To fix the problem of Photoshop blocking our object from view as we try to trace around it, simply go to your Layers palette and lower the opacity of the shape layer. We can see here in my Layers palette that I currently have two layers - the Background layer on the bottom which contains my gingerbread man photo, and the shape layer above it, named "Shape 1". I can tell that the shape layer is selected because it's highlighted in blue, so to lower its opacity, all I need to do is go up to the Opacity option in the top right corner of the Layers palette and lower the value.
Now that I've lowered the opacity of the shape layer, I can see my gingerbread man easily through the shape color, which is going to make it much easier to continue tracing around him:.
With the gingerbread man now visible through the shape color, I can continue tracing around him with the Pen Tool until I've completed my initial shape:. If I look at the shape layer in my Layers palette, I can now see the shape of the gingerbread man clearly defined:.
So far, so good. We've traced around the basic shape of the object, and depending on the shape you're using, this may be enough. In my case though, my gingerbread man shape needs a bit more detail. At the very least, I think we should include his eyes and mouth in the shape, and probably even his bow tie and the two large buttons below it.
So how do we add these details to the shape? We don't! We subtract them from the shape! Let's start with his eyes. We could select his eyes with the Pen Tool if we wanted, but since they're round, we'll be able to select them more easily using the Ellipse Tool. Select the Ellipse Tool from the Tools palette.
By default, it's hiding behind the Rectangle Tool, so click on the Rectangle Tool, then hold your mouse button down for a second or two until the fly-out menu appears, and then select the Ellipse Tool from the list:. With the Ellipse Tool selected, look up in the Options Bar and you'll see a series of icons grouped together that look like little squares combined in different ways.
These icons allow us to do things like add a new shape to the current shape, subtract a shape from the current shape, or intersect one shape with another.
Click on the third icon from the left, which is the Subtract from shape area icon:. Now that we have the "Subtract from shape area" option selected, we can begin adding little details to our shape by essentially cutting holes out of it.
I'm going to begin by dragging an elliptical shape around his left eye:. When I release my mouse button, the elliptical shape around the eye is instantly subtracted, or "cut out", from the initial shape, creating a hole for the eye. The left eye from the original image on the Background layer below it is now showing through the hole:.
And as soon as I release my mouse button, a second round hole is cut out of the initial shape, creating the second eye, again allowing the original image below it to show through:.
Since the two buttons below his bow tie are also round, I can use the Ellipse Tool to cut them out of my shape as well.
First, I'll drag a shape around the top button:. Releasing my mouse button subtracts the shape from the initial shape, creating a hole for the button and allowing the image below it to show through:.
If I look at my shape layer's preview thumbnail in the Layers palette at this point, I can see the two holes for the eyes and the two holes for the buttons that I've cut out of the shape:. I'm going to switch back to my Pen Tool at this point because I have a few more details I want to add to my shape that I won't be able to select with the Ellipse Tool. I want to add his mouth to the shape, as well as his bow tie, so with my Pen Tool selected and the "Subtract from shape area" option still selected in the Options Bar, I'm simply going to trace around his mouth and bow tie to subtract them from my initial gingerbread man shape.
Here, we can see the paths I've drawn around them, along with the original gingerbread man image showing through the holes I've created:. Let's finish off our gingerbread man shape by subtracting those squiggly rows of icing sugar from his arms and legs. Again, I'll use the Pen Tool for this. Here, I'm drawing a path around the icing sugar along his left arm, and we can see the shape of the icing sugar being cut out of the initial shape as I go:.
I'll finish tracing around this one, and then trace around the other three as well until all four rows of icing sugar have been subtracted from my initial shape:. If we look again at the shape layer's thumbnail in the Layers palette, we can see more clearly that all four rows of icing sugar, along with his eyes, mouth, bow tie, and buttons, have now been cut out of the shape:. Drag out the shape, then reposition the Shape Layer in the Layers panel so that the shape is below the layer with the photo.
This quick tip Masking Images to Shapes and Type demonstrates how to apply a clipping mask to a Layer Group to display a photograph within type and shapes while keeping both the type and graphics as well as the photograph re-editable.
Note: you can also create guides around Type layers and pixel based layers. Guides created from the Shape Layer. This prevents the creation of soft, anti-aliased edges on shapes such as rectangles and can help when precise alignment of shapes is required.
As a result, all sides of the rectangle are solid. Note: even though the initial rectangle shape might not have been drawn in perfect alignment to the pixel grid, Photoshop automatically snapped the rectangle shape to that grid because the preference was enabled.
This resulted in anti-aliased edges varying levels of opacity because the rectangle shape was not perfectly aligned to a pixel edge when the rectangle was drawn. Adding a Gradient Stroke on a Shape Layer — When adding a Gradient stroke to a shape layer, Photoshop simply draws a gradient and then displays it within the width of the stroke.
You can change the look of the gradient by changing the style Linear, Radial etc, , but if you want a gradient to be applied either along a stroke or across a stroke, then you might want to step into Illustrator. The following graphic shows the different ways that Photoshop and Illustrator can apply strokes to shapes.
This video New Features and Enhancements to Shape layers in Photoshop CS6 is also quite useful if you prefer to see a video of several of the tips mentioned above. Here are my favorite tips, tricks and shortcuts for working with the Shape Tools in Photoshop. Previous Prev.
Next Continue. Home Testing Expand child menu Expand. SAP Expand child menu Expand. Web Expand child menu Expand. Must Learn Expand child menu Expand.
Set additional gradient options:. You can draw custom shapes by using shapes from the Custom Shape pop-up panel, or save a shape or path to use as a custom shape. Select the Custom Shape tool from the shape tools in the toolbar. To view all the custom shapes that come with Photoshop, click the gear icon on the right of the Custom Shape picker in the shape tool options bar. You will see the list of available shapes.
Select any custom shape as desired. If you don't find a desired shape, click the gear icon in the Custom Shape picker panel and select Import Shapes option to import a desired shape from your saved files. You can also create and save a custom shape in your library. You can also use on-canvas Transform controls to transform a custom shape while keeping intact its shape properties. You also have the flexibility of setting Custom Shape Tool preset directly from the Shapes Windows panel.
You can access the custom shape properties only for the shapes drawn using the Custom Shape Tool and not when a path has been converted to a shape. In the Paths panel, select a path—either a vector mask for a shape layer, a work path, or a saved path. The new shape appears in the Shape pop-up panel in the options bar. To save the new custom shape as part of a new library, select Save Shapes from the pop-up panel menu.
For more information, see Work with the Preset Manager. From the toolbar, click and hold the shape tool group icon to bring up hidden shape tool options. Select the Polygon tool. Click anywhere on the canvas to bring up the Create Polygon dialog and set the following attributes:. If you have used Legacy Custom Shapes from older versions of Photoshop and would like to add them to your current version, follow the steps below.
In the top right corner of the Shapes panel, click on the menu icon and select Legacy Shapes and More. Buy Adobe Photoshop or start a Free Trial. Legal Notices Online Privacy Policy.
0コメント