Installing shapes in Photoshop. Free-form shapes in Photoshop: how to work with them

We talked about drawing in Photoshop using a pencil and brush. Freehand lines are great, but it often happens that you need to depict an even geometric figure. Rulers and compasses are a thing of the past, and now you can do this using simple tools editor.

To select one of them, click the Shapes icon on the tool palette.

Regardless of which group tool you select, the following items, common to all shapes, will appear in the Options Bar.

Select tool mode. Here you can choose one of three.

Figure. The value is set to the default, and it creates a vector geometric figure on a separate layer, that is, what you expect from the tool happens.
Circuit. The outline of the figure is drawn without filling.
Pixels. It creates not a vector, but a raster figure.

Filling. Allows you to customize the color and type (gradient, shading) of the drawn figure.
Stroke. Shape outline settings: thickness, type, color.
Width and height. They allow you to clarify the size of the figure when it is impermissible to do this “by eye”.

As always, create new document with a white background. The remaining parameters can be left as default or selected at your discretion.

Rectangle

Select the Rectangle shape and, to draw it, click on the canvas and then drag the pointer while holding down the mouse button. The point where you clicked will be the corner of the shape.

On the options bar, click the icon. The geometric settings window will open.

By default, the switch is set to Rectangle. If you set it to Square, then when drawing you will always get a shape with the same length of sides. A similar effect can be achieved without pressing the checkbox: to obtain a square while drawing a rectangle, just hold down Shift key.

If the parameters of your rectangle are known in advance, set the switch to Specified size and enter the required values in the fields. The figure will be completely drawn as soon as you click on the canvas with the mouse button.

After setting the switch to the Set proportions position, in the input fields that become available, you can specify the aspect ratio of the created figure.

The From Center checkbox allows you to draw a rectangle from the center, rather than from the outermost point.

Rectangle with rounded corners

Next item on the list geometric shapes. It is clear that it differs from the usual one in the rounding of the corners. Accordingly, the settings for this figure and the rectangle are almost identical. The fillet radius can be specified in the corresponding field in the options bar.

Ellipse

The parameters are the same as a rectangle, only instead of a square you can draw a circle. To do this, in the geometry settings window, check the Circle box or hold down the Shift key while drawing.

Polygon

With this tool you can draw a triangle, dodecahedron, icosahedron, star, or any shape that contains from three to one hundred sides. Their number can be set in the Party input field located on the parameters panel.

The geometric settings window is noticeably different from previous figures.

Radius. This field specifies the radius of the future polygon.
Smooth outer corners. If the checkbox is checked, then the corners are rounded; if not, the corners are sharp, as in a classic polygon.
Star. Check the box if you want to receive a star as output.
Depth of rays. This input field specifies how long the rays will be.
Smooth the inside corners. Check this box if you want the inside corners to be rounded, as shown in the image below.

Line

Use this tool to create truly straight lines - freehand is simply not practical. To achieve maximum accuracy, configure the geometric parameters in the appropriate window.

Start. If the checkbox is checked, instead of a line you will get an arrow that will be drawn at the location where you clicked the mouse button.
End. Select the checkbox to add an arrow to the end of the line.
Width. Indicated as a percentage relative to the thickness (it can be set in the parameters panel in the field of the same name).
Length. It is calculated in the same way as width - in relation to thickness, as a percentage.
Curvature. The value ranges from -50% to 50% and determines how much the widest part of the arrow will be curved. The figure shows arrows with curvatures of 0%, 30% and 50% (from top to bottom).

Free figure

In order not to create a separate tool for each of the dozens of remaining shapes, the developers have combined them here. All elements of the parameters panel are already familiar to you, except for the most important one - the Shape button, clicking on which opens the shape selection window.

If you click on the gear located on the right side of the window, a menu will open additional parameters, containing categories of shapes.

Thanks to the tools discussed, you can literally draw a huge number of shapes in just two clicks, which would take quite a long time to create manually.

