Are live shapes in photoshop vectors?

[Natalie24110770gc8q]

Hi, I have created an image in photoshop just using the path tool to create shapes, eg. the image attached. I am just curious if I am able to make these shapes bigger without losing quality like vectors, as they are still a live shape.

[davescm]

Any shape defined by a path ( be it a live shape or not) can be resized by transforming the path and will be completely redrawn at the newly transformed size.

Only when rasterised, such as using 'stroke path with brush', does that no longer apply.

Dave

[Conrad_C]

Yes, a shape layer is a vector layer, so if you use Edit > Free Transform or any command on the Edit > Transform submenu, the paths making up that shape will remain at the full document resolution no matter how you transform it.

If you want to transform one or more of the subpaths within a selected shape layer, switch to the Path Selection or Direct Selection tool, select the subpath, and then apply a transformation command.

[jane-e]

Are live shapes in photoshop vectors?

Hi, I have created an image in photoshop just using the path tool to create shapes, eg. the image attached. I am just curious if I am able to make these shapes bigger without losing quality like vectors, as they are still a live shape.

By @Natalie24110770gc8q

You mentioned "live shapes" twice, and you won't get "Live Shapes" with the Pen tool. They will be vector and as Dave and Conrad said, you can Transform the shapes to resize them without losing quality. 

To clarify, though, you won't see Transform, Appearance, and Pathfinder in the Properties panel as you would for a Live Shape.

Paths drawn with the Pen tool will have only these Properties:

I started to wonder about the term "Live Shapes", which began in Illustator and later appeared in Photoshop.

• Illustrator definitely calls these Live Shapes and says so in their Help page:
  https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/live-shapes.html
  
• Photoshop uses the term once, and I couldn't find it more than once in Adobe's Help. Other sites that are not Adobe call them Live Shapes.
  https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/drawing-shapes.html
  
• You will see "live shape" again if you make an edit to it and convert it to a regular shape:
  
• If you make your layers Smart Objects, the Properties panel changes again, as does the options bar.
  

Experiment to see what works best for you.

Jane

[Conrad_C]

The demo below shows some ways your control over Live Shapes varies between the Move, Path Selection, and Direct Selection tools. And also that one of the more useful Live Shape-specific properties is interactive control over rounded corners; you lose that if the Live Shape is converted to a regular shape layer (paths only). In the demo, the conversion happened automatically when I deleted a point from a Live Shape. Although the Fill and Stroke option disappeared from the Properties panel, they are still available up in the options bar as long as a path editing tool is selected.