Bending a rectangle

[ZeusEQ]

Hi,

I'd like to know how to bend a shape (I think). I have a long rectangle, say 2 cm wide and 12 cm long - basically it looks like a straight, wide line. I'd like to bend this shape so it becomes a 90 degrees rounded "line", still of 2cm width, completely synchronous (ie not bending just a part of it - so if I had 4 of them, I could rotate and connect them into a perfect circle). I hope this makes sense! I only have basic knowledge of Photoshop terms, but I can of course follow instructions .

Of course, if I'm thinking in a completely wrong direction for solving this, let me know! I'm not stuck on this bending a rectangle solution, I'm open to any way to get this done.

Thanks for any suggestions or insights!

 

[MrToM]

Hi ZeusEQ,
There may be a way to 'bend' a rectangle but personally I'd tackle it like this:

01.
First place a couple of guides to aid in alignment...
Then create a circle shape of a radius you desire...here I have done the 'outside' first.
You can set 'shapes' to draw from center and constrain to a circle by the settings, (cog icon), in the tool bar...use the guides to snap the circle to their center.




02.
HOLD SHIFT, (or equiv), then start a second circle.....release the SHIFT key to revert back to constrain. (This may all be wrong depending on how you have your prefs)
Holding SHIFT will ADD the second circle to the first, if you get this wrong you will end up with two shape layers, they need to be on the SAME layer.




03.
Select the 'Direct Selection' tool...




04.
...and select all the 'sections' on one side of both circles....




05.
....the anchor points will show up but they are not really any indication of what is selcted...just ignore them, if you have something like in the image then you should be good.
Photoshop has no way of indicating selected 'sections' so be carefull when marquee selecting. You'll know if you got it right in the next step.




06.
With the sections selected hit the 'Delete' key...




07.
Select the remaining two sections...




08.
...and delete those as well.




09.
Select the 'Pen tool'...



10.
HOLD ALT, (or equiv), and click on a anchor point at the end of either section...(The cursor should change to include the 'convert point' symbol, an open arrow). Holding ALT will constrain the 'Pen Tool' to a straight line...
You should be able to release the ALT key after the first click and just click the other anchor points to 'close' each end, but if it all goes loopy then backup and try holding it throughout.....ooo errr mrs.
The cursor should change to include the 'link' symbol when you are over an anchor point.



11.
Finish by filling the shape with your favourite colour or whatever.




Regards.
MrToM.

 

[Rich54]

I prefer @MrToM 's method: create a perfect circle and then divide it into four quadrants, deleting or masking what you don't need. But here's a way to bend a rectangle.

• On a new layer, draw a horizontal rectangle filled with a color.
• Go to Edit>Transform>Warp.
• Click the drop-down box that says Custom and choose "Arc".

• Set the Bend to 100% by dragging the anchor point all the way up.
• This creates an almost perfect—but not quite—semicircle.
• Using guidelines or activating the Grid, you can find the midpoint to delete or mask away one half of this to create a circular quadrant.

 

[ZeusEQ]

Thank you both for your extensive replies (or I should say: tutorials!)! Not being very experienced with photoshop, I can't say which method would "fit" me the best, so I'll be sure to try them both!