Hello everyone, dear readers of the koskomp blog and my dear friends. Today I will tell you how to add shapes to Photoshop, how to use them and what they are for. And also at the end of the article we will draw a cute glass in vector style. Many people think that this tool is of no use, but I assure you that in web design this is almost the main function. Look at the design in my public page. It is literally built on figures. Therefore, you need to know this. In this case, the matter will not be limited simple drawing squares. Everything is much more interesting here.

Let's start with something simple, namely drawing. The group of instruments itself consists of six types:

Rectangle
Rectangle with rounded corners
Ellipse
Polygon
Line (more details)
Free figure

Each of these types has its own some features that differ from each other. Therefore, let's look at the beginning general principles styles.

To add a shape, you need to select it in the tool group, and while holding down left button The mouse begins to draw it, or rather select the area and size. The figure itself can be of any size and by default it will be drawn disproportionately. But if you hold down the key SHIFT, then it will be smooth on all sides, and thus the rectangle will be a square, and the ellipse will be a circle.

IN top menu we will see the properties panel, where we can set the fill of the shape itself, as well as the stroke color. If you don't want any colors, just a line, then select the No Fill and No Stroke colors. We can also set the thickness of this very stroke if we decide to choose a color.

In order to change the color of the drawn object, you can simply select the “Shape” tool again and replace it in the properties at the top, or double-click on the icon in the layers panel.

Using custom shapes in Photoshop

If everything is clear with all the above figures (take it and draw), then I would like to linger a little on the free version. To get started, select this tool.

There is no clear form here (hence the name), but there are many ready-made options. In order to consider them all, in the properties there is an element “Shape”, or rather, expand it. As you can see, we have different contours here with which we can draw an arrow, a heart, a prohibition sign and much more.

Let's try to add a custom shape in the form of a check mark to Photoshop. I'll give it a color, a stroke and draw it in a standard way, that is, holding down the left mouse button and pulling a little in the other direction. Don't forget to hold down the key Shift to maintain all proportions. This way you can draw cool non-standard objects. It is also noteworthy that no matter the size of the object we draw, it will always be even and smooth. All this is because the figure is initially a vector object. And vector objects do not consist of pixels, like a regular image, but are formed based on formulas.

How to install shapes in Photoshop

But the best part is that this set can be replenished, that is, arbitrary figures can be downloaded additionally, expanding your collection. This is completely easy to do. To do this, you just need to download these sets from any site, for example pixelbox. There is a very large collection with various sets. Let's say I download this wonderful set with skateboarders.

Now go to the “Downloads” folder or wherever your files are downloaded by default. Next, run the file that we downloaded. You don’t even have to unpack it; you can run it directly in the archive.

After this, Photoshop will open and new arbitrary elements will already appear in your collection. Take it and use it.

Shape capabilities

The figures themselves have very great possibilities. Initially, I thought that you could only draw squares and buttons with them, but I was very mistaken. Let's take a closer look.

Properties

It is worth considering that each figure has its own properties that can be changed to achieve the most interesting result. They are located in a separate window and are usually located somewhere in the layers panel area, but this is not necessary. If they are not activated for you, then do this by entering the main menu in “Window” - “Properties”. After that, you can draw any element and see what can be changed in it.

A rectangle and a rounded rectangle have the same set of properties. It mainly concerns the radius of corners. And if in the first case it is zero on all fronts, then in the second it is already established in advance. You can change this same radius, making the corners more rounded or vice versa, all at once or separately.

Let's just draw a rectangle for fun and set the radius to 35 in only two corners (top right and bottom left). Just before doing this, be sure to disable the connection of the angles by clicking on the paperclip icon between them, otherwise the values will change for everyone.

If you are using a stroke, you can change its location. That is, it can be outside the figure, inside it, or go along the center of the contour. You can select this by clicking on the corresponding icon.

Also, notice the gear icon. It gives additional properties to your shapes. For example, if you have a rectangle or ellipse activated, you can immediately set it to draw in equal proportions to get a square or circle, and you no longer have to hold down the key SHIFT.

