How can I draw this shape?

P
Posted By
PortyPorty
Jul 28, 2008
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549
Replies
23
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Closed
I’m trying to draw a cube\3dbox like this hand-drawn example. I’m sure it’s fairly elementary for non-noobs but I’m durned if can work it out 🙁
Advice would be appreciated.

<http://www.psdnow.com/download/file/kDYuqn5HE4/>
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S
Silkrooster
Jul 28, 2008
There are several ways to accomplish this. here is one way.
1)select the box tool
2)select paths button in the top tool bar
3)create a box
4)with the direct selection tool (lowercase-a) drag the box while holding down the alt key to make a copy. once copy is made alt key is no loger needed and you can position to taste.
5)With the pen tool and paths still selected in top tool bar draw a line connecting the corners you want visible. Hitting esc key will cancel aditional lines that the pen want to make.
6)Optional line tool can be used instead of the pen tool.
7)With the direct selection tool select the bottom left point of the back box and hit the delete key.
8)At this step you have the shape you want as a work path. Now select the brush tool and set the size for the line and color.
9)In the paths panel (window>paths) click on the second circle at the bottom to stroke the path with the brush. Or right click on the path and select stroke path.
10)If you still see the path on screen just select below the path in the panel to deselect the path.
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PortyPorty
Jul 28, 2008
SilkRooster, thanks for response but I’m stumbling at the first fences.

Box tool? Where is that? Or do you mean the Rectangular Marquee?

Paths Button? Where is that?
S
Silkrooster
Jul 28, 2008
Sorry about that hopefully the image will help out. Instead of box tool I should have said rectangle tool.
S
Silkrooster
Jul 28, 2008
This entire thing could also be done using just the line tool. Drag out the line for the front box or rectangle use the selection tool (lowercase-v) select the top and right line then with the alt key drag them to the upper right. Now just connect the corners with more lines.
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Phosphor
Jul 28, 2008
Heya Porty…

It’ll be better if you just use <http://www.pixentral.com> to display simple flattened images like JPEG, GIF or PNG. Save the use of psdnow.com for layered files.
P
PortyPorty
Jul 29, 2008
Shucks, I must be thick. Just not getting it…..

What I’ve so far managed to do is: (CS3)
1) Open a new file (20cm x 12cm, 72p\cm, RGB, 8 bit, White)
2) Created a new layer, Layer1.
3) Used the Rectangle Marquee to draw a square, 200p x 100p.
4) Edit\Stroked it, 4px black
5) Ctrl\D to unselect. OK, one white box with black borders.
6) Repeated the process to get a second box, 160p x 80p
7) Positioned box2 above and right of box1
8) Used a white brush to remove bottom and left sides of box2 (seems like the ‘eight’ has become a smiley)

So far, so good.
Here’s the result:
< http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1K8o5Ft3CPEotYvUTS 3VQcovsbJ6E1>

Now I want to draw 3 black lines between the boxes to simulate a perspective\3D box. But here’s where the process breaks down. The boxes are delineated by very clean and sharp black lines. But when I draw my connecting lines, whether by brush or pen, or with the Line Tool, the lines are blocky and fuzzy.

How can I prevent this happening?
JR
J.R._Sanford
Jul 29, 2008
Hey Silkrooster… how are you posting those images into this thread? I can’t (for the life of me) figure this out.

Thanks.

J.R.
S
Silkrooster
Jul 29, 2008
Porty,
You are almost done. Just use the line tool to connect the corners. See your original image as to where the lines connect.

JR,
Just add the following html code to your post. Just make sure you update it to point your image rather than this fictitional image. lol.

<img src="http://www.example.com/folder/image.jpg <http://www.example.com/folder/image.jpg>">
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PortyPorty
Jul 29, 2008
Thanks SilkRooster. But if you’ll look at the last few lines of my last post you’ll see that I managed to draw the lines but have a question about the lines’ appearance.

Can you advise please?

PS: Not sure what you’re getting at about the link I provided. I just clicked on my link now and went straight to the image I uploaded.

< http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1K8o5Ft3CPEotYvUTS 3VQcovsbJ6E1>
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PeterK.
Jul 29, 2008
The squares you drew are perfect with no anti-aliased edges, whereas the diagonal lines probably have anti-aliasing introduced to give a smoother appearance. With the line tool, look in the options bar and uncheck "anti-alias". Or you can use the "pencil" tool instead of the brush. Shift click with the pencil tool to go point-to-point and draw lines without anti-aliased edges.
JR
J.R._Sanford
Jul 29, 2008
Hey SS, does it have to be an image off the web to be able to post?

J.R.
P
Phosphor
Jul 29, 2008

J.R.

You can use <http://www.pixentral.com> to post images.

Just go there, read ALL of the directions and upload from your hard drive.

When a copy of your image appears, scroll down and copy ALL of the text in the box next to "HTML." Then, paste that code in a thread reply. It’ll pop a clickable thumbnail right into your post.

Like this:

< http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1Fc5829GZZ5mCFzrF7 njir0IO88zQ>
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PortyPorty
Jul 29, 2008
Wow, I didn’t realise how Pixentral worked. So if I go there and get my link………and then post it here…..
< http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1K8o5Ft3CPEotYvUTS 3VQcovsbJ6E1>

Hey, now that IS cool! Phos±four dots, thanks for the howto 🙂
S
Silkrooster
Jul 30, 2008
Sorry about that Porty,
I misread your post. I think PeterK. answered ok. Blocky looking kind of like a stairstep is no anti-alising. Which the line tool and pencil tool can do. Fuzzy looking is a form of anti-alising which the brush can do. Some tools like the line tool can do both.
You could start out with a higher resolution image then it won’t be so noticeable. All tools in the rectangle tool flyout have a anti-alising check box if you change the mode to fill pixels. (Remember the image above that shows the paths mode, the fills pixel mode is just to the right of it)
P
PortyPorty
Jul 30, 2008
Thanks again everyone for your valuable help. Now I know how to make the box, I’ve been working on adding an arrow and some labels.

I managed to do it eventually but I had an incredible amount of trouble doing the arrow label, the ‘Fixed #1’ text.

It seemed to be something to do with the nature of the arrow, which was a shape, and it didn’t seem to want me to overlay it with text.

(The ‘SonyRec’ text was easy, as it was just formed in the blank space of the box)

So my question is:
a)How should I have formed the arrow so it would accept text better?
b)Or was using an arrow shape the most effective way?
c)If it was the best way, how should I have treated it to make adding the text easy?

Here’s the jpg:
< http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1MpoMW2n7EwOzvdgIv SCpW67M5GB>
JJ
John Joslin
Jul 30, 2008
You could do that (better) in 5 minutes in a drawing program rather than farting about in an image editor.
P
Phosphor
Jul 30, 2008
You and I could’ve done it in less than 5 minutes in Photoshop, J.J..

But P.P.’s just learning, so we can cut the rookie some slack, hmmm?

XD
JJ
John Joslin
Jul 30, 2008
Sure, but I like to encourage people to use appropriate programs.

He doesn’t have to have Illustrator either – there are a lot of good free programs available.
P
PortyPorty
Jul 31, 2008
Well, yes, I guess I could have taken the bare box and arrow and added the text in Word, which is way more flexible (IMHO) than Photoshop. But I’ve always understood Photoshop to be the ultimate for any form of gfx manipulation, and I thought that would include adding text on top of a shape.

But that particular exercise proved to be very difficult, which is why I sought the advice of experts.

It seems now, that perhaps it’s actually as difficult as I thought. Or requires such a detailed explanation as to put even an expert off.

Fair enough. I’ll carry on fiddling and maybe the solution will present itself eventually.

Thanks again for all responses.
P
Phosphor
Jul 31, 2008
Seriously? That figure you wanted to create would take most of the regulars here—of all skill levels—about a minute to draw, tops. Add the arrow and text…another minute or two.

No offense, P.P., but you have a long way to go if you think that’s a toughie!

🙂

"I guess I could have taken the bare box and arrow and added the text in Word, which is way more flexible (IMHO) than Photoshop."

You’re comparing apples to, erm, apple juice. They’re two different things which have some overlapping capabilities. Ultimately, it all comes down to the skill of the user, and in the user understanding which tool is best for any particular job.
P
PortyPorty
Jul 31, 2008
The reason I made my comment was that although there has been much made of how easy the task was, nobody has provided a how-to for the part of the project that I asked about, namely – how to add the text to the arrow area 🙂
S
Silkrooster
Jul 31, 2008
When you create text in photoshop, the text is placed on is own layer. So it is just a matter of moving the text and deciding on the correct size to make it look like it is inside the arrow.
If you have a hard time with your mouse try the arrow keys on your keyboard. Holding down the shift key at the same time will move the text in greater increments.
JJ
John Joslin
Jul 31, 2008
…. and better still, press Ctrl+T to get the transformation box, where you can move it, size it, rotate it, skew it and distort it to fit.

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