The Bézier Game aims to improve Photoshop users’ skills with the pen tool, a notoriously difficult implement to master for photo editors.
The game is on the website Method of Action, and it’s a free tool designed to help Photoshop and Illustrator users to understand how the bézier curve works.
Many Adobe program users will have been baffled by the pen tool and how it is able to accurately cut out objects from images. The tool seems to have a mind of it own, and this is where The Bézier Game can help.
The game produces a series of shapes that users must select while using the pen tool. The early levels outline the best way to approach each design and what other controls, such as alt and shift, are needed to successfully select the object.
The game starts out with tutorials to get users familiar with the tool and understand how to play the game. Once the walkthroughs have been mastered, players will find themselves facing much tougher objects to select, such as a car, a spanner, and a paperclip.
The game also tells users how many nodes, or anchor points, should be used to complete the level.
The Bézier Game was created by Mark MacKay, who has also created other games to help designers understand and master Adobe tools. MacKay’s other games include The Boolean Game, designed to practice boolean vector operations, ShapeType, which allows users to practice shaping letters, Color, to help practice color harmonies, and KernType, to help designers with their letter spacing.
MacKay also offers Method Draw, which is a “simple and easy vector editor for the web.” No registration is required and it’s open source, the code can be found on GitHub.
What is Bézier?
The Bézier Game refers to the Bézier curve, a parametric curve used in computer graphics and programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator. A set of discrete “control points” defines a smooth, continuous curve by means of a formula. The Bézier curve is named after French engineer, Pierre Bézier, who used it in the 1960s for designing curves for the bodywork of Renault cars.
Image credits: All photos by Mack MacKay.
Author: Matt Growcoot
Source: Petapixel
