Creating shapes and shape layers

You create a shape layer by drawing in the Composition panel with a shape tool or the Pen tool. You can then add shape attributes to existing shapes or create new shapes within that shape layer. By default, if you draw in the Composition panel when a shape layer is selected, you create a new shape within that shape layer, above the selected shapes or group of shapes. If you draw in the Composition panel using a shape tool or Pen tool when an image layer other than a shape layer is selected, you create a mask.

Press F2 to deselect all layers before drawing in the Composition panel to create a new shape layer.

You can create shapes and shape layers using any of the following methods:

• Draw a path using the shape tools or Pen tool. Drawing a mask path is similar to drawing a shape path. (See Create a shape or mask by dragging with shape tools and Create a Bezier shape or mask using the Pen tool.)

• Convert a text layer to shapes on a shape layer by using the Create Shapes From Text command. (See Create shapes or masks from text characters.)

• Convert a mask path to a shape path.

• Convert a motion path to a shape path. (See Create a mask or shape from a motion path.)

• Paste a path copied from another layer or from Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, or Fireworks. (See Copy a path from Illustrator, Photoshop, or Fireworks.)

• Create a new, empty shape layer by choosing Layer > New > Shape Layer.

In most cases, a new shape has a fill and a stroke that correspond to the Fill and Stroke settings in the Tools panel at the time that the shape is drawn. You can use the same controls in the Tools panel to change these attributes for a selected shape after it has been drawn. Shapes created from text are created with fills and strokes that match the fills and strokes of the original text.

Note: To draw a mask on a shape layer, click the Tool Creates Mask button in the Tools panel with a shape tool or Pen tool active. For more information about creating masks, see Creating masks.

Aharon Rabinowitz provides a video tutorial on the Creative COW website that shows how to combine multiple paths into a single compound shape using the Merge Paths path operation.