Changing a circle to a hexagon

~Ley  wrote I have a circular image that I want to change into a hexagon without cropping the image. ... Does anyone have any ideas, in Illustrator or another program?

Hi Ley,

These are from InDesign, which allows you to change the shape of the image in Object > Convert Shape. Note that even the circle that you are starting with crops the image because all images are rectangles, always.

A hexagon has six equal sides. Six unequal sides will show more of the image. Adding more sides to the polygon will show more of the image.

The only way to show the entire image in a hexagon is to distort it or to use a rectangle. If you show your artwork, we can better assist.

[Image from the National Gallery of Art open access images: National Gallery of Art | NGA Images ]

Try to draw the Hexagon Shape above your Artwork.
- Select the shape and the Artwork.
- Go to Object>> Envelope Distort>> Make with top object.

Illustrator is great for transforming vectors, here is a zig zag and scale effect on a vector circle:

However, if you are indeed talking about an image, this would not be suitable.

i think if its an image it would be best done in PS. Using a shape as a reference and the liquify tool to have better control. Once again, depending on the image...

After messing around with this for more time than I probably should have, I'm starting to think that what I want isn't actually possibly, though Jacob's suggestion with envelope distortion definitely came closest. Unfortunately, I can't quite get the image to distort the way I need it to. But thanks for your suggestions, everyone!

Who knew that graphing a nonsymmetrical pattern in a circular image to a hexagon so I could knit it circularly (instead of hexagonally) could be so complicated?

Please know that the circle image will need cropped. It's a square peg/round hole situation.

Try to draw your polygon so the each edge touches the edge of your circular image, then mask them together.

The best way to do this will greatly depend on the image is... can you post a screenshot ?

sub divide the line with the right amount of points (equidistant)  and click the vertices with the 'anchor point' tool to make the beziers rigid/straight... it should not look like a hexagon

ley,

If squish means that you wish to distort the entire circular artwork so it fits into a hexagon (including that the sections of the curved outer edges are changed into straight edges), then you may use something like Object>Envelope Distort>Make with Top Object (the hexagon which has to be above the artwork in the (Layers) stacking order) or Make with Mesh.

I doubt whether it will be pretty, not least the way it (fails to) follow(s) the edges of the hexagon.

You could start by drawing a polygon on top of your circular image. The polygon must be on top.

Select both the image and the polygon.

Choose Object > Clipping Mask > Make.