To create a simple vector graphic, you can choose from among the shape tools in the Photoshop toolbox.
Here are the shape tool variants available from the toolbox.
If you choose any of the shape tools, the options bar will provide a panel of buttons to access the other shape tools.
Whatever shape tool you are currently using will appear at the far left of the options bar. In this illustration, the rectangle tool is being used.
To use a shape tool, choose it from the toolbox, and then drag your mouse pointer over your image or blank canvas to create a shape. Just like the selection tools, if you press the Shift key while you drag with the Rectangle tool, you will create a perfect square. If you press the Shift key while you drag with the Ellipse tool, you will create a perfect circle. To draw a straight line, select the line tool and drag your mouse pointer over the image canvas. When you select the line tool, you will see a weight field in the options bar. You can enter a value in this field, to specify how thick the line will be.
If you choose the Polygon tool, a field labelled Sides will appear in the options bar. You can enter a value for the number of sides that you want in your polygon in this field. When you drag your mouse, the polygon will be drawn with the number of sides you specified. If you drag your mouse in a circular motion, without releasing the mouse button, you can rotate the polygon in the direction you drag.
Please take note of the following two buttons on the options bar.
If you select the paths button on the right (pen tip with a box around it) your vector graphics will be drawn as outlines or paths, directly onto the underlying image canvas. These shapes will not be filled with a colour or style, and they will appear on the currently active layer.
Here are some shapes drawn as paths (outlines) by selecting various shape tools and dragging the mouse over the canvas.
When you draw a shape with one of the shape tools and then release your mouse button, the shape you drew will be filled with a colour or style. If you look in the options bar you will see that there is a style list available near the right side. If no style is selected, the style preview square will be white with a red line through it. When this is the case, your shape will be filled with the foreground colour.
If you click the small arrow next to the style preview square you will reveal the following style options.
Your shapes will be filled with whatever style you choose from this style options list. If you click the small arrow at the upper right of the style list box, you will see options for loading more styles into the list.
If you press the Alt key, and hold it while you draw your shape, the shape will not be filled with a colour or a style.
Here are some shapes and lines drawn with the various vector graphic shape tools.
Each shape has been filled with a style from the style preset list in the options bar, with the exception of the black square in the upper left. For the square, no style was selected, and it was filled with the foreground colour.
Note: The shape Layers button must be selected in the options bar or these graphics would be drawn as outlines (paths)
When you select the Shape Layers option button, and draw with vector graphics tools, a layer is created in the layers palette for your shapes. A separate layer will be created for each shape, unless you hold the Shift key down as you make different shapes. The shapes drawn while holding the shift key will be put on the same layer. If there are multiple shapes on a layer, and you apply a style to the layer, the style will affect all of the shapes on the layer.
Above you can see three layers for three shapes. If you hold the Shift key or Alt key while creating shapes, they will be placed on the same layer.
You can always create layers yourself; one for each shape, if you want to ensure that there are not multiple shapes on a layer.
If you try to apply a tool designed for bitmap images to a vector shape (the paint bucket, or the eraser for example) you will see the following alert.
If you click OK, the shape will be rasterized. When this is done, it can be treated as a bitmap image; however, you cannot edit, scale, or transform the image as a vector graphic any more. You can also rasterize a vector graphic by right clicking on its layer in the layers palette, and choosing Rasterize layer from the pop up menu.
If you are using the shape tools to draw shapes over an underlying bitmap image, you can click the Fill Pixels button on the options bar to fill in the shape you draw with the foreground colour.
When this button is selected, the shape you draw will be filled in with pixels of the foreground colour. This fill will be applied to the underlying image layer (not on its own layer).
Here you can see a custom shape, filled with pixels of the foreground colour.
Notice that there is only one layer in the layers palette.
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