Adobe Photoshop/Shape Tools

Shape tools are used to create vector shapes & paths. The following are the shape tools available in Adobe Photoshop:

• Rectangle Tool - To create a rectangle or square
• Rounded Rectangle - To create a rectangle or a square with rounded corners.
• Ellipse - To create an ellipse (oval) or a circle
• Polygon Tool - To create polygons (minimum 3 sides)
• Line - To draw lines
• Custom Shapes - To create custom shapes that can be accessed from the custom shapes library

Another tool with the same properties as of Shape tools is the Pen Tool.

Shape Tools have 3 modes:

• Shape Layer : When you draw a shape with this mode, a new layer will be created (shape layer). You can move and manipulate this layer independently. By double clicking on the color thumbnail in the layer you can change the color of the object/shape.

• Path : With path mode, a vector path is created on the selected layer. A path cannot be printed unless its properties are changed. You can apply fill and stroke to the path. By pressing Ctrl+Enter the path can be converted to a selection.

• Fill Pixels : With the fill pixels mode, filled shapes can be created on any selected layer.