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Creating a circle canvas

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
April 17, 2023
5 replies
11990 views

Here's one that should be as simple as opening the app yet it eludes me.

How can you set your canvas to be anything other than square or rectangle? I have googled and searched, to no avail. Seems odd we are stuck in a cubist canvas world in photoshop.

So who can guide me in how to make a circle canvas without jumping through 5 clicks and 10 different clean up tools.

Seems to me as a digital file, we should be able to make any canvas shape we desire?

Am I missing something?

Thanks for the help

Jimmy

macOS

Correct answer Conrad_C

Seems odd we are stuck in a cubist canvas world in photoshop.
By @Dpmatlosz

This is not anything specific to Photoshop. The fact that image file formats define the image area as a rectangle is going to happen with any photo application you use, from any company.

But several replies have already shown you the answer. Although image file formats are rectangles, the key is to take advantage of transparency. With transparency, you can make any area outside a shape transparent when placed over another background. So if you want a circle, you apply a mask or alpha channel with a circle shape, and everything outside your circle becomes transparent, so it appears as a circular image.

Just keep in mind that not all file formats support transparency. You can preserve transparency you create in Photoshop with a mask or alpha channel if you save or export it using Photoshop (PSD/PSB/PSDC), TIFF, PNG, and GIF formats. But the popular JPEG format is one that cannot save transparency, so if you tried to save a circular image in JPEG format, it would have a solid, unremovable white background.

So who can guide me in how to make a circle canvas without jumping through 5 clicks and 10 different clean up tools.
By @Dpmatlosz

Photoshop actually makes this easier than in a lot of other applications. It can be as few as 2 steps, with no cleanup needed:

1. Create a circular shape using a selection tool or path drawing tool.

2. With a layer or group selected, create a layer mask from the selection, or create a vector mask from a path. There are several one-click ways to do this, with commands such as Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal Selection, Layer > Vector Mask > Current Path, or clicking a button in the Layers panel.

That’s it. Everything around the mask is now transparent, leaving whatever shape you drew as the outer edge, with nothing outside it.

DpmatloszAuthor

Known Participant

Thank you all for your notes. I really appreciate all the help. But it does make me laugh that we can do so many amazing creative projects in Photoshop and yet after nearly40 years, creating a canvas other than cubicle requires a few steps. I add that last part for the chance that adobe might say, 'duh, or course we can do that'

Again thanks!

Jimmy

Abambo

Adobe Expert

I add that last part for the chance that adobe might say, 'duh, or course we can do that'

By @Dpmatlosz

Of course, they could do that, but they would not be able to save a circular canvas. No current image format supports that. Even when printing, you print on rectangle paper. Your monitor is rectangle. BTW: even for applications where it would be possible to allow for any shaped artboards, it is currently not a supported option.

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer

Conrad_CCorrect answer

Adobe Expert

Seems odd we are stuck in a cubist canvas world in photoshop.
By @Dpmatlosz

This is not anything specific to Photoshop. The fact that image file formats define the image area as a rectangle is going to happen with any photo application you use, from any company.

But several replies have already shown you the answer. Although image file formats are rectangles, the key is to take advantage of transparency. With transparency, you can make any area outside a shape transparent when placed over another background. So if you want a circle, you apply a mask or alpha channel with a circle shape, and everything outside your circle becomes transparent, so it appears as a circular image.

Just keep in mind that not all file formats support transparency. You can preserve transparency you create in Photoshop with a mask or alpha channel if you save or export it using Photoshop (PSD/PSB/PSDC), TIFF, PNG, and GIF formats. But the popular JPEG format is one that cannot save transparency, so if you tried to save a circular image in JPEG format, it would have a solid, unremovable white background.

So who can guide me in how to make a circle canvas without jumping through 5 clicks and 10 different clean up tools.
By @Dpmatlosz

Photoshop actually makes this easier than in a lot of other applications. It can be as few as 2 steps, with no cleanup needed:

1. Create a circular shape using a selection tool or path drawing tool.

2. With a layer or group selected, create a layer mask from the selection, or create a vector mask from a path. There are several one-click ways to do this, with commands such as Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal Selection, Layer > Vector Mask > Current Path, or clicking a button in the Layers panel.

That’s it. Everything around the mask is now transparent, leaving whatever shape you drew as the outer edge, with nothing outside it.

DpmatloszAuthor

Known Participant

I loved your answer for its simple technical stpe by step but also the irony in how many steps it takes to create a circular or any shape outside of cubic. Note, I know it's not your fault, but as a wandering creative mind, I don't like limitations. Your final quote that even though you create the mask the jpg format will not see it, caused me to chuckle more. But thanks for the direction. again maybe, someone at Adobe will say, 'huh, we can do that easy peasy' I can dream.

Abambo

Adobe Expert

Your final quote that even though you create the mask the jpg format will not see it, caused me to chuckle more.

By @Dpmatlosz

That's out of control of Adobe, as they do not own the JPEG file format.

The creativity here is to give the viewer the illusion of a specific shape. It does not really need to exist. It's probably also a question of keeping it simple, and a rectangular image is the simplest thing we can program. All other forms would require more complex programming.

The steps you need to take for your circular canvas illusion are not really complex. I've seen much more complex operations with Photoshop than this.

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer