Photoshop Shape tool Tutorial and Training

What is Shape Tool?

In Adobe Photoshopthe shape tools allow you to add graphic shapes in the form of a filled layer, a solid fill, or as a path outline. Using the shape tools you can draw rectangular, rounded rectangular, elliptical, polygon, line or custom shapes. With the help of option bar you can change the shape accordingly you creativity.

Below are Shape Tool Available in Photoshop:

Rectangle Tool
Rounded Rectangle Tool
Ellipse Tool
Polygon Tool
Line Tool
Custom Shape Tool

Option Bar For Shape Tool

The options bar is used to choose settings for each tool (e.g., opacity, fade distance, width, height, blending mode). Options on the bar change depending on which tool is currently chosen, and your choices will remain in effect until you change them. Like the palettes, the options bar can be dragged to a different part of your screen.

Common Options for All Shape Tools (Rectangle, Rounded Rectangle, Ellispe, Shape and Custome Shape tool) in Option Bar. Type of shape (path, pixel or shape), fill (color of shape), Stroke (outline of shape), Type of Stroke (dashed or dotted), Width, height, Path Operations (new, layer, combine, subtract etc.), Alignment (left, right, top or bottom), Arrangement (Bring to - Front. Back, Forward or backward position).

Shape Tools

Practice All the Shape with Another Useful Tools and their excercise and complete the given below task

Click on the below Shape Tools to know more about them:

Rectangle Tool
Rounded Rectangle Tool
Ellipse Tool
Polygon Tool
Line Tool
Custom Shape Tool

Shape Option Bar - Shape, Path, Pixel

In Adobe Photoshop the option in options bar are different for every tool but while selecting shape tool you will see many tool option in Options Bar mentioned above. the very 1st option is option bar in Adobe Photoshop CC is shape type. With this option you can select which type of shape you want to draw Vector shape (shape), Raster Shape (pixel) or a Path Shape (path). Remeber only shape and pixel type of shape make new layer not path type.

Shape Option Bar - Fill and Stroke of Shape

In photoshop you change the fill color and stroke color of a shape in many ways.

Click on the small square icon on the layer (if shape layer is vector) to change color.
Select the shape layer and go to option bar and click on fill and click on color cubes to choose any color (fill and stroke won't work on pixel or path).
Select the shape layer and press Ctrl+Del (to fill forground color) or Alt+Del (to fill background color)

See the example below

Shape Option Bar - Stroke

In Adobe Photoshop You can Add Different type of stroke in the vector shapes

How to give Stoke:

Clicks on stroke option and select srtoke from dropdown, click on any type of stroke you want to have.
To get more setting for stroke click on "more option" on the bottom of dropdown.
When you click on "more option" a stroke palette will open, here you select from different type of stroke (line, dashed, dotted), you can also change stroke appearance by align, caps, dash and gaps.

See the Example Below:

Shape Option Bar - Path Options

In photoshop from path options you can manupulate shapes in many different ways.

New Layer: This is a default option, everytime when you draw shape it makes on new layer by default if you have selected new layer
Combine Shapes: With the combine shapes you can add shapes on the very same layer but the color of all the shapes on one layer will remain same, you can't have different color shapes on one layer.
Subtract Front Shape: With this option you can subtract the front shape means above shape will be subtract from below one. with this option you can make many different type of shape.
Intersect Shape Area: When you intersect two shapes only the area overlapping area will be visible on layer the rest part will hide.
Exclude Overlapping Shapes: Exclude option will hide only the area which is overlapping, the rest area will keep showing on layer.

See the Example Below

Shape Path Alignment and Distribution

Path Alignment: In the option bar you can find path alignment option which can help you to align and distribute shapes and objects in photoshop.

Left Edge Alignment: Select the objects you want to align with path selection tool (Minimum 2 object need to be select to use this option), and click on left edge to align objects from left side.

Horizontal Center Alignment: Select the objects you want to align with path selection tool, and click on horizontal center to align the objects horizontally.

Right Edge Alignment: Select the objects you want to align with path selection tool, and click on Right Edge to align object from right side.

Top Edge Alignment: Select the objects you want to align with path selection tool, and click on Top Edge to align object from top side.

Vertical Center Alignment: Select the objects you want to align with path selection tool, and click on Vertical center to align the objects vertically.

Bottom Edge Alignment: Select the objects you want to align with path selection tool, and click on Bottom Edge to align object from bottom side.

Distribute Width: With this option you can make the equal horizontal space between objects.

Distribute Height: With this option you can make the equal horizontal space between objects.

Path Arrangement

Path Arrangement: You can also find this option on option bar to set positions of objects on layer. You can positioned any object on the layer on front or back to perform any action. For Example: if you want to subtract any shape from another you have to put the 2nd shape on the above of 1st shape to subtract it (if the shape is positioned back or below), because path operation can only be perform on the shapes who are positioned above, so in this case you can bring that shape on front and subtract it from back positioned shape.