Painting and Drawing > Drawing shapes > Creating shapes
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Creating shapes


A shape layer can contain a single shape or multiple shapes, depending on the shape area option you select. You can change the color of a shape by editing its fill layer and applying layer styles to it.

To create a shape:

1 Select the rectangle tool (), rounded rectangle tool (), ellipse tool (), polygon tool (), line tool (), or custom shape tool ().

To select a hidden drawing tool, position the pointer on the visible tool and hold down the mouse button until the tools list appears. Then click the tool you want.

2 In the options bar, do the following:
  • Select the Create New Shape Layer option ().
  • Click the color swatch to specify the color with which you want to fill the shape. (See Using the Adobe Color Picker.)
  • Select a layer style from the Layer Style pop-up palette to apply a predefined layer style to the shape. (See Using layer styles.)
  • If you're using the custom shape tool, select a predefined shape from the Shape pop-up palette.
  • Set additional, tool-specific options. (See  Setting shape tool options.)

    • 3 Drag in the image to draw the shape.

    To create multiple shapes in the same layer:

    1 Select a layer in the Layers palette.

    2 If desired, select a different tool in the options bar or the toolbox to create a different type of shape.

    3 Before you draw, select a shape area option to determine what happens at the intersection of overlapping shapes.

  • Add () to add the new area to the existing shapes or path.
  • Subtract () to remove the overlapping area from the existing shapes or path.
  • Intersect () to restrict the area to the intersection of the new area and the existing shapes or path.
  • Exclude () to exclude the overlap area in the consolidated new and existing areas.

    • 4 Drag in the image to draw new shapes.

    Painting and Drawing > Drawing shapes > Creating shapes