Photoshop: Using Step And Repeat to Create Custom
Shapes
This is a great technique to create some
advanced shapes and patterns yet it's a very simple technique.
Step 1: Getting Started
Create a new document
Draw out a Shape
Using one of the Shape
Tools, click and drag to draw out a shape. In this example,
I'm using the Custom Shape Tool.
Step 2: Free Transform and edit center
Click
Command-T / Control-T
on the keyboard to bring up the Transform
handles
Move
the cursor over the center
point of the selection and
clicking and dragging the center
point move it outside of
the selection. In this example, I'm moving it to the top-right
corner of the shape.
Step 3: Rotating
the Shape
You can do this one of two ways.
Go up
to the Options Bar
at the top, enter a value into the Rotate
Field. This value will be
a percentage. Values accepted are -180°
to 180°.
You
can also move you cursor over the selection until you get the
double sided curved arrows.
This is the rotation cursor
and you can click and drag to rotate the shape manually. This
will also input a value into the Rotate
Field.
Click the Enter
Key to accept the transformation.
This deselects the shape.
Step 4: Duplicating the Shape
Click the Command-Option-Shift
and clicking the T Key to duplicate
and rotate the shape by the amount of the value in the Rotate
Field.
Keep doing this until you've completed
your new shape
Step 5: Flattening
Layer
In the Layers
Palette, click the small black arrow at the top of the palette
and select Merge Visible to flatten
the layer.
For variety just change the shape and
the angle of the rotation for new effects.
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