In this Photoshop tutorial, we're going to learn how to create a Photoshop text wrap effect by faking the text wrap feature.
Photoshop Text Wrap: The original image.
We are going to add some text to the image above, and wrap the text around the path. Photoshop doesn't come with an official "text wrap" option, so we need to use the paths and use it as a container for text.
Step 1: Select the Rectangle Tool
First of all we need to make a path, since we are going to use the path as a container for the text. Use the Rectangle Tool to make a rectangular path, which is the basic shape of the text container. Choose the Rectangle Tool from the Tools palette:
Photoshop Text Wrap: Select the Rectangle Tool (U).
Step 2: Choose the "Paths" Option
Photoshop gives us three ways to use the Rectangle Tool, along with its other shape tools. We can use them to draw vector shapes, simple paths, and pixel-based shapes. You can pick between these three options by clicking on their corresponding icon up in the Options Bar at the top of the screen. Select the Rectangle Tool and Click on the Paths icon in the Options Bar in the middle of the three (the one on the left is the vector shapes option and the one on the right is for drawing pixel-based shapes):
Photoshop Text Wrap: With the Rectangle Tool selected, click on the "Paths" icon up in the Options Bar.
Step 3: Drag Out a Rectangular-Shaped Path
Drag out a rectangular-shaped path. This path will become the container for the text:
Currently, the path is running straight through the baseball. We want ithe text to wrap around the right side of the baseball, not flow over the top of it. So we need to reshape the path.
Step 4: Select the Ellipse Tool
To reshape the path you can use the Ellipse Tool. Select the Ellipse Tool hiding behind the Rectangle Tool in the Tools palette by holding the mouse button for a second or two. Then choose the Ellipse Tool from the fly out menu that appears:
Step 5: Set the Ellipse Tool to "Subtract" Mode
In the Options Bar, you'll see a group of four icons. These four icons represent four options that determine how the path is going to behave. The one we want is the second one which is the Subtract from path area icon. Click on it for selecting it:
With this option selected, drag out an elliptical path around the baseball. Look closely at the cursor and you can see a small minus sign ("-") in the bottom right corner of it. It lets you know that you the "Subtract from path area" option selected:
Another way to access the "Subtract" mode is by holding the Alt (Win) / Option key before you begin to drag out the path, Drag out a path around the baseball. To reposition the path while dragging, hold down the Spacebar and move the path around on the screen with the mouse to reposition it, then release the Spacebar and continue dragging out the path.
There are two separate paths in the image - a rectangular one and an elliptical one. But the only active path is the original rectangular one. The elliptical path is now subtracting part of the rectangular path around the baseball. To make it easier to see, fill in the remaining active path area. This is the area where the text will appear. Notice how the rectangular path wraps nicely around the baseball:
Step 6: Add the Text
Choose the Type tool (T) from the Tools palette:
With the Type Tool selected, go to the Options Bar at the top of the screen and select the font, font size and text colour. Here I have used Times New Roman Bold set to a size of 16pt, with the text colour white:
To use the path, move the cursor anywhere inside the active path area. Now the Type Tool cursor shows a dotted elliptical outline which tells me that I'm about to add my text inside the path. Click here and start typing:
To add the text to the image, click inside the path and then use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+V (Win) / Command+V (Mac) to paste the text inside the path. You can see that not only does the text stay inside the path, it also wraps nicely around the baseball:
To accept the text and exit out of text editing mode, click the checkmark up in the Options Bar:
Finally, to hide the path, click on the Background layer in the Layers palette:
This is the final result:
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