| Drawing Shapes
The Shape tool is the second segment of the tool switcher at the top of the toolbar. The toolbar shows a miniature version of the shape that will be created. Click on the Shape tool once to enter a temporary shape-drawing mode: click and drag in the document to create a shape. When you release the mouse, the tools switcher will switch back to the selection tool and the new shape will be selected. Click the Shape tool twice to enter a permanent shape-drawing mode: once you draw a shape, the shape tool will remain selected so that you can draw more shapes. To stop drawing shapes, click on the Selection tool and all the shapes you just drew will be selected, allowing you to edit them all at once in the Info window. If you want to adjust the default settings used for new shapes, first select the Shape tool. At this point you can modify the Shape tool as if you had a shape selected. You can use the Drawing Tool Preferences pane to reset the tools to their original configuration. Once you've selected a shape in the document (after drawing it, or by using the selection tools), you can use the Info window to change its shape, position, size, and style.
To draw shapes whose width and height are equal (that is, squares instead of rectangles), hold the Shift key at any time while drawing the shape. To draw shapes that grow from the center, hold down the Option key when first starting to draw the shape.
Related Topics
| Drawing Tool Preferences The Drawing Tools The Info window Resizing and Reshaping Table of Contents: Graphics Main Table of Contents