Make a Linear Spiral Text Design in Photoshop CC

In this video, I will show how to make a linear spiral - sometimes known as an Archimedian spiral. We will first make the spiral with lines. Then we will create a path from the spiral and put the text of the Gettysburg address on the path. We will then apply a background picture of Gettysburg. Techniques used in this video should also work in Photoshop CS6.
This video was made for instructional and educational purposes. In it I teach people how to use Adobe Photoshop to make interesting graphic. No copyrighted materials were used
The Gettysburg picture is "Gettysburg 2009 Cannon" by J. Todd Poling you can view or download it at www.flickr.com/photos/bigdog3c... and is used based on its Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
Music attribution: "Payday" from KZbin royalty free audio library.

[@angellopez5786]

Thx man, 10 years later and still helping people

[@jayprayag]

Clear and precise explanation. A treat to watch and learn. Very nice tutorial. Thanks for the post.

[@MagicalFruitTuts]

Thank you I appreciate it!

[@darkcloud4445]

thank you! this is what I've been looking for!

[@GardeningForProfit]

That was a really great tutorial. Nice and clear, no fluff. As the last comment stated "a treat to watch and learn". I was looking for something like this but for a long slim image. I'll see if that works as well as text.

[@MagicalFruitTuts]

thanks

[@sharpspike06]

Really clear, and awesome tut

[@jjcm3135]

excellent teaching video, thanks.

[@CanadianWoodworks]

Thank you, this was very well done.

[@amanazar2597]

Very good tutorial. Thx

[@naohen]

Thank you! So helpful :)

[@samtayyy]

Really cool, thanks for the tutorial!

[@MagicalFruitTuts]

Thanks a lot that really makes my day to hear!

[@ginoNY0]

Thank you very much. This is really helpful.

[@MagicalFruitTuts]

Your welcome

[@TimHollingworth]

Wow that was impressive. Although I was trying to find the best way to draw a spring or coil in photoshop. This was very useful, thanks. UPDATE: I completed the spiralling text with your expert help. There were a few tricky steps but I made it! Thank you.

[@MagicalFruitTuts]

Glad you liked it.

[@denidolan3438]

Thank you great tut.

[@MagicalFruitTuts]

Thanks it means a great deal!

[@davidvelardevelasco2471]

Hi, first of all congratulations for a great tutorial video! Just have a problem, when I paste my text the text bounding box dissappears and when I paste it in the spiral only the beginning words appear, all the rest of the spiral is empty. Can you help me? Thanks!

[@TheGavinDoyle]

Thank you!!!!!

[@aidanroberts7130]

I love this video and it is exactly what I need for a project I'm doing at school, but I seem to be hitting a snag when I'm making my ellipses. When you use your Ellipse Tool, I see a thin circle and 4 evenly spaced black "dots" or "squares". When I use my Ellipse Tool, I just get the thin circle. I notice when you click the escape button twice after doing the "stroke path" that two things disappear from within your circle, whereas when I click the escape button the first time, my thin black circle goes away, and the second time, nothing else happens. I think this problem is causing my issues in steps further down the line, because I have the same issues as the commenter, Anne Savage, below me with only the outer ring appearing. Thank you.

[@aidanroberts7130]

At 5:00 when you start using your right arrow keys to align the rings one ring to the right, I never get marching ants around my rings!

[@amanazar2597]

Thank you useful

[@MagicalFruitTuts]

Your Welcome

[@halldaniel5143]

when i place my text cursor the flashing line wont show and I cannot type. Please help!

[@itkursus1]

Thank you! It worked but now I have encountered another problem immediately after, when I go to select the button under Paths, "make path from selection" - I am not allowed to select any of the buttons below. It is Odd because, earlier ( but only With the outer ring showing) I was able to do it. Thank you so much for your time!!!

