Shapes Tool

The Shapes tool is a general-purpose filled-shape drawing tