Custom shapes question

[DBS]

Hi,

Once I load a custom shapes file into my presets/custom shapes folder in PS 7, how do I actually select an individual shape from the new file and place it into a new composition?

The custom shape file I installed has 50 individual custom shapes in it, should I somehow load it into the style palette?

[Phosphor]

With the Custom Shapes tool selected in you Tool Box, look up at the Options Bar. Click on the "blobby, rounded-off star"–looking button. A new drop-down menu will appear—a little more to the right— in the Options Bar. This is where you'll find all those custom shapes.

Have a look through the manual or help files and read up on using the Preset Manager...it's really powerful, and an efficient way to load, save, and delete presets for Brushes, Swatches, Gradients, Styles, Patterns, Contours. Custom Shapes and Tools.

[Ed A. Ortiz]

Select the shape tool in the tools palette (next to the pen tool). Once selected, you'll see different shapes in the options bar. Just to the right of that you'll see a small back triangle. Click on the small traingle and select one of the shapes in the drop down menu.

[Ed A. Ortiz]

Damn, Beat me to it..:)

[DBS]

OK thanks guys!

Just curious, is there anything equivalent to this tool in Illustrator?

[DBS]

Also another question; once custom shapes have been imported into a new file, what's the best way to scale them to fit proportionately? I can scale them when I first drag and drop them into a document by holding down the shift key, but once in the document, holding down the shift key when the custom shape tool is selected and clicking on an individual shape no longer works. All I can do is select individual handles of the vector drawing.

Also what would be the best way to select individual custom shapes and then image map each shape using the entire shapes’ outline as the image map?

Thanks for any info.

[YrbkMgr]

Use the Move tool to move the shape layer around and resize; you can also use Ctrl-T to transform the shape layer.

[DBS]

OK Thanks Yrbk

I was wondering, is there a way to have custom shapes in Illustrator? Instead of having rasterized shapes, have vector shapes instead? I'd like to import some vector shapes into Illustrator, how would I do that if possible? Also where could I download some custom vector shapes (if they exist)?

Thanks.

[YrbkMgr]

I don't know squat about Illustrator.

If you want to port a PSD into image ready, one way to do it is to have the image open in Photoshop, and at the bottom of the toolbar, click Jump to Image Ready. All layers are preserved.

Peace,
Tony