Ellipse Tool, CS6, and Spirographs!

[IamSam]

I'm stumped! :banghead:

Today I was just messing around and I found this tutorial, Quick Tip: How to create fun Spirographs and Fractals, and thought I would give it a try.

Note: The technique described in the tutorial works great with the Elliptical Marquee Tool, but I want it to work with a Shape Tool for sizing.

I'm no stranger to step and repeat, I've done it many times before. The technique works well! I used it here with the Rectangle Tool and the Custom Shape Tool.





It also works fine with the Ellipse Tool as long as the lines do not intersect.



I have tried everything and I can think of and I can not make this tutorial WORK!
This is what I get when the lines intersect! Changing Path Options has no effect!



I can make the Ellipse Tool work with an action that includes duplicating the layer every time. But I can not make it work like the tutorial!

I'm very frustrated, as those of us with OCD often get in these situations, and I'm sure I'm overlooking something simple. Can someone running CS6 try the tutorial, word for word, and tell me if it works for you. Maybe I have a glitch in my program.

Thanks!

 

[IamSam]

Thanks JD for trying!

I did find a workaround, instead of setting the Ellipse Tool to shape, I set it to path, made the Spirograph and then stroked the path. Works great! Not sure how I can get the different colors without an action though.

 

[Hoogle]

dont switch to move tool keep shape tool selected. do the first transform press enter to apply the transform of 15 degrees. Then when you press cntrl + shift + alt + T it will do the spirograph


edit
sorry I forgot to say the 2nd part keep control + shift + alt and then alternate T then J then T then J then T then J

 

[IamSam]

Sorry Hoogle, I tried that and it doesn't work.

 

[IamSam]

Sorry Hoogle, then I get this (pretty cool) design........



Thanks for teaching me a new trick though!

 

[hawkeye]

Is this what you are trying to do?

 

[Hoogle]

its pretty funky I am home now so will record a video on my steps

 

[Hoogle]

ah guess if you have worked it out it saves me a video then ??

 

[Hoogle]

that probably explains I am fairly sure I use to do it and it would keep it all within 1 layer but you know how it is with things you dont do to often you forget it I know it has a lot on your pivot/rotation point if you take that away from the center then you will get strange rotations.

I will have a look later I will install cs6 and see I think someone I know has a ttorial that uses that effect on youtube let me see fi I can dig it up.

 

[Hoogle]

I get what your saying the cc has new stroke and path features my bad I thought that came out with CS6.

I know it is possible to do in older versions just need to have a play got to go through all my hard drives to find cs6 installer I assume cs5 will do the same I have that on disc somewhere in storage may be quicker than searching all my external drives.

do you have illustrator as it is very simple in illustrator

 

[Hoogle]

Hence I am downloading and installing cs6 so I can see it exactly as you are it is hard playing a guessing game,
I honestly didnt believe there was much difference in the way photoshop handles shape layers between cs6 and cc, apart from the fact it has adopted more illustrator aspects. that tutorial is written in CC so it appears I have done images using it in the past, you get use to the software you use especially when you use it every day things become habit, habits get retrained.

I have followed that tutorial using cc and I wasnt getting the same effect I came to a solution and offered it to see if it worked for cs6.

and until cs6 is installed and I have had time to play and see if I can make a work around to try and backdate a modern tutorial to an older version as it obviously is not working word for word then I am sorry but you cant follow that tutorial word for word in a different version of photoshop this is where we need to compromise to find something that does work.

I know I have done it in cs6 or cs5 so I know there is a way but it is hard to see what is going on from just an image when what really counts is the settings. so allow me to install the software and have a play so I can see exactly what your getting and then I can see if I can find a solution, I may not be able to I have tried searching an old tutorial and images on this forum which I have posted with this technique in.

I am trying my best I understand what your saying and I understand what everyone else is saying I have also said that I am installing photoshop cs6 to get it from your perspective I really dont know what more you want from me.

 

[Hoogle]

Ok are these the funky effects your getting as well in the layers panel ??


to get the actual spirograph effect I have eliminated the alt key as that is subtract so instead of cntl+alt+shift+ T it now becomes cntl+shift + t followed by control+J and then just repeat those 2 steps.

 

[Hoogle]

I have solved it trhat tutorial is wrong.

here is how it should go.

draw your shape

press control + alt +T to bring up the transform tool box

follow rest of tutorial as normal

Note the free transform command is not control + t it is in fact control +alt + T

 

[IamSam]

Thanks guys for the input!

Sam, you need to press enter every time you've done a single Ctrl+Shift+Alt+T , not just at the end.

This works great!

to get the actual spirograph effect I have eliminated the alt key as that is subtract so instead of cntl+alt+shift+ T it now becomes cntl+shift + t followed by control+J and then just repeat those 2 steps.

This also works well.

I have solved it trhat tutorial is wrong.

here is how it should go.

draw your shape

press control + alt +T to bring up the transform tool box

follow rest of tutorial as normal

Note the free transform command is not control + t it is in fact control +alt + T

This does not work either. This is what happens.....



Thanks to both of you guys for helping out!
When I found the tutorial, I noticed that the screenshot of the toolbar appeared to be that of CS6. When I could not duplicate the results per instruction, I became concerned that I might be having a problem with my program. That's why I requested that someone running CS6 give it a try to see if they had the same results as I did. Of all the tutorials I've attempted, I've never had any that did not work in CS6. I've found some that missed a step or two, but I was always able to figure them out. In this tutorial, I could not determine why the instructions flat did not work! I doubted that the author was that wrong. My conclusion is that the tutorial was not done in CS6.

I'm totally open to alternative ways to accomplish the effect as long as they were created using a Shape Tool. I now have three effective ways to accomplish the Spirograph using the Ellipse Tool and I'm convinced it's not my copy of CS6 causing the issues. I'm very content!

Again thanks!

 

[IamSam]

1. Draw a path like in example 1
2. Press enter (path disappears)
3. Ctrl + T (or Alt + Ctrl + T if you want a duplicate)
4. Enter 15 degrees (Hold shift while rotating)
5. Press enter (a rotated version of image 2 appears with the bounding box)
6. Press enter to get rid off the bounding box ( a rotated version of image 1 appears, the path is visible)
7. Press enter to get rid off the path ( a rotated version of image 3 appears - no path or bounding box visible)

From now on we can rotate the way we want:

8. Press Ctrl+Shift+Alt+T
9. Press enter

10. repeat step 8 + 9 until finished

This works great, thanks JohnD!!!

 

[Hoogle]

I can not get it to work in CS6 as soon as I go to move tool I can not get the tutorials method to work it spasses out on me.

I can however get johns method to work without using move tool I can get my first method to work I can get 2nd method to work I can even get different methods to work inluding rasterising it and then continue but I can not get it to work using move tool to stay on 1 layer or duplicate layers. I know it is not important but I am trying to follow that tutorial word for word, It obviously does work but I cant follow that tutorial word for word.

I know with photoshop there is several ways to do the same thing and I know tutorials are a guide only and usually need compromising but now I am getting frustrated at this even though there is probably better methods than the move tool but I am also thinking if you have move tool selected you can then nudge it over in a direction to get a cooler effect

 

[Hoogle]

not to worry works fine in CC which is all that counts for me

 

[Hoogle]

I cant make proper selections either the marching ants are spassing out like the layers panel I am guessing I probably need to update it but pointless as I am uninstalling it.

 

[Hoogle]

well i keep older versions on for around 3 months i dont see the benefit of keeping it longer unless i really cant get on with new versions and there is always bugs the 1st 3 months. the only time i would keep old software is if i have to wait for plugins or something i rely on to update along with it.

luckily photoshop plugins dont really need updating all though would like to track down some of the novelty plugins i use to love back in cs3 and 4 days fairly sure they will work maybe restricted to 32 bit versions.

 

[Hoogle]

software I keep just normally on another drive I am still sorting out drives and adding only the 1s I need I hate computer clutter as long as I have the installation and on a software drive takes less than 5 mins to install if I need them. I love a clutter free main C drive have 1 normal hard drive empty incase i need an over flow program installation drive or scratch disk as still waiting on delivery of my new ssd for c drive I underestimated 128 gb size fills up quite quickly especially even with disabling page files it only has 110 gbs accessible. but as long as I have 50 gbs free I am happy and for the few ms it saves in time I would have been better off getting 500 gb drive

anyway computer talk comments will be deleted this thread is wayto long and not easy to naviage straight to good parts. so deleting chit chat and none answers