406
1
A pop-up menu
on the left of
the Options bar sets
whether you draw a
Shape, a path or pixels.
On the right is a typical
Shape.
4
Both Fill (the interior of the shape)
and Stroke (the border) can now
have color, gradient or patterns applied
to them, using the buttons at the top
of the panel that pops up when you
choose Fill or Stroke in the Options bar.
The leftmost icon at the top of this
panel is None – especially useful when
you want to apply a stroke to a shape
without having it filled.
Fill and Stroke can be changed at any
time, like Layer Effects, making it easy to
experiment with different settings to see
which works best in your artwork.
2
Choosing Path
creates a Pen
path, which can
then be turned into
a selection. It will be
unfilled, as it isn’t a
Shape layer.
3
Choosing Pixels
paints the
selected shape directly
onto the current layer.
It can then be edited
using the Brush or
Eraser tools, but is no
longer an editable
shape.
T
HE SHAPES TOOL
underwent a major
overhaul in Photoshop CS6, in
that it now creates true vector
layers – previously, it made
color fill layers with vector
clipping paths.
The difference is that we
can now have open-ended
strokes, and can apply colors,
gradients and textures to
those strokes; we can also use
dotted and dashed lines.
You can no longer select
the shape itself from the
Options bar: this now has to
be done from the tool pop-up.
Shapes layers are special
layers created with the Shapes
tool, and which are defined
by paths. These paths can
be edited with the Direct
Selection tool (
a) or with the
Pen tool, holding C L to
access the Direct Selection
tool temporarily.
Working with Shapes
Using the Options bar
Fill and stroke
Choose presets
for selected
shape only
Set the fill and stroke
color, gradient or pattern
Change the height or
width of the current
shape – click the chain to
make unproportional
Set how
multiple
shapes
interact
Choose options for
selected shape. These
vary depending on
the type of shape
Choose whether
to draw shape,
path or pixels
Set the
stroke
width
Set the
stroke
type
Set alignment of
multiple shapes
Change stacking order
Aligns vector
edges to the pixel
grid – useful for
web design
14
Advanced techniques
SHORTCUTS
MAC WIN BOTH
407
5
Click the horizontal line showing the stroke type on the Options bar to pop up
this dialog. Here you can choose a dotted or dashed stroke, and can set whether
the stroke aligns to the inside, outside or center of the path; and whether both the
ends and the corners are straight, chamfered or rounded.
6
Click the More Options button at the bottom of the
Stroke Options panel to open this dialog, which allows
you to set the spacing on dashed strokes. You’re allowed up to
three different dashes and gaps in one stroke.
7
Any of the modifier keys you use
with standard selection tools can
also be used with the Shapes tool.
So hold OA to subtract from
an existing shape, hold S to add to
the selection, and hold the Spacebar to
move the selection around while you’re
still drawing it.
You can see how the process works
in detail in the QuickTime movie on the
website with this book.
HOT TIP
The useful thing
about Shapes
layers is that they
can be scaled and
reshaped (with
the Pen tool) at
will, without any
pixel degradation.
That’s because
they’re PostScript
outlines, rather
than pixel-based
layers, which
means their fill
and stroke are
always based on
the Pen paths.
When drawing
multiple Shapes
on a single layer,
you can hold the
standard modifier
keys as used with
selection tools to
set whether they
add to, subtract
from or intersect
with existing
Shapes. See the
movie on the
website for more
on how this works.
Manipulating shapes
y
t
How to Cheat in Photoshop CC
..................Content has been hidden....................
You can't read the all page of ebook, please click here login for view all page.