paths palette and choose Make Selection from the Paths Palette pull-down menu. The Make Selection dialog box is displayed, enabling you to choose the characteristics of the new selection:

Feather Radius	Sets a distance in pixels for feathering of the selection outline
Anti-Aliased	Determines whether the selection will possess an anti-aliased edge
New Selection	Makes a selection from the path
Add To Selection	Adds the area defined by the path to the active selection
Subtract From Selection	Omits the area defined by the path from the active selection
Intersect With Selection	Makes a selection from the overlap of the path and the active selection

Click OK to convert the path into a selection.

Another way to convert a path into a new selection is by clicking the Load Path As Selection icon at the bottom of the Paths palette.

Converting a Selection into a Path

To convert a selection into a path, draw a marquee with one of the selection tools. Choose Make Work Path from the Paths Palette menu. A dialog box is displayed that enables you to set the tolerance of the path in pixels. Tolerances with low values produce more-complex paths with greater numbers of anchor points, whereas tolerances with higher values produce simpler paths. Click OK to convert the selection into a path.

You can also convert a selection into a path by clicking the Make Work Path From Selection icon at the bottom of the Paths palette.