Drawing a simple hexagon in Photoshop

[MadDoc]

Hi,

I am relatively new to Photoshop. I am working on a game that uses hex-tiles as its base. I need to draw a simple hexagon as a .png file in Photoshop (black outline of a hexagon on a white background). Accuracy is key. It needs to be perfect (i.e. the internal angle at the top must be 120 degrees). I want the point of the hexagon at the top of the image. How do I do this? Angles are important as they are used in the game engine to determine tile placement.

Thanks,

MadDoc,

 

[bartelby]

Hold down the Line tool until the menu pops up.
Choose the Polygon.

In the options at the top of the screen you can say how many sides you need.

Draw it level and then can you use Arbitary rotation?

 

[shecky]

just use the polygon tool and make it for 6 sides.

 

[iMeowbot]

Draw it level and then can you use Arbitary rotation?

All you need to do is hold down the shift key while creating the shape, and it will snap to nice tidy angles as you drag the rodent around.

 

[barr08]

All you need to do is hold down the shift key while creating the shape, and it will snap to nice tidy angles as you drag the rodent around.

A little off topic, but if you are new to photoshop, it might be helpful to know that the shift key is one of your best friends when using PS.

 

[werther]

ok I am gonna hijack this thread. I primarily use fireworks, but I enjoy making/using brushes in photoshop more and more. I can get around photoshop fine except one thing......and it's pretty stupid: How does one know the dimensions of an object.

for instance say I am working on a document 800 x 600 and on one layer I put a box. The box only needs to be 200 x 100 or whatever. How do I find out the size of said box? In fireworks it states it right in the objects properties.

 

[iMeowbot]

for instance say I am working on a document 800 x 600 and on one layer I put a box. The box only needs to be 200 x 100 or whatever. How do I find out the size of said box? In fireworks it states it right in the objects properties.

Use F8 to bring up the info window. Click on the layer/object of interest, pick Edit->Transform->Scale (or Free Transform) from the menu, and the dimensions will show up in the info window. esc if you don't really want to adjust the size.

 

[decksnap]

for instance say I am working on a document 800 x 600 and on one layer I put a box. The box only needs to be 200 x 100 or whatever. How do I find out the size of said box? In fireworks it states it right in the objects properties.

This is another reason why Fireworks is your friend. Everything is rounded to even pixels and viewable at all times. Even vectors.

 

[elppa]

ok I am gonna hijack this thread. I primarily use fireworks, but I enjoy making/using brushes in photoshop more and more. I can get around photoshop fine except one thing......and it's pretty stupid: How does one know the dimensions of an object.

for instance say I am working on a document 800 x 600 and on one layer I put a box. The box only needs to be 200 x 100 or whatever. How do I find out the size of said box? In fireworks it states it right in the objects properties.

One way is to specify to draw a box 100px x 200px in the options panel.

 

[werther]

thanks for the replies. I know about the transform dimensions and that I can specify dimensions beforehand, I guess what I really wanted to know was, is there a way to display that information all the time like fireworks does.

I know they are two different programs, but I figured it couldn't hurt to ask.