If you are using a polygon, you can specify the number of sides, smoothing, or drawing a star. And in the case of drawing a line, you can specify that . Therefore, do not forget to use this function.

Cut and add

But it’s not enough to just add shapes to Photoshop; you need to learn how to use all their charms. By default, when you add a new object, it is created on a new layer. But if you don't want this, then "operations with contours" select item "Merge Shapes". Now you can create entire objects from several elements.

Many will ask, how can they be selected then if they are all on the same layer? The answer is simple: on the toolbar we have two cursors, one of which is responsible for selecting a path, and the other for selecting a node. It’s precisely with the help of selecting the outline (black cursor) that we can select only a specific shape on the layer.

In addition, we can cut out, or rather subtract a figure from another, without affecting the original one. To do this, draw another object inside the original one (don't forget to set the mode to "Merge Shapes", as we did just above, so that they are on the same layer). As you can see, nothing much has changed yet. But that's how it should be.

Now, select a tool "Outline Selection" and point at the shape we just drew. After that we go again to "Operations with contours", but this time we choose "Subtract front figure". You will see for yourself how skillfully it was cut out and now instead of it there is a piece of background. But in reality this is not the case. The element remains as it was, it just became invisible, but you can still move it, transform it and make it visible again.

This feature is often used when creating logos, banners and other web design elements.

How to align shapes with other elements

Another important property when drawing figures is their alignment. For example, we need to make several shapes with the same distance from each other, as well as on the same line. Let's say I take the Ellipse tool and, using the held Shift I'll draw a few circles.

Now, let's take the already familiar black cursor, which is called "Outline Selection" and using the mouse button held down, select all four circles, provided that they are still on the same layer. If every circle you have is on different layers, then you will need to select the layers. To do this, you can use the pressed SHIFT or CTRL in the layers panel. After that, right-click and click "Merge Shapes".

But you don’t have to combine them. If, for example, each element requires its own color, then simply select the layers and take the Move tool, otherwise you will not be able to do anything further, that is, the alignment functions will be unavailable.

When we have selected everything, go to the menu "Outline Alignment" and select the parameters that we need. In my case I have to choose "Vertical centers" And "Distribute by width". In this case, the shapes will be aligned to the center, and the distance between them will be the same. This function works in the same way in the case of vertical arrangement.

Now everything will be aligned to its centers, but nothing will stop you from centering the figures along the bottom edge.

Deformation of figures

Well, it remains to examine one more interesting property, namely deformation. No, this is not exactly what we studied in this article, but we will change appearance figures.

In the same way, I can make some kind of crown out of a star. To do this, I select a polygon, set the star mode in the properties, and then draw it. After that I select the tool "Selecting a Node" and I start moving everything available points. Something like this - before and after.

Drawing Objects Using Shapes (Practice)

Now, let's take a practical look at how to add shapes in Photoshop so that you can use them to draw cool vector objects. For example, let's draw a vector cup of fast food coffee.

Choose "Rectangle with rounded corners" and draw the blank of our glass. Immediately choose a suitable color for the glass, for example brown. To do this, change it in the properties above. You don't have to put a stroke.
Now, let's select a tool "Selecting a Node" and select the entire left corner of the workpiece (you should use two points, not one).
Now pinch SHIFT and press the left arrow on your keyboard, after which a window will pop up telling you what this operation will turn the shape into an outline. Agree. After that, press the left arrow again while holding down Shift. There will be no more inscription. After this manipulation, the left corner should protrude.
Now we do the same with the right corner, that is, select it using the white cursor and make a couple of clicks on the right arrow to protrude the other side. If the message appears again, agree.
Next we will create the lid. To do this, again take a polygon with rounded edges, only this time select the item "Merge Shapes" It won’t work, since you can’t change the fill color of different contours on one layer.
Next, draw a rectangle on top of our resulting trapezoid. And if your color is not black, then put it in the properties.
Now I see that the lid is sticking out a lot on both sides. It would be necessary to reduce it slightly on the sides. To do this, press the key combination CTRL+T to activate « Free transformation» , then press the key ALT and pull a little beyond the side area. This will allow us to reduce the lid on the sides proportionally.
Next, we take again "Selecting a Node" and just as in the previous case, we bend the corners a little, selecting first one and then the second in turn. It should end up looking something like this.
All that remains is to straighten out the whole thing. To do this, select both layers in the layers panel using the key held down. CTRL, and then take the “Move” tool and in the properties under the main menu set "Align centers horizontally".

