How can I draw a simple outline rectangle for gawd’s sake?!

"Chris Smithers" wrote in message

This has been a complaint going back as far as the early 1990s on my Google Groups search, yet still Adobe haven’t acted on a *LOT* of customer feedback!

Can someone here tell me, with my new version CS2 of Photoshop, how on earth I can *easily* (i.e. in *ONE* step) draw a white rectangle with a black outline.

Even free ‘image editors’ like Paint Shop Pro let me do this when I had them, with no trouble whatsoever. Select the rectangle tool and draw!
It seems PS is great at advanced tasks but hopeless at simple ones, but I can find no reason why that should be the case. It is easy to make something easy, surely. Why intentionally not do so Adobe? :-S
Thanks in advance for any helpful solutions.

Chris

Don’t know of a one step solution but on the very rare occasion I have had to do this it was simply a matter of drawing the rectangle (hit D, then X on the keyboard to make the foreground colour white) with the "fill pixel" option selected, then select the white rectangle (magic wand) then Edit>Stroke and pick a pixel width and colour.

MH

Chris Smithers wrote:

It seems PS is great at advanced tasks but hopeless at simple ones, but I can find no reason why that should be the case. It is easy to make something easy, surely. Why intentionally not do so Adobe? :-S

I’ve never used Illustrator, but I bet it can do what you’re looking for. Which would sort of answer your "why" question – because it might take away sales from their other product.

—
www.ericschreiber.com

"Chris Smithers" wrote in
news:Grs2g.57584$:

This has been a complaint going back as far as the early 1990s on my Google Groups search, yet still Adobe haven’t acted on a *LOT* of customer feedback!

Can someone here tell me, with my new version CS2 of Photoshop, how on earth I can *easily* (i.e. in *ONE* step) draw a white rectangle with a black outline.

Even free ‘image editors’ like Paint Shop Pro let me do this when I had them, with no trouble whatsoever. Select the rectangle tool and draw!

It seems PS is great at advanced tasks but hopeless at simple ones, but I can find no reason why that should be the case. It is easy to make something easy, surely. Why intentionally not do so Adobe? :-S
Thanks in advance for any helpful solutions.

Chris

Nonsense, use the Rectangle tool (under the T in the tools panel)

—
‘Mirror mirror on the wall who is the prettiest of them all?’ ‘Snow White you dirty bitch and don’t you forget it!’

"Mike Hyndman" wrote in message

Don’t know of a one step solution but on the very rare occasion I have had to do this it was simply a matter of drawing the rectangle (hit D, then X on the keyboard to make the foreground colour white) with the "fill pixel" option selected, then select the white rectangle (magic wand) then Edit>Stroke and pick a pixel width and colour.

Wow it’s so simple after all! 😐

"Eric Schreiber" <eric at ericschreiber dot com> wrote in message

I’ve never used Illustrator, but I bet it can do what you’re looking for. Which would sort of answer your "why" question – because it might take away sales from their other product.

Ah, so they have one several-hundred pound product for image editing, and another for drawing outline rectangles. Got ya! :-S

"Kingdom" wrote in message

"Chris Smithers" wrote in
news:Grs2g.57584$:

Can someone here tell me, with my new version CS2 of Photoshop, how on earth I can *easily* (i.e. in *ONE* step) draw a white rectangle with a black outline.

Nonsense, use the Rectangle tool (under the T in the tools panel)

….and…

Can you continue the process to get me to a white rectangle with a black outline in one simple step…? "Use" the rectangle tool I had already figured out, thanks, I think.

"Chris Smithers" wrote in news:SOw2g.57756$wl.42731 @text.news.blueyonder.co.uk:

"Kingdom" wrote in message

"Chris Smithers" wrote in
news:Grs2g.57584$:

Can someone here tell me, with my new version CS2 of Photoshop, how

on

earth I can *easily* (i.e. in *ONE* step) draw a white rectangle

with

a black outline.

Nonsense, use the Rectangle tool (under the T in the tools panel)

…and…

Can you continue the process to get me to a white rectangle with a

black

outline in one simple step…? "Use" the rectangle tool I had already figured out, thanks, I think.

new layer
rectangle tool
In options bar ensure paths is selected (second icon in second section) Draw rectangle using rectangle tool
Ensure your outline choice colour is set as foreground colour Paths pallette, Stroke path with brush, (second icon bottom of pallette)

Done

—
‘Mirror mirror on the wall who is the prettiest of them all?’ ‘Snow White you dirty bitch and don’t you forget it!’

