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Need help with basic shapes and design


C

cuda

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I can create the shapes in MS Paint but Photoshop just seems beyond everyone here. I really need it done in illustrator but we gave up on that a long time ago. Its just a heart with a lightning bolt running through it. I tried to use the polygon tool with no luck. It creates all the shapes with white blobs around it which end up in the final, not sure what those are but I will never have a need for them in any final saved document.

So then I started using other tools. With one, the pen I think I can create a polygon but cannot rotate it. With another I can adjust the anchor points but again, I cannot rotate it. I just need two rectangles in which I can angle ends on it to create my image but I cannot figure it out for the life of me.

Why is it so easy in free MS Paint but the full on full features creative suite it seems you need advanced training for the simplest of tasks?

Should I just stick to paint? I designed the last two logos for my boss with it and he is happy. They don't look the best I can not figure out how to make simple shapes, rotate and adjust them in illustrator, photoshop or fireworks. It would make life easier as for some simple stuff we actually pay and artist to draw it out and scan it in and THEN I can use photoshop to create an image.

Seems like a lot of BS for a simple heart with a bolt through it. I could post what I am trying to do if anyone is interested. I would think its a 30 second job for someone that knows the trick to simple shapes in Photoshop.
 
Hi Cuda and welcome! Hope we can help, you sound frustrated.

Go ahead and post an image for us to look at.
 
I can't, I will try another forum. The upload files on this forum is non-functioning. It just sits there trying to upload so I cant get the files to you. Thanks for the offer though.
 
Pfft, PowerPoint does a MUCH better job! ;)
We're here to help, show us what you got. I'm fairly fluent in Illustrator, enough to rotate a polygon for you anyway. :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Got it! I guess Internet Explorer is bad but Chrome is goooood.
 

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  • basicheart.JPG
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cuda said:
I can't, I will try another forum. The upload files on this forum is non-functioning. It just sits there trying to upload so I cant get the files to you. Thanks for the offer though.
Click to expand...

Maybe the file size is too large?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
What I would like to do is have the bottom red heart shape but a better looking bolt through the heart kind of like the one in the blue picture. If I had this in illustrator with a transparent background I could make what I need right? I have another logo like it. Even when I have what I need making it look clean for the web has proven difficult. Sorry to be so short but my boss thinks this stuff is easy and I suppose it is for someone that has the skillset but I do networking and have no artistic skill nor any experience with these programs. I have the newest CS suite though.
 
Ok,

Here's the heart on a transparent BG. (it's a PNG file)
basicheart.png

I opened the heart in Ps, removed the white BG with the Magic eraser tool, comd/cntrl + clicked the thumbnail to select, and then added a new red color.
 
Im ready, what do I do? I looks like two shapes merged for each end of the bolt, a triangle and a rectangle with one end slanted. But I cannot seem to make shapes and rotate them easily.
 
In Ps, open a new file 1400 x 800 and 125 res. We are going to make it big so we can scale it down. Also, it does not matter if you get the first one exactly right, the idea is to show you how to do it!

Grab the Pen tool...
Screen Shot 2013-04-09 at 11.58.06 AM.png

And set it to SHAPE and the fill to red....

Screen Shot 2013-04-09 at 11.58.11 AM.png
 
Set you opacity to 60%...

Screen Shot 2013-04-09 at 12.01.24 PM.png

Now, using the pen tool, one click at a time, make your arrow shape....

Screen Shot 2013-04-09 at 12.05.06 PM.png
 
When your done making the bolt shape, you can increase the opacity back to 100%.

Let me know how this is working for you.
 
Its not. The pen tool does not just draw things. It creates a single line and anything after that is just a bunch of loops and designs, nothing I am trying to do. Its not a freeform draw or anything. Does the same thing illustrator does. I guess I just don't understand how drawing things works. I end up with half circles etc. Since I do not understand the trick, I cant make the most basic shapes with the pen tool.
 
No tricks, your just clicking one time, do not drag the tool. You are making straight lines only.
 
Try this...

One click for each black arrow, release click move mouse.......except for the last click, it must be on the first click to close the shape.

Screen Shot 2013-04-09 at 12.43.20 PM.png
 
Mine adds lines around the edges and sometimes shapes on the ends of the shapes I am trying to create. I cannot rotate them or anything so this will take sometime to learn. Since I don't have that someone here knows someone that claims to be able to bang this out in a few minutes so I just offered $50 bucks, that way I keep my job as convincing the boss this tool is not MS Paint would also be hard.
 
cuda said:
FYI, mine completes the shape automatically. Random shapes at that.
Click to expand...

It's supposed to do that, it anticipates your shape, but it will allow you to finish any way you want. That's why I had you set the opacity to 60%, so that feature would not bother us.
 
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