Changing Thickness of Lines Created with Rectangle Tool in CS2?

[Guest]

I am trying to change the thickness of the lines for a rectangle drawn using the Rectangle Tool in Photoshop CS2.

I can not figure out how to change the thickness of the lines of the four sides of the rectangle before I draw the rectangle using the Rectangle Tool or after the Rectangle has been drawn. The same problem seems to occur when using the Polygon Tool, Ellispse Tool, etc.

I can transform the rectangle to make it bigger or smaller, etc. but it seems like I should be able to vary the thickness of the lines for a rectangle.

Is this task possible in Photoshop?  It's simple in Illustrator - this seems like it should be a pretty simple task in P-shop.  I have looked on Google and in Help for P-shop CS2 for an answer but can not locate a solution.  Am I not seeing something really obvious?

Any help is greatly appeciated.

Thanks!

[Semaphoric]

This depends on how you are using the Rectangle tool. You can set this in the Option Bar.

If you're making a Shape, you need to change the size in the 'Stroke' field of the Layer Style.

If you are just making a Path, choose a desired brush size, and then Stroke the Path.

[Guest]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

I am making a path.  That said, in Photoshop CS2 I don't see where I can select a brush size once I have selected the Rectangle Tool to increase the desired thickness or weight of the path for that rectangle.  Since I am creating a path why would I use/select a brush size?  I have attached a screen shot which shows what I am seeing when I select the Rectangle Tool and attempt to change the thickness of the path. The attached image aslo shows what I am trying to accomplish.  I don't see where I can select the weight or thickness - even when I right-click with the mouse, etc.  Even if I try to change the Style from the Option bar it seems overly complex for such a simple task.

When using the Line Tool in Photoshop CS2 you do have an option to change the line thickness or weight but when I click on the Rectangle Tool that option for changing the the line thickness or weight disappears.

I realize P-shop CS2 isn't specically designed for drawing, like Illustrator, but what I am trying seems simple.

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time!

[Guest]

You'll just have to accept that Photoshop is primarily an image editing program with a few limited vector tools.

That's why we have Illustrator, which works together with Photoshop.

[Gyno-jiz · Accepted solution]

Read post 1 again. You want to use layer style (double click to the right of the layer name in the layers panel) and use the stroke option. You can even set layer styles to be applied to objects in one click. So if you commonly need the thick rectangle, it will be one click away.

Layer style presets are just that, presets, and cannot be changed on the fly quite like true styles, but they're still very useful.

[Guest]

That answers my question.

Thanks!

[Semaphoric]

The Layer Styles method has a distinct advantage in that it remains "live": if you edit the path, the stroke will follow along.

Stroking the path with the Brush (or any painting tool) is a one-shot deal. If you edit your path, you have to re-stroke. The advantage is that you can use any brush you want, or even something like the Eraser or Clone Stamp (good for removing power lines from a sky).

You can either access this from the Paths palette menu, or select a painting tool, and press Enter to stroke the path with the selected tool.