You can also edit some elements, for example, highlight the nodes and reduce the size of the bottom to make the cup look more natural. Or you can add details, for example some arbitrary shape. But overall, we got a simple and at the same time stylish glass in vector design.

I hope that now you understand how to add shapes to Photoshop, what they are for and how to use them in web design and more. By the way, if you want to draw cool designs for social networks, banners, covers and even website layouts, then I recommend that you go through vocational training V online web design school. There are a whole bunch of different directions here. You just need to choose and do everything under the guidance of a professional.

Well, if you want to know Photoshop with a bang and learn how to use it with an A plus, then I recommend that you watch and study these awesome video tutorials. To date, this is one of the best and most detailed Photoshop tutorials I have ever seen. And the most important thing is that everything is told in simple human language. so you won’t need to stick into the topic, you will understand everything, even if you complete newbie. I highly recommend it.

Well, this is where I will end my article. Don't forget to subscribe to my blog updates, as well as to public pages social networks so as not to miss the exit new article and interesting news. I'm waiting for you again. Good luck to you. Bye bye!

Best regards, Dmitry Kostin

This tutorial will help you install new shapes for the version of Photoshop.

Note: screenshots operating system Windows 10, Photoshop CC 2017. For others Photoshop versions the algorithm will be the same.

Open Set Management

To get started, download the file with the new figures from the Internet and unzip it if it is zipped.

Next, open Photoshop CS6 and go to the main menu at the top of the screen to the tab Editing -Sets- Set management(Edit - Preset Manager). The following window will appear:

Button below the number 1 (in the form of a small arrow) allows you to select the type of add-on you want to install - brushes, textures, shapes, styles etc.

Button below the number 2 (in the form of a gear) shows the types of addition.

Loading Shapes into Photoshop

Click on the small black arrow and from the list that appears, by pressing the left mouse button, select the type of add-on - Custom figures(Custom Shapes):

A new window appears. Here you indicate the address of the downloaded file with figures. This file is located on your desktop or placed in special folder for downloaded add-ons. In my case, the file is located in the "Styles" folder on the desktop:

Press again Download(Load)

Now, in the “Manage Sets” dialog box, you will be able to see at the end of the set of shapes the new shapes we just loaded:

Note : If there are many shapes, move the scroll bar down and new shapes will be visible at the end of the list

That's all Photoshop program copied specified file with figures in your set. You can use it!

Greetings to the conquerors of Photoshop! Today we will talk about such an interesting Photoshop tool as freeform shapes. Free shapes They are rarely used in Photoshop; various brushes are more often used. But still, the “Free Shape” tool is included in the program and finds its application.

Where arbitrary figures “lie”

You can select it on the main toolbar in the section where there is a rectangle, ellipse, polygon and line. To select the desired tool, use the keyboard shortcuts Shift+U several times.

There are quite a lot of settings on the tool’s auxiliary panel, but it’s best to start working with the tool from the “Shapes” drop-down window, in which you can select any of the proposed arbitrary shapes and start drawing it.

After selecting a shape, click the left mouse button anywhere on the image and move the cursor, without releasing the button, in any direction. You will see how the outline of the selected shape appears, which changes in size and thickness, depending on the movement of the mouse.

The resulting figure does not lose its quality depending on the size of the picture. Initially, an arbitrary figure does not have an outline and color, but they can be selected on additional panel instrument settings. In this case, the contour can be either a solid line or a broken dotted line, the intensity of which is indicated next to it.

