Vanishing Point in Photoshop is an amazing set of tools that allows us to determine the perspective of an image and then build a more complex set of perspective grids from our initial grid to then be able to retouch surfaces in perspective. We’ve got lots of brick in the image that I’m using in this tutorial and we can clone brick that is “closer” to us and use it to correct brick that is “further away” and Vanishing Point will ensure everything is in proper perspective (as long as we made an accurate grid!) and looking great. Watch the full video above for the full, detailed walk through and watch me actually practice what I preach!
1. How to Draw Planes
I like to create a new layer above my image before entering Vanishing Point so I clone or paste or edit up on a new layer instead of my original image. Create a new layer and then go Filter>Vanishing Point. The active tool will be the Create Plane Tool. We’re going to follow the lines along the edges of the alley to establish a perspective plane that runs along this alley. Find the straight lines in your image and follow them, it makes things much easier!
2. Extend Vanishing Point Plane
You are able to “break out” new planes from your initial plane and create additional planes along the same perspective as your first plane by holding down your Cmd/Ctrl key and hovering over any of the middle anchor points and simply pulling a new plane out and dragging it as large as you like.
3. Change Angle of Grid
If the perspective plane your drag out doesn’t quite line up like you think it should in your image, simply change the “Angle” option up in the top toolbar until it looks right. TIP: You have to select just the one plane you want to work with. This option will be grayed out if you select more than one plane.
4. Clone Stamp in Perspective
We can clone in perspective by grabbing the Clone Stamp tool in this dialog box and Alt/Opt clicking where we wish to clone from and then simply painting over the object we’re looking to clone away. I cloned away the hanging plant and covered it with a perfectly lined up (and in perspective) brick pattern. TIPS: Harder brush edges usually work really well for this type of clone, turning Healing ON can also be helpful to get a nice edge and ticking on “Align” will help keep your clone source moving along as you clone.
5. Paste Graphics in Perspective
We can also copy graphics from a different document (Cmd/Ctrl + C) and paste them inside of the Vanishing Point dialog box (Cmd/Ctrl + V) and then drag them into any plane we want to lay them into. TIP: Use the Transform tool to resize or rotate the graphic(s) to make them look just right. BONUS TIP: I set that layer to “Soft Light” to help blend it into the brick a little bit.
6. Render Grids
Grids look cool. Sometimes you may love the way the grids look so much that you want them in your next graphic project. Click on the little menu drop down up in the top left corner of this dialog box and choose “Render Grids to Photoshop”. Hit OK and I had a new layer that I had created before I entered the dialog box for Vanishing Point so these grids are up on their own layer where I can change their color, or do anything I like to them!
7. More, More, More!
Watch the video up at the top to learn so much more about working with planes, selections, multiple planes, exporting for 3D, duplicating or healing away single objects in perspective and much more!
Leave a Reply