In this Photoshop tutorial, I will demonstrate one of the powerful tools you can use for object distortion – the Puppet Warp Tool.
I will demonstrate the feature by manipulating the posture of this dancing girl image. Here is the before & after effect – In the “Before” photo, the back of the girl has more bent than the “After” photo:
Before 
After
Please note that I have pre-cut the model and placed her on a seperate layer for this tutorial:
What is Puppet Warp Tool
You can probably guess from the name of the tool – we can use it to warp any object like a puppet :)
According to Adobe:
“Puppet Warp provides a visual mesh that lets you drastically distort specific image areas, while leaving other areas intact. Applications range from subtle image retouching (such as shaping hair) to total transformations (such as repositioning arms or legs).”
In Addition to the above definition, it’s also mentioned that Puppet Warp can be apply to layer & vector masks, as well as smart objects, making it a perfect tool for non-destructive editing.
In the next section, We will go through the settings of puppet warp tool.
Where to Find the Puppet Warp Tool
You can find the Puppet Warp tool under Edit > Puppet Warp:
The Puppet Warp Tool Settings
You will see the following settings once you select the Puppet Warp Tool:
Mode
- Rigid: more rigid warping
- Normal: default rigidity
- Distort: Better for correcting distortion
Each of these mode has unique application and it’s best that you experiment with your object to find the one best suits your purpose.
Density
The Puppet Warp Tool has 3 Density settings:
- Fewer points
- Normal
- More points
These settings control the amount of mesh you can have on the object, as shown below in the screenshots:
Expansion
The Expansion setting defines how well the mesh tights the object. For this tutorial, my expansion setting is 0.
Pin Depth
You can set the depth of Pins via this setting. This is very useful when you need to warp the arms or legs of the model.
Rotate
You can set the rotation the pins to either “auto” or “fixed”.
How to Set Pins
In this tutorial, I would like to reduce of the bent of this dancer’s back. So I applied a series of pins from neck down to the waist of the model:
Once you set the pins, all you need to do is the click & drag the pin to manipulate the shape of the model.
You also have the option to click on one of the pins, and hold down the “Alt” key, and you will be able to rotate the model based on the pin you clicked.
Conclusion
The Puppet Warp tool is a very useful tool when it comes object manipulation & distortion. It allows us to non-destructively edit an object. Using your creativity, you can maximise this tool’s feature to make some very unique artworks.
That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you find it useful and learn a thing or two. Till next time, have a great day!