If you select an arbitrary shape and simply click the left mouse button in the place where it is drawn, a window will pop up where you need to enter the parameters for the height and width of the stamp. For ease of editing, each new arbitrary shape is created on a new layer.

How to load custom shapes into Photoshop

You can create similar figures for use yourself; for this, vector images are used, preferably good quality. Also, the Internet is full of already made thematic collections; you just need to download and install them. All installation files have the extension . In the drop-down window where the outline of the figure is selected, there is a small button that opens the settings.

There you need to select the line “Load figures...” and find required file. New shapes will appear at the end of the list.

If you want to replace existing shapes with new ones, select the “Replace Shapes...” command. The selected file will replace the current shapes. You can always roll back the original settings using the “Restore Shapes...” command.

If you want to keep the selected shapes forever, copy the file to system folder Photoshop at this address: “C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS6\Presets\Custom Shapes”

That's all!
Sincerely, Ul Sartakov.

There is an interesting tool in Photoshop - "Free figure". In practice, this tool is rarely used, but it still has a number of interesting features. In this lesson you will get acquainted with arbitrary shapes, and also learn how to independently add your own sets of such shapes in Photoshop.

On the toolbar there is a group of similar tools ( shortcut key U). This includes: rectangle, rectangle with rounded edges, ellipse, polygon, line and arbitrary figure.

There is a window on the attributes panel where you can select a shape from among the standard ones. To do this, click on the small arrow to the right of the thumbnail. Look at the screenshots:

What is a free figure?

She represents herself vector image, which means it has no size restrictions. Therefore, it can be stretched as much as you like without losing quality.

The shape does not have its own color (other than the one we choose before creating), volume, shadows, border strokes, or anything else. In this way, it resembles a brush, where you set the color yourself, everything else will have to be painted on your own.

How to use?

To draw a custom shape, select it from the drop-down list, then left-click in your open document and move the mouse to the side. You will see that the outline of the future figure has appeared. By moving the mouse in different angles and directions, you adjust its size and shape, i.e. it can be wide or narrow. Don't forget to first choose the color you want and then paint.

Hold down the Shift key to draw the figure perfectly straight, without distortion in any direction.

How to install your shapes in Photoshop?

You can install a set of figures into your program yourself. The same principles apply here as, for example, with or. To install them, first, download a set of figures to your computer. Such sets have the extension csh.

After that, open the shapes menu. You will see these 4 commands:

Selecting "Load...", a dialog box will open in which you need to specify the path to the file with the extension csh, for example like this:

This set will automatically be added to the end of the list of all shapes. Let's say you had a set with animals on the list, and you loaded arrows. The result is a list consisting of animals and arrows.

Selecting "Replace...", everything will be the same, except that new figures will not appear at the end of the list, but will completely replace those that already exist. For example, you initially had sets with animals and arrows loaded in the list, and you decided to open with a replacement set of ornaments. As a result, only ornaments will be on the list.

And if you loaded several sets, delete any individual shapes using the command "Delete…", in general, if you have made a set for yourself, you can save it with the command "Save custom...". In the future it will be possible to download it in the same form or transfer it to someone via the Internet.

Last command "Restore arbitrary..." allows you to return everything to default.

Please note that in the same menu there is a huge list: Animals, Arrows, Nature, Objects, etc. These are standard sets that were kindly provided to us by the Photoshop developers.

Second installation method with additional benefit

Arbitrary shapes can still be set directly in system files Photoshop.

This is a little more difficult to do, but the main advantage of this method is that your set will appear in the list that I described above (Animals, Arrows, Nature, Objects, etc.). If you intend to use this tool often, then this installation method will reduce time, and you will be able to choose the right set in two clicks.

To do this, you need to copy the file with the extension csh to the photoshop system folder "Custom Shapes", usually her address is like this: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS5\Presets\Custom Shapes.

If you notice an error in the text, select it and press Ctrl + Enter. Thank you!