[@MagicalFruitTuts]

+Anne Savage Thanks for your comment. First make sure the spiral is selected and no paths are active. On the upper right of the paths panel click the dropdown menu. Then choose "Make Work Path". If Make Work Path is greyed out, you must not have a selection made. I found a short video that shows how: Adobe Photoshop cs6 tutorial: Converting selections to Paths kzbin.info/www/bejne/oaaTl3uZe697kLs Make a test document. Select anything, and while it is still selected (Marching ants around) open up a paths panel (Menu-Windows-Paths) then follow the steps in the short video I linked.

[@alexisbouckaert3092]

Hi, thanks for the video. Unfortunately, the "make work path from selection" (@ 6 minutes in your video) option is not available for click (PS cs6) so I am blocked. I've followed every instruction perfectly till that point. Any idea? Thanks

[@MagicalFruitTuts]

Thanks for your comment. First make sure the spiral is selected and no paths are active. On the upper right of the paths panel click the drop-down menu. Then choose "Make Work Path". If Make Work Path is greyed out, you must not have a selection made. I found a short video that shows how in CS6: How to Convert a Selection to a Path in Adobe Photoshop Make a test image. Select anything, and while it is still selected (Marching ants around) open up a paths panel (Menu-Windows-Paths) then follow the steps in the short video I linked.

[@itkursus1]

Very instructive and helpful but for some reason - and I follow your instructions in great detail - after merging all circles, something goes wrong but I can't work out what. The problem appears when I turn off the eye on the Cirles-layer. On your screen, the spiral still appears but on my screen only the outer ring appears. Do you have any idea why this happens? I have followed your instructions step-by-step but I still end up with the same result. And the text is beautifully place round the outer circle but no spiral....

[@MagicalFruitTuts]

+Anne Savage Thanks for your comment. One reason might be if you are creating sub-paths as you go. This would happen if you missed pressing Escape (or clicking on a blank area in the paths panel) after stroking each circle. You want the previous path to be inactive when you create another one. So, as you are working, if the option to stroke path does not appear but the option to stroke the sub-path does. It means you missed pressing escape to clear the previous path. Use Control-Alt-Z to go back and clear the previous path with an Escape.

[@aidanroberts7130]

+Anne Savage , were you ever able to get this to work?

[@aimanhakim9836]

I appreciate this tutorial but there were so many keyboard shortcuts that make your instructions quite a challenge to follow for me since I'm using a Mac

[@waqarkhan9049]

Hello it's great tutorial but i have a question how many circles i put in start so i get 13 lines of text?

[@MagicalFruitTuts]

Thanks for the comment. It all depends on your text string's length and the size of your font. After you place the text on the spiral, try adjusting the font size to expand or shrink its size as needed. You could also add or remove text to help it fit right. Also, change the text tracking to lengthen or shorten the text string size. Another alternative would be to add more or fewer spirals. Of course, if you increase the number of spirals you would have to decrease the font size in order to make the text fit inside the smaller spiral.

[@RyanHeflin]

how come i only can get the texted pasted on the outside circle...where do you think i went wrong?

[@MagicalFruitTuts]

Thanks for the comment. You probably have the Outer Path active. You should have the spiral path active. Check your paths panel.

[@ralphundrobin]

well i ve got another problem.. in the step where i have to press the button under the outerpath down, which is "make work path from selection" it's disabled. i just cannot pressit. can you understand why is that??

[@MagicalFruitTuts]

Thanks for your comment. First make sure the spiral is selected and no paths are active. On the upper right of the paths panel click the dropdown menu. Then choose "Make Work Path". If Make Work Path is greyed out, you must not have a selection made. I found a short video that shows how: Adobe Photoshop cs6 tutorial: Converting selections to Paths kzbin.info/www/bejne/oaaTl3uZe697kLs

[@alowtlf]

This is a very good video. However, in CS6, it will not allow me to create work path from selection when the spiral has been completed.

