Photoshop has an interesting tool - "Arbitrary 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, as well as learn how to independently add your own sets of such shapes to Photoshop.
The toolbar has a group of homogeneous tools ( shortcut key U ). These include: rectangle, rounded rectangle, ellipse, polygon, line, and arbitrary figure.
There is a box 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 an arbitrary figure?
She represents herself vector image, and therefore has no size restrictions. Therefore, it can be stretched as much as you like without loss of 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, it resembles a brush, where you set the color yourself, everything else will have to be finished 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 your 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. Do not forget to first select the desired color, and then draw.
Hold down the Shift key to draw the shape perfectly even, without distortion in any direction.
How to set up your shapes in photoshop?
You can independently install a set of figures into your program. The same principles work here as, for example, with or. To install them, firstly, download a set with figures to your computer. These sets have an extension csh.
After that, open the shapes menu. You will see these 4 commands:
Selecting "Download...", 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 in 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 the 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 uploaded several sets, deleted any individual shapes using the command "Delete…", in general, you made a set for yourself, then you can save it with the team "Save Arbitrary...". 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 Photoshop developers kindly provided to us.
Second installation method with added benefit
Arbitrary figures can also be installed directly into system files photoshop.
It's a little more difficult to do this, 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 the time, and you will be able to select the desired set in two clicks.
To do this, you need to copy the file with the extension csh V system folder photoshop "Custom Shapes", usually her address is: C:\Program Files\Adobe\ Adobe Photoshop CS5\Presets\Custom Shapes.
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1 voteHello dear readers of my blog. The easier the task, the more difficult it is to solve in Photoshop. There are a thousand articles about or creating the effect of black eyes, but how to draw a circle, a square or a rhombus - go figure it out! Today I will address this injustice.
You will find a comprehensive article about geometric shapes for Photoshop - how to draw them yourself, what additional tools you can download for a more spectacular result, as well as many other equally interesting and useful information.
We draw ourselves
Adobe Photoshop has several tools that allow you to draw shapes. Here are just some of them hide some secrets. Now I will tell you about them. So, I If you want to learn how to do as in my picture, then I recommend the article, there is nothing easier than doing the same.
So, in the toolbar on the left, you can find a rectangle, an ellipse, a polygon, a line, or an arbitrary shape. Maybe you don't see additional tools, but found one of them, just hold down the left mouse button for a fraction of a second or click once on right button mice. A menu with additional shapes will immediately appear.
First, I'll select a rectangle. As soon as I finish drawing, an additional menu will pop up on the left. Here you can choose the size in width and height, if you need to keep the exact dimensions. A little lower is the menu with the fill of the shape itself - you can choose no fill, solid color, gradient or pattern.
A little to the right is the stroke menu - you need to determine its width and whether it will be present at all, if you want it and make it solid, fill it with a gradient or, again, with a pattern.
To turn a rectangle into a square, you need to hold down the Shift key while drawing the shape.
An ellipse held down by the Shift button turns into a circle.
Also in the list there is such a figure as a polygon. You determine the number of sides yourself. You can enter any value - 3 to make a triangle, 7, 10 and so on.
Lines I won't draw special attention, this thing is not difficult to figure out on your own. The only thing to be warned is that holding down Shift makes the line strictly vertical or horizontal.
Arbitrary figure
We have an arbitrary figure. What it is?
On the very right side of the top menu, you can see the finished shapes. A variety of arrows, squares, lightning and so on.
To use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+T.
How to add new
Adding new figures is not difficult. A lot of free figures can be downloaded from the site photoshop-master.ru . There are about 400 sets with figures - people, patterns, spiders, abstraction, cars, chairs, fire, flowers and much more.
I'll show you how to install them using the example of "Media", they will be useful to me in the future. So I'm downloading the file.
Just wait 15 seconds. No pre-registration is required.
Now open the archive and drop the CSH file somewhere where it can be easily found.
Now open the shapes in Photoshop and click on the nut on the right side. In the list that opens, select "Load Shapes".
Now find the file that was unzipped not so long ago. By the way, after you're done, the file can be deleted from your computer. You won't need it anymore. Everything is copied to desired folder.
You can use shapes. Do not forget about the fill, thanks to which you can change the color of the shapes, as well as the stroke.
In addition to shapes, brushes can also come in handy. They can also be downloaded from the website. Photoshop-master .
You can download the required set in the same way as when working with shapes. Open brushes.
Click on the nut and select "Download".
Work with them yourself. There is nothing complicated here. They are slightly different from the figures.
Google to the rescue
Another way to draw a figure is to use other people's work. You will need Google and its Pictures section. Why exactly you will find out very soon. For the figure to have transparent background, and it blends harmoniously into your composition, required. This is how you need to look: png triangle, circle, oval, and so on.
If you are doing work for yourself, then, in principle, you could use Yandex, but if the project is being created for commercial purposes, then Google will be very useful. Open "Tools", then "Use Rights" and select the type you need - use or use and change.
Next, open the picture after you have found something suitable. This important condition. The drawing should be located on such a square-checkered background. If it's just white, then it's not a png. You will understand the difference when you download. In principle, there is nothing wrong with learning from your mistakes.
This is what the PNG will look like. The checker was filled with my background.
If you want to learn more about the program, I can recommend a course « Photoshop from scratch in video format » . It is suitable for complete beginners. There is a lot of useful information about the tools and in what cases each of them is suitable.
The Internet is full of lessons that you can learn from, but it’s one thing to blindly repeat after the author and it’s quite another to meaningfully achieve a goal, knowing what you have to use for this. This is a completely different level.
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