"Chris Smithers" wrote in news:SOw2g.57756$wl.42731 @text.news.blueyonder.co.uk:

Can you continue the process to get me to a white rectangle with a black outline in one simple step…?

"Kingdom" wrote in message

new layer
rectangle tool
In options bar ensure paths is selected (second icon in second section) Draw rectangle using rectangle tool
Ensure your outline choice colour is set as foreground colour Paths pallette, Stroke path with brush, (second icon bottom of pallette)

That’s six steps. Not one step. In fact, it’s six very complicated steps for someone who has no idea what paths or strokes are. I want to do it in one step like other programs allow.

Chris Smithers wrote:

Ah, so they have one several-hundred pound product for image editing, and another for drawing outline rectangles. Got ya! :-S

Yup 🙂

—
www.ericschreiber.com

"Chris Smithers" wrote in
news:%wz2g.57859$:

"Chris Smithers" wrote in news:SOw2g.57756$wl.42731 @text.news.blueyonder.co.uk:

Can you continue the process to get me to a white rectangle with a black outline in one simple step…?

"Kingdom" wrote in message

new layer
rectangle tool
In options bar ensure paths is selected (second icon in second section) Draw rectangle using rectangle tool
Ensure your outline choice colour is set as foreground colour Paths pallette, Stroke path with brush, (second icon bottom of pallette)

That’s six steps. Not one step. In fact, it’s six very complicated steps for someone who has no idea what paths or strokes are. I want to do it in one step like other programs allow.

Then use another program!

—
‘Mirror mirror on the wall who is the prettiest of them all?’ ‘Snow White you dirty bitch and don’t you forget it!’

"Kingdom" wrote in message

Then use another program!

Sorry perhaps I’m not being clear. The question was not "Shall I use another program?". The question was, "How can I draw a simple outline rectangle?".

If there is no answer then please don’t answer. If you have the answer, please answer. Wow – is everything to do with Photoshop so complicated… even their newsgroup? 😛

"Chris Smithers" wrote in message

"Kingdom" wrote in message

Then use another program!

Sorry perhaps I’m not being clear. The question was not "Shall I use another program?". The question was, "How can I draw a simple outline rectangle?".

If by simple you mean "one click" and black bordered, white rectangles are an important part of your working day, then use another program, The three seconds it took me to produce one would be an obvious drain on one’s productivity. You are using a hammer to fit screws, a hammer will do the job, but not as good as a screwdriver.

PS is first and foremost a bitmap editing program (raster) with a little vector functionality. What you are asking for is vector. To illustrate, with PS your outline, consisting of a pixel width, not a mathematical formula would look different at different image resolutions. A 10 pixel line at 72ppi would display at just over a seventh of an inch and at 300ppi it would only be a thirtieth of an inch. With your vector program saleability or resolution would not be an issue, your bordered rectangle would always look the same. I know that this is not the answer you sought, but you got it anyway.
There is a "feature request" section on the Adobeforum site where user can suggest additions to PS….

MH

"Mike Hyndman" wrote in message

If by simple you mean "one click" and black bordered, white rectangles are an important part of your working day, then use another program, The three seconds it took me to produce one would be an obvious drain on one’s productivity. You are using a hammer to fit screws, a hammer will do the job, but not as good as a screwdriver.

The fact that you have to under-exaggerate it to "three seconds" shows that even you think it’s a bit long-winded, deep down. You cannot do it in 3 secs.

Is it really rational to say that this one program (the hammer), which has a rectangle tool, but just doesn’t do it very well should not be enough and I should buy a second program (the screwdriver) just for the simple tasks?

Isn’t it more rational for Adobe to simplify the process, then we can use one program?

This has been a complaint for over a decade on these groups, and many other places. The only reason there aren’t other people here at the same time as me agreeing with me is they have probably done exactly what you suggest and got a program that’s a better all-rounder!

Presumably you don’t work for Adobe’s sales dept. then, making suggestions like that. I’m surprised even an Adobe user would do so, rather than just face the truth which is that yes, PS could make that simpler.

PS is first and foremost a bitmap editing program (raster) with a little vector functionality. What you are asking for is vector. To illustrate, with

No, I want it as raster, for JPEG images. I won’t go into details, but this is a very common feature in almost every other raster program.

There is a "feature request" section on the Adobeforum site where user can suggest additions to PS….