[@MagicalFruitTuts]

Thanks for your comment. First make sure the spiral is selected and no paths are active. On the upper right of the paths panel click the dropdown menu. Then choose "Make Work Path". If Make Work Path is greyed out, you must not have a selection made. I found a short video that shows how: Adobe Photoshop cs6 tutorial: Converting selections to Paths kzbin.info/www/bejne/oaaTl3uZe697kLs Make a test document. Select anything, and while it is still selected (Marching ants around) open up a paths panel (Menu-Windows-Paths) then follow the steps in the short video I linked. I personally don't have CS6, but it seems from the video I have referenced and many other CS6 tutorials, that you can make a selection from a path in CS6. So there must be another problem. If anyone else with CS6 has successfully completed the tutorial using CS6, please let me know.

[@alexcurry8646]

When going to paste my text it does not paste in a spiral. I get the first letter on top of the second letter and that is all I can see. In the layers box it shows all my text being there, but it doesn't appear on the screen. Where am I going wrong?

[@alexcurry8646]

Alex Curry Got it! When I was making the path selection I wa using pencil and not brush.

[@jeannerian5609]

I did every step, but my text is only on the outside circle. Help?

[@BSchuul]

Im having a bigass trouble, everytime I end up my first figure (the 19 circles each one inside of another one) and I continue to the step of renaming the Outer Path, instead of the outer path being the bigger circle, it lights up all of them... After that every other step doesnt work. I did one a couple of hours ago but I wanted more levels, and then... I cant make another one cause of that problem (also Im working the spiral with squares) please help.

[@BSchuul]

To be more clear, in the step of "Make selection" this thing selects more than one box...

[@MagicalFruitTuts]

Brandon Schulenburg Thanks for your comment. The only reason all your circles or squares "light up" would be if you are creating sub-paths as you go. This would happen if you missed pressing Escape (or clicking on a blank area in the paths panel) after stroking each circle. You want the previous path to be inactive when you create another one. So, as you are working, if the option to stroke path does not appear but the option to stroke the sub-path does. It means you missed pressing escape to clear the previous path. Use Control-Alt-Z to go back and clear the previous path with an Escape. It might help to keep an eye on the paths panel as you work on the rings.

[@mariamwissa4194]

Is this option only in Photoshop cc ?

[@MagicalFruitTuts]

Thanks for your comment. I believe that the spiral procedure will work in earlier versions of Photoshop. The problem is the lack of a properties box for the Elipse tool on earlier versions. This makes it a little more difficult to get the spacing between each circle segment exactly 100 pixels. A workaround for CS5 would be to first go into preferences, Guides, Grid & Slices and change the grid size to 100 pixels with 1 subdivision. Then go into the view menu, make sure show grid is selected, then place your horizontal and vertical guides. Also if you activate snap to grid this may also help. I'm pretty sure that in CS6 a small black box with Height and Width appears when you drag out with the ellipse tool. You can use that as a visual guide when dragging out the circle. I believe all Photoshop CS versions allow placing text on a path.

[@Ravenbones]

"stroke path" isn't an option in photoshop 13. Sadly..

[@MagicalFruitTuts]

Thanks for your comment. First make sure the spiral is selected and no paths are active. On the upper right of the paths panel click the dropdown menu. Then choose "Make Work Path". If Make Work Path is greyed out, you must not have a selection made. I found a short video that shows how: Adobe Photoshop cs6 tutorial: Converting selections to Paths kzbin.info/www/bejne/oaaTl3uZe697kLs Make a test document. Select anything, and while it is still selected (Marching ants around) open up a paths panel (Menu-Windows-Paths) then follow the steps in the short video I linked. I personally don't have CS6, but it seems from the video I have referenced and many other CS6 tutorials, that you can make a selection from a path in CS6. So there must be another problem. If anyone else with CS6 has successfully completed the tutorial using CS6, please let me know.

[@sharpspike06]

Really clear, and awesome tut

[@MagicalFruitTuts]

Thank you very much, it really does mean a lot!