How to Use Split Warp in Photoshop 2020

How to Use Split Warp in Photoshop 2020

Split Warp gives the classic Warp tool something it never had before: the ability to isolate exactly which part of an image gets transformed while leaving the rest completely untouched. Two real examples — adjusting a shark’s tail, and spreading out a dress in a portrait and then fixing the arm — show how much more control this adds over the traditional warp.

Getting Started: How Traditional Warp Falls Short

Before splitting anything, it helps to see the limitation Split Warp actually solves.

1. Try the Standard Warp Tool First

   Press Ctrl/Cmd + T, right-click, and choose Warp. Clicking and dragging moves parts of the image around, but the transformation affects the entire layer at once — there’s no way to isolate just one object, like a shark, without disturbing everything around it.

Splitting the Warp Grid to Isolate an Area

Split Warp solves that by letting you divide the warp grid into independent sections before you start dragging anything. Aaron calls it customizable warp in the video.

2. Add a Horizontal Split

   Enter Warp mode again and right-click: the menu now offers three splits, horizontally, vertically and crosswise. This time choose Split Horizontally. Place the split line above the area you want to isolate — for instance, just above a subject’s tail. Now, pulling one section down no longer affects the section on the other side of the split.

3. Add Vertical Splits to Box In the Area

   Right-click again and add a Split Vertically line on each side of the area you want to isolate. With horizontal and vertical splits framing that section, grabbing its corner only affects that boxed-in region — everything outside it stays exactly where it is.

Using Anchor Points to Fine-Tune Each Section

Each split creates small anchor points that can be dragged individually. Pushing the center of a split cell up pulls neighboring cells down slightly to accommodate the change, which is what lets an isolated area move naturally instead of stretching in an obviously artificial way. If a move isn’t helpful, undo it with Ctrl/Cmd + Z.

Refining Movement with Additional Splits

Adding more splits around the same isolated area unlocks finer control over exactly how it bends or moves.

4. Split Again for More Precise Movement

   Right-click and split vertically once more, this time through the center of the area you’re animating — the middle of a tail, for example. Pushing this new section in different directions lets that specific part move while cells further out stay anchored in place.

5. Combine Horizontal and Vertical Splits for Complex Motion

   Add another horizontal split and nudge it to introduce a slight curve or swaying motion. Combining multiple splits like this is what makes it possible to give something like a tail the impression of movement without distorting the rest of the image.

Hiding the Warp Grid to Check Your Work

Press Ctrl/Cmd + H to temporarily hide the warp mesh and anchor points so you can see the actual result without the grid lines in the way. Pressing it again brings the grid back. The first time you do this, Photoshop may ask whether to hide Photoshop or hide extras — choose Hide Extras.

Using Split Warp to Spread Out a Dress

The second example applies Split Warp to a more common real-world problem: making a piece of clothing look like it’s spreading out further, without dragging the rest of the subject along with it.

6. Unlock the Background Layer

   If the layer is locked, double-click it to convert it into a regular layer first — Free Transform (Ctrl/Cmd + T) is not available on a locked Background layer.

7. Warp First, Then Split

   Enter Warp mode with Ctrl/Cmd + T, right-click to choose Warp, then split the grid horizontally. Place a split point where you don’t want any movement to occur — for example at about waist level, so the top half of the photo stays completely still while the lower half of the dress moves. If the top still shifts as you work, add a second horizontal split; the area between the two can then move a little while the top stays put.

Isolating and Removing Splits as Needed

Add a vertical split, move its point over, and pull the corner of the image out to spread the dress. If something gets dragged along, split there too: Aaron adds another vertical split by the chain link and pulls that part back in. Then, to take out a split you no longer need, right-click it and choose Remove Warp Split and finish adjusting the points.

Isolating a Single Limb Without Affecting the Face

The same approach fixes a stretched arm that resulted from the earlier warp, using splits placed carefully to protect nearby detail.

8. Box In the Arm with Multiple Splits

   Split the grid vertically once, then horizontally twice, and vertically again around just the arm — keeping a split boundary between the arm and the face so pulling the arm inward doesn’t distort the face at all.

Why This Approach Works

What makes Split Warp meaningfully different from the traditional Warp tool isn’t a new distortion algorithm — it’s isolation. Traditional Warp treats the whole layer as one connected surface, so any pull ripples across the entire image. Splitting the grid into independent cells breaks that surface into sections that can move on their own, which is exactly what makes it possible to animate a tail without disturbing a background, or stretch a dress without dragging along a subject’s face. For a deeper look at another Photoshop transform tool built around similarly precise, localized control, this guide to getting the most out of the Liquify tool covers a lot of the same isolate-and-adjust thinking applied to a different kind of distortion.

Final Thoughts

Both examples here come down to the same core habit: warp first, then split, then decide exactly which cells should move and which should stay locked in place. That’s the difference between a warp that ripples unpredictably across an entire photo and one that targets precisely the detail that needs adjusting. It’s a skill worth practicing on low-stakes images before relying on it inside a real composite, and it pairs naturally with other precise transform techniques, like the object rotation and placement covered in this guide to rotating and compositing objects the right way.

Quick Reference: Keys, Menus and Settings

• WarpCmd/Ctrl + T, right-click > Warp; Esc cancels
• Split the gridRight-click again > Split Warp Horizontally, Vertically or Crosswise
• Undo a moveCmd/Ctrl + Z
• Hide the gridCmd/Ctrl + H; choose Hide Extras the first time
• Unlock the layerDouble-click the locked Background layer
• Remove a splitRight-click the split > Remove Warp Split

No AI, no generative credits.