Thanks, I shall use it, and see if they ignore it for another decade. —
Me

I recommend www.Superhighstreet.com/home Finds anything or they pay for it!

"Chris Smithers" wrote in
news:ifI2g.57965$:

"Kingdom" wrote in message

Then use another program!

Sorry perhaps I’m not being clear. The question was not "Shall I use another program?". The question was, "How can I draw a simple outline rectangle?".

If there is no answer then please don’t answer. If you have the answer, please answer. Wow – is everything to do with Photoshop so complicated… even their newsgroup? 😛

Photoshop is an image manipulation program, is primary function is to deal with images, that is raster images, it has very limited vector image tools. It’s not sold as an easy toy for making rectanges it’s sold as a high end image manipulation program. So I don’t see any problem here, either you learn to use the tools it has or you use another program and many other programs are sold as toys to draw rectangles with. I told you how to draw it, that is my understanding of how the program works, it may be there are other methods but that’s my current understanding.

—
‘Mirror mirror on the wall who is the prettiest of them all?’ ‘Snow White you dirty bitch and don’t you forget it!’

"Kingdom" wrote in message

Photoshop is an image manipulation program, is primary function is to deal with images, that is raster images, it has very limited vector image tools. It’s not sold as an easy toy for making rectanges it’s sold as a high end image manipulation program. So I don’t see any problem here, either you learn to use the tools it has or you use another program and many other programs are sold as toys to draw rectangles with. I told you how to draw it, that is my understanding of how the program works, it may be there are other methods but that’s my current understanding.

My point was more that they *could* make it easier, so why don’t they.

There is no reason a simple task has to be complicated just because something is an ‘image manipulation program’.

There is nothing stopping their coders putting an extra button on the toolbar for ‘fill’ and ‘outline’ when creating shapes.
—
Thanks,
Me

I recommend www.Superhighstreet.com/home Finds anything or they pay for it!

"Chris Smithers" wrote in news:yG43g.58665$wl.41791 @text.news.blueyonder.co.uk:

"Kingdom" wrote in message

Photoshop is an image manipulation program, is primary function is to deal with images, that is raster images, it has very limited vector image tools. It’s not sold as an easy toy for making rectanges it’s

sold

as a high end image manipulation program. So I don’t see any problem here, either you learn to use the tools it has or you use another program and many other programs are sold as toys to draw rectangles with. I told you how to draw it, that is my understanding of how the program works, it may be there are other methods but that’s my

current

understanding.

My point was more that they *could* make it easier, so why don’t they.
There is no reason a simple task has to be complicated just because something is an ‘image manipulation program’.

There is nothing stopping their coders putting an extra button on the toolbar for ‘fill’ and ‘outline’ when creating shapes.

As I said its a raster program, Illustrator on the other hand is a vector application and its very easy to make outline shapes there. How easy it would be for them to add this to PS I don’t know but it may well be a part of their marketing stratagy, horses for courses sort of thing.

—
‘Mirror mirror on the wall who is the prettiest of them all?’ ‘Snow White you dirty bitch and don’t you forget it!’

Do this – instead of getting into a pissing match over why Adobe makes things the way they do, instead, look at your toolbar for what looks like a rectangle. Yes, sir, it’s a rectangle TOOL. There are other tools underneath, but by default, there’s a rectangle tool. Now, at the top of your canvas, there should be a few options (where ALL the tool options are)…there should be a couple – one for stroke and one for fill. Just take the color out of the fill and make the stroke black. Voila – your black outline rectange.

(I’m assuming, of course, that by outline, you mean just a line instead of its TECHNICAL usage, meaning a vector grapic based on raster information…but that’s just an assumption.)

Let me know if this helps.

Ed Maurice
Graphic Artist
Tula Vision

"DeathMonkey" wrote in message

tools underneath, but by default, there’s a rectangle tool. Now, at the top of your canvas, there should be a few options (where ALL the tool options are)…there should be a couple – one for stroke and one for fill. Just take the color out of the fill and make the stroke black. Voila – your black outline rectange.

I’m quite familiar with the rectangle tool thanks, but this thread is about the lack of simplicity of making the basic shapes we all grew up with in all the best paint packages.

Now, in CS2 I see no "stroke" and no "fill" option on the top of the canvas. Can you elaborate a little. Sounds promising…
—
Thanks,
Me

I recommend www.Superhighstreet.com/home Finds anything or they pay for it!