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Photoshop 6 makes working
with vector shapes easier than ever before. While not actual
vector objects, such as those created in Illustrator, the new
Shapes tools are true time savers.
Photoshop 6 provides ellipses and circles,
rectangles and squares, rounded rectangles, polygons, and a
variety of special shapes. Simply clicking and dragging puts the
shape into your image. While not true vector objects, they can
be edited.
The Options Bar has three buttons (circled in
the figure below) that determine what you'll create with the
Shape tool. They are Create New Shape Layer, Create New Work
Path, and Create Filled Region. The last accomplishes in one
step what is equivalent to making a selection and filling it
with the foreground color. The second, as the name says, creates
work paths. Once a path has been started, the tool then gives
you the choice to add to the shape area, subtract from it,
create an area of exclusion, or create an area of overlap. As
always, if a path is active, it will be added to, if no path is
active, a new Work Path will be started.
The Create New Shape Layer mode is the big time
saver. These are clipping paths on layers filled with the
foreground color. Like any path, they can be repositioned,
resized, transformed, and otherwise manipulated. Rather than
having to draw a rectangle and fill it, we can now, use the
Rectangle Tool and simply drag. Shift-drag, as always,
constrains proportions and will create a square when using the
Rectangular Shape tool). The Option/Alt key allows you to draw
from the center. The polygon tool (represented by the pentagon)
draws from the center and is always proportionally constrained
by default. The Shift key will force the polygon to a vertical
orientation (pointing upward if there is an odd number of
sides).
A look at the Layers palette (in the figure
below) shows that a second shape drawn on the same layer as the
first has the same fill color. If you use the Color palette, the
Swatches palette, or the Color Picker to change the foreground
color and drag another shape with the same layer active, the
color change will have no effect on the shape. Despite the
change in color, another shape drawn will be of the same color
as the first shape on that layer. Remember that these are not
actually filled shapes, but rather clipping paths on a filled
layer. The layer is filled with a single color, so the clipping
paths will reveal the color of the layer, despite the current
foreground color. Working on a different layer will produce a
shape of the then-current foreground color.
Note in the Layers palette that the thumbnail
image of the shapes is linked to the that of the layer itself.
(That "slider" at the bottom of the layer's thumbnail is to
indicate that it is a Shape Layer.) While the clipping path and
the layer are linked, the shape can be repositioned on the layer
using the Move tool. If you click the link icon to remove it,
the shape cannot be moved but can still be edited. (Unlinking
the clipping path is not the same as locking the layer.)
Looking at the Paths palette (see below)
clarifies how the Shape tools work. Note that the shapes are
sub-paths of a single Clipping Path. The shape's clipping path
is only visible in the Paths palette when the Shape Layer is
active in the Layers Palette. Double-clicking and re-naming the
path will produce a copy, leaving "Shape 1 Clipping Path"
intact. Note that the Fill, Stroke, Make Selection and Make Work
Path buttons are all grayed out. The command Make Selection from
the Paths palette pop-out menu is available.
You cannot use Photoshop’s tools on the shapes
layers. If you try, you’ll receive an error message. Several
examples are shown below. You can, of course, use the Make
Selection command and switch to a different, non-shape, layer.
Copying a shape's clipping path by dragging it to the New Path
button (or double-clicking and renaming) allows you to use the
Stroke, Fill, and Make Selection buttons. However, a non-shape
layer must be active.
You can click and hold on the Shape Tool in the
Toolbox and select the Custom Shape Tool from the Pop-out menu,
or you can, with any shape tool active, click on the Custom
Shape Tool in the Options bar. By default, you'll see a
multi-pointed star. In the Options bar you have access to a
variety of custom shapes, as well as the capability to load
libraries (sets) of shapes. (Photoshop 6 ships with additional
custom shapes in the Presets folder within the Photoshop
folder.)
With the Custom Shape Tool active, you'll see an
icon labeled Shape toward the right of the Options bar. Click on
the triangle to active a pop-out palette showing the preset
custom shapes (shown in the figure below). Notice that the
palette, as do most, has a small triangle in the upper right
which activates a pop-out menu. The pop-out menu is divided into
four sections. At the top are commands allowing you to work with
sets of shapes. The second set lets you rename or delete an
individual shape. Next are several commands that control how the
palette itself is displayed. At the bottom is a list of the
shape sets that have been loaded.
Keeping in mind that these are clipping paths
and are therefore paths, it should be easy to accept the fact
that you can edit these shapes to meet your needs. The Direct
Selection tool works with them as it does with any path,
allowing you to select and alter any point or segment. Likewise,
the Convert Anchor Point tool allows you to reshape segments
using an anchor point's handles (direction lines).
The new Path Component Selection tool (its
Options Bar is shown below) allows you to work with sub-paths
using the same techniques as the add, subtract, intersection,
and exclude buttons on the Options Bar. You can only work with
sub paths on the same layer, and the tool's options include a
Combine button that will group the sub paths. This command, by
the way, cannot be reversed with Undo or Command/Control-Z. It
can, however, be undone with the menu command Edit> Step
Backward (Command-Option/Control-Alt-Z) or the History palette.
This tool can also be used to select shapes for alignment or
distribution using the Options Bar.
The new vector Shape tools may not create actual
vector objects, like those produced by Illustrator, but the
clipping paths and Shape layers provide much the same
functionality. Remember, too, that you can change the opacity
and blending mode of a Shape layer. |