Array shape on a circle

[Alexandria]

I made this with the "Elliptical Marquee Tool":

Is there a possible way to make this circle with the "Ellipse Tool", creating a new layer for every ellipse?

 

[Rich54]

Yes, I just figured out how to do it.
I need to leave for a few hours, so I will post something later today when I get back.

 

[Alexandria]

Great, looking forward

 

[IamSam]

Here's one way for anyone who can better break it down for OP.

Determine the division of the circle (360º ÷ number of circles), Create center guides. With Ellipse Tool, create and position first circle. Copy/duplicate first circle, Select Move Tool!!. Cmd + T, move rotation point to the center (guides), enter angle/degree of rotation then OK. Simple step and repeat > Shift + Option + Command + T 19 clicks (original+copy+19clicks = 21) .

Circle. Division 17.14


21 circles equally spaced.........close enough! All in separate layers.


Showing first 10.5...........but there are 21.

 

[Rich54]

Yes, exactly what @IamSam says above. Here's a breakdown of the steps:

• Use guidelines or a grid to identify the center of your circular path.
• On a new layer, draw a circular path as an additional guide to the placement of your small ellipses.
• On a new layer, use the Eliptical Shape tool to create a circle (or ellipse) of the desired size.
• Position that shape exactly at "twelve o'clock". Like this:

• Determine how many circle shapes you want. In your example there are 21 of them.
• To equally space 21 shapes around a circular path, calculate 360° divided by 21, which equals 17.143°.
• Activate your shape layer and go to Edit>Transform Path>Rotate.
• You now need to do two things before "accepting" the rotation.
• First: a bounding box will appear around your circular shape. In the center of that is the "rotation point". Grab that rotation point with your mouse and move it down to the exact center of your guidelines. Like this:

• Next, you need to enter how much rotation you want.
• While the rotate command is still active, go into the toolbar settings and enter 17.143 where the red arrow is pointing. This is the amount you calculated earlier which gives the exact amount of rotation needed for 21 shapes.

• Once you've entered the rotation amount, click the "okay" checkmark to accept the rotation.
• The remaining steps will now go much faster.
• For now, you should have this:

• Duplicate your shape layer for Shape #2.
• Important: after you duplicate the layer, unclick the vector mask so that the mask is not active.
• Now you can rotate this new layer using the command Edit>Transform>Again.
• Keep repeating the process: copy the shape to a new layer; unclick the vector mask; go to Edit>Transform>Again.
• Do this 21 times to complete the circle. Here's what the first six iterations looks like.
  

 

[IamSam]

Important: after you duplicate the layer, unclick the vector mask so that the mask is not active.

Not sure where the vector mask(s) entered the equation??? There should be no need for them.............unless it's what your Ps version adds to a shape layer??

Keep repeating the process: copy the shape to a new layer; unclick the vector mask; go to Edit>Transform>Again.

These steps should not be needed. After you copy and move the second shape layer, select the Move Tool and then depress the shift + Alt/Option + Control/Command keys and hit the T key 19 times in a row!!!

 

[Rich54]

Not sure where the vector mask(s) entered the equation??? There should be no need for them.............unless it's what your Ps version adds to a shape layer??


These steps should not be needed. After you copy and move the second shape layer, select the Move Tool and then depress the shift + Alt/Option + Control/Command keys and hit the T key 19 times in a row!!!

In my old version of PS (CS5), any time you use the Shape Tool, it creates a layer as shown below, consisting of a color picker and a vector mask. I'm not sure if "vector mask" is the right word, but it's the area where the vector path resides. Here is what my layers palette looks like. Perhaps newer versions of PS treat shape layers differently.

When I was experimenting with this, if I did not deactivate the vector mask, then curiously, each time I pressed Shft+Alt+Ctrl+T, the vector path would rotate and repeat itself 21 times all within the same one layer, rather than in 21 separate layers.

 

[IamSam]

 

[Alexandria]

This is absolutely awesome, thank you very much ... especially that video