🎉 Try Slides With Friends — Zoom Trivia, Live Polls, Icebreakers & more! Check it out →
How to Convert any Image into a Custom Shape in Photoshop

How to Convert any Image into a Custom Shape in Photoshop

Photoshop Vector Shapes

There are times you need to make a particular shape to place on your design, but there aren't any available (at least the ones you need). Instead of drawing, then tracing, and importing the shape you need, Photoshop has a much easier way. You can make any kind of vector shapes from any image you can think of right in Photoshop. The method I will show you here only requires making a selection of your subject and then converting that selection into a vector shape. You can make it even more easier if your image has a good contrast between your subject and your background. In those cases, you can use the powerful "Select Subject" option and save a lot of time, like we'll do today.

Step 1

Open your image in Photoshop. Be sure the image you choose has a decent contrast between your subject and your background to make the process even easier.

Step 2

Select the Magic Want Tool (W) and in the top toolbar click on "Select Subject".

Step 3

With the selection active, go to Select > Modify > Smooth. Set the Sample Radius to 1 pixel and click OK.

Step 4

Go to Window > Paths.

Step 5

Hold the Alt key on your keyboard and click on the "Make work path from selection" icon.

Step 6

In the Make Work Path window, set the Tolerance to 0,5 pixels and click OK.

Step 7

With the work path created, go to Edit > Define Custom Shape. Give your new shape a name and click OK.

Step 8

To test our new shape, make a new Photoshop document at any size you want.

Step 9

Select the Custom Shape Tool (U). In the top toolbar, click on the Shape thumbnail to display all your custom shapes.

Step 10

Select our recently created shape and (while holding the Shift key) simply click and drag to draw your new custom shape over the Artboard.

Some Final Words:

Now that you know how easily you can make your own custom shapes in Photoshop, you can make any kind of modifications you want to it like you normally do with any other vector shape. You can scale it, rotate it, or easily change the color by double-clicking on the layer thumbnail in the Layers Panel and choosing any color from the Color Picker window.


Comments

X

You've successfully logged in!