Member Avatar for ingrammusic

I have an image of a straight vertical line that has a glow on one side of it. I want to make the line do a 90 degree curve. How do I do this in photoshop? I was thinking that I need to wrap the image around a path or something, but I don't know how.

Thanks

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Short answer: for a simple 90-degree bend a quick warp is fine, but for wrapping a rectangular photo around a spherical or highly uneven object a different approach produces much better results. @rajarajan2017's tip to use Edit > Transform > Warp is the fastest fix for a single curved line. was right that Illustrator's "type on path" is for text — however Illustrator can bend raster art too, and often more cleanly than a brute-force Photoshop warp.

Illustrator method (best for path-following shapes)

  • Draw the guide path, place the raster image, select both and use Object > Envelope Distort > Make with Mesh or Make with Top Object.
  • Make with Mesh gives a grid of control points to compress one edge while stretching another (useful for labels, arcs, and bottles). This keeps edges crisp for line art and glows.

Photoshop method (best for photographic wraps like an "earth" effect)

  • Work non-destructively: convert the layer to a Smart Object first.
  • For simple globe-like curvature try Filter > Distort > Spherize or Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates.
  • For realistic compress/stretch, create a greyscale displacement map that encodes how much vertical compression is needed (save as a PSD), then use Filter > Distort > Displace with small scale values and tweak until the photo "hugs" the surface. Puppet Warp can help refine local bends.

Practical tips

  • Keep high resolution to avoid pixelation, and add a subtle shading layer (soft multiply gradient) to sell the curvature.
  • For a glowing vertical line, start with Warp or Puppet Warp; for a full photographic wrap around a sphere, use displacement or a true 3D texture mapping workflow for the cleanest, most realistic result.

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Member Avatar for Member #334542

Hi,

In photoshop we have an easy method to do it, but you have to try more to get your shape you want!

1. Import your vertical line image into photoshop
2. Be sure that you are selected your layer
3. Edit ->Transform -> Warp

You will get some nodes and grids, you can move the nodes to get your shape.

Hope it helps!

Member Avatar for ingrammusic

Thank you, that does help me very much. However, I'm sure there is a better tool for this type of manipulation.

For instance, pretend I have a picture of a somewhat lumpy oval shaped earth. The view is from outer space. Let's say I want to take a photo of my family and have it wrap all the way around the earth. If the bottom of the photo was the part that bordered the earth, then the effect would be the bottom of the picture would be smashed together and the top of the picture would be stretched out. The warp function would not help out much in a situation like this, but I'm sure Photoshop has a tool that will do this. I'm just not sure what it is.

Thanks

Member Avatar for Member #334542

Check this link

Member Avatar for HI2Japan

Illustrator has a type on path feature in which you can draw a shape then click on the type on path tool, click on the path and start typing. I have not heard of doing that with images though.

Member Avatar for ingrammusic

That is the exact feature I am looking for. The same thing as typing text along a path, except have an image go along the path. If this is not a feature, does anybody now how to do something like this?

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