Circular Text: Using Vector Mask

Next Select the ‘Ellipse Tool (U)’ from the Tool Bar and (Hold ‘Shift’ key) drag a circle onto your document.(Foreground color of your choice).

Then position that new Circle Shape layer to the centre of your document.

(Follow the TIP in step 1 to find the exact centre.)

Next, Select the ‘Type Tool (T)’ from the Tool Bar and type the necessary words you want to add to the circle.

This should be on its own layer.

Next, with the text layer selected in the ‘Layers Palette’, go to ‘Layer/Type/Convert to Shape’ menu command.

This will break up the text into individual letter shapes.

An alternative & tedious to this step is to create individual letter text layers.

The advantage of doing it this way is only a single layer is used for all of the individual text shapes.
The disadvantage is that the text is no longer editable. (As I have captured below)

Next, Ctrl/Command + Click on the Ellipse Shape layer you drew earlier and drag and additional Guide to lock to the very top of the the Shape.

Then, select the ‘Path Select Tool (A)’ from the Toolbar. Click on the first letter (In this case ‘T’) and position it at upper most Horizonatal Guide and to the center of the Vertical Guide.

Here’s the crunch of this tutorial.
With the ‘Path Select Tool (A)’ still active on the Tool Bar, Right Click/Control Click on the ‘T’ letter shape and from the list choose ‘Free Transform Path’.

I’ve zoomed in to show you what’s important here.
Besides the end anchor points, theres a center/focal point (circled in red & looks like a ‘Cross Hair’ symbol) which allows positioning of paths in relation to other objects.

TIP Right Click/Control Click again, and you will see the Transform options available.

Next, (Hold the ‘Shift’ key) click & drag that center/focal anchor to the the exact center of your document as I have captured.

Still in Free transform Mode, go up to the ‘T’ shape and move your cursor just around the parameters of the bounding anchor points until you see the ‘Rotate’ arrows as I have captured to the right.
Alternatively, Right Click/Control Click on the ‘T’ shape and choose ‘Rotate’.

Then to complete the rotation drag downward in the direction of my red arrow as I have captured to the right.

Then start with the next letter, and repeat process from steps 6 to 10 to get all the letters on the curve.

Ok, so your first attempt is never gonna be perfect. As you can see, the whole phrase is not centered.

Do I have to start all over again? No!

We will apply the same trick to the whole phrase.
To do so, make sure the text shape layer is selected in the ‘Layers Palette’ and the ‘Path Seletion Tool (A)’ is active on the Tool Bar.

A. Start to click & drag (roughtly where I have the red dot) and end it until all the shape letters are inside the ‘Path Selection’ bounding area.
B. Now all the letters are selected.

Next, Right Click/Control Click anywhere along the selected shape path letters, and from the drop dow choose, ‘Free Transform Path’.

Drag the centre anchor (as I have circled in red) to the center of your document.

Then position your cursor around the bounding transform anchors til you see the ‘Rotate’ arrows (or Right Click/Control Click and choose ‘Rotate’ from the drop list options) and adjust the whole phrase to a centered postion that you are most comfortable with.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial.