Free Transform and Warp in Photoshop

Here are several shortcuts and tips for transforming and warping layers in Photoshop:

Fill With Background Color —While you can select the Background and choose to Select > All and then Edit > Free Transform, if you transform the content smaller than the document size, the surrounding areas will be filled with the background color. To create transparency in the surrounding area, first convert the Background into a layer by clicking the lock icon on the Layers panel and then choose Edit > Free Transform.

Show Transform Controls — To display the transformation handles at all times, select the Move tool and enable “Show Transform Controls” in the Options bar. Photoshop displays a bounding box around the selected layer(s). Not only does this reveal which layers are selected, but can also be used to quickly transform an object without having to select the Free Transform command (by dragging the anchor points on the bounding box). If the “Show Transform Controls are too distracting, disable them and use Command + T (Mac) | Control + T (Win) to quickly display the free transform bounding box (or choose Edit > Free Transform). 

Constrain Aspect Ratio — While in Free Transform, clicking the Link icon (in the Options bar) will toggle the “constrain aspect ratio” option on/off.

The state of the icon is sticky – once it’s set, it will stay that way until it’s clicked again. This means that, regardless of the contents of the layer (pixels, type, shape, etc.), transform will behave consistently. Holding the Shift key while transforming will temporarily toggle the opposite behavior. Note: if you enabled the general preference “Use Legacy Transform” in Photoshop 2019 (v20), and you carried your preferences forward, be sure to disable the preference to take advantage of the new behavior. This video (How to Complete Free Transformations Using Photoshop) demonstrates this behavior.

Shortcuts for Free Transform — When using Free Transform:

• Command + T (Mac) | Control + T (Win) displays the Free Transform bounding box. 
• Position the cursor outside of the transformation handles (the cursor becomes a double headed arrow), and drag to rotate. Add the Shift key to snap to 15 degree increments.
• Option -drag (Mac) | Alt –drag (Win) an anchor point to transform from the center. 
• Command  (Mac) | Control  (Win) -drag a corner anchor point to freely distort the image.
• Command + Shift  (Mac) | Control  + Shift (Win) -drag a center anchor point to skew the image.
• Command + Option + Shift (Mac) | Control + Alt + Shift (Win) -drag a corner anchor point to change the perspective of an image.
• Or, instead of memorizing each individual shortcut, Control -click (Mac) | Right -click (Win) within the transformation bounding box and choose a transform option from the context sensitive menu. 
• Command + Z or Control +Z will undo the last transformation.
• To apply the transformation, tap the Return (Mac) | Enter (Win) key, click in the preview area outside the transformation handles, or select another tool. To cancel a transformation, tap the Escape key. 
• When using Free Transform, the “Reference Point” can be changed to determine the location around which transformations occur. By default, the reference point is hidden to prevent accidental repositioning.
• To display the Reference Point (while in Free Transform), check the empty well to the left of the Reference Point icon  in the options bar (or, choose Edit > Preferences > Tools > “Show Reference Point when using Transform”). 
• To reposition the Reference Point, drag the center point freely within the image area, click on one of the nine reference point locations in the Options bar, or set the position numerically (also using the Options bar). 

Transform Again — Command + Shift + T (Mac) | Control  + Shift + T (Win) transforms the layer(s) again by applying the last used transformation settings. 

• Command + Option + Shift + T (Mac) | Control + Alt + Shift + T (Win) will create a copy of a layer and apply the last used transformation settings.
• Command + Shift + T (Mac) | Control  + Shift + T (Win) to transforms a layer using the previous transformation settings but without making a copy (this is the same as Edit > Transform > Again). Note: this shortcut does not work with multiple layers selected.

The Properties Panel — Depending on the content of the layer, the Properties panel may display options to transform images (rotate, flip, reset, etc.).

Zooming While Transforming— Command (Mac) / Control (Win) “+” (plus) to zoom in, Command (Mac) / Control (Win) “-” (minus) to zoom out when using Free Transform. Or, you can quickly zoom to a specific point using via the Navigator panel. 

Transformation Handles —When applying Free Transform on layers that contain information which extends beyond the canvas, the transformation handles may not be visible depending on the zoom level. Use the shortcut Command + 0 (zero) (Mac) | Control + 0 (zero) (Win) to zoom the document and “fits” the transformation handles on screen. 

Layer Options while Transforming — Use the options on the Layers panel to change Layer Opacity, Fill, and Blend Modes while in Free Transform.

Transforming Layers with Masks — Be default, Photoshop transforms layer and their masks. To Transform a layer without transforming it’s layer mask, unlink them on the Layers panel.

Resampling Options — To have the Free Transform command automatically choose the best resampling method based on the transformation made, in the Options bar, set Interpolation to Bicubic Automatic. If the layer(s) is scaled larger,  Photoshop will use Bicubic Smoother, if the layer(s) is scaled smaller, it will use Bicubic Sharper. To override this setting, you can change the default option for resampling (throughout the application) under Preferences > General > Image Interpolation.

Show Transformation Values — When dragging the transformation handles, the transformation values appear at the top right of your cursor. This display can be controlled via Preferences > Tools > Show Transformation Values (Never, Top Left, Top Right, Bottom Left, Bottom Right). 

Nondestructive Transformations — To make transformations more flexible (nondestructive), convert the layer(s) to Smart Objects before transforming. Smart Objects enable multiple transformations to a layer(s) to be calculated at one time, not as each transformation is made (so that if you transform a layer smaller, then transform it larger, the Smart Object retains all of the original information unlike a regular (pixel based) layer which would discard information when transformed smaller and then make up information when transformed larger).  

Transform Warp Options — This video (New Transform Capabilities in Photoshop’s Warp Tool) demonstrates how to use the Warp options in Free Transform to warp images. Note: some of the shortcuts that I used in the video were updated in the Aug 2021 release of Photoshop and are as follows:

• To quickly add additional split lines in a warp without returning to the menu bar either Command -click (Mac) | Control -click (Win) anywhere the warp mesh to split the warp crosswise at that location or, Command -click (Mac) | Control -click (Win) near the edge of an existing horizontal or vertical grid line and click to split the warp vertically/horizontally at that location.
• Use the Grid drop-down menu and select a pre-defined warp grid (3×3, 4×4 or 5×5) or enter a custom value (up to 50).
• Shift -click to select multiple anchor points (or Shift -drag to multi-select points).  Shift -click an active anchor point to deselect.
• With multiple anchor points selected, click -dragging:
  • Near the corners of the rectangle uniformly scales the selected anchors.
  • Outside the corners of the rectangle rotates the anchors.
  • Near the center edges of the rectangle scales the anchors in one direction.
  • Inside the rectangle repositions the anchors.
  • Command + Z (Mac) | Control + Z (Win) to undo individual steps of editing a warp or transform.
• Bezier control  points can now be moved independently of one another. Option -click (Mac) | Alt -click (Win) to toggle between moving in unison or moving independently (or, right-click (or control -click Mac) on an anchor point and choose “Convert Warp Anchor Point” from the context sensitive menu). Shift -click to select multiple anchor points and change the state for all selected points.  Note: the icon for the Bezier control point is a circle when when all handles move in unison and a square when moving independently. By default:
  • Corner points are set to independent movement.
  • Edge anchor points are set to unison movement of the vertical/horizontal pair.
  • Interior/inner anchor points are set to unison movement for each handle.
• To quickly add additional split lines in a warp without returning to the menu bar:
  • Command -click (Mac) | Control -click (Win) anywhere the warp mesh to split the warp crosswise at that location.
  • Command -click (Mac) | Control -click (Win) near the edge of an existing horizontal or vertical grid line and click to split the warp vertically/horizontally at that location.
• Click the gear icon in the Options bar to customize the color and opacity of warp guidelines making  warp handles and lines easier to see against the color of your image. You can also tailor other settings such as when (auto/always/never) and how many (density) warp guides to display.
• If a split line is selected, pressing Delete removes the split line. Note: If an anchor point is selected and you press delete, both the horizontal and vertical lines passing through the anchor point are removed.
• When in Free Transform, if you want to toggle to Warp mode, you need to click the Warp icon in the Options bar. However, while in Warp mode, Command +T (Mac) | Control + T (Win) toggles from Warp to Free Transform mode.
• In order to warp multiple layers as if they are “merged together”, first convert them to a Smart Object, then choose Edit > Transform to warp the Smart Object. Note: to make changes any of the individual layers, choose Layer > Smart Object > Edit Contents (or double click on the Smart Object Layer’s thumbnail in the Layers panel).
• Use the Cylindrical preset to transform flat work (including text) work onto a rounded cylindrical surface.The corner control points determine size and height. The center points (top and bottom) control position, and the very center point controls perspective. 

This video Transforming Video Over Time demonstrates how to use the Timeline in combination with Smart objects to transform layers nondestructively over time. Form more information check out the following post: Working with Video and Animation in the Timeline in Photoshop.

This post was most recently updated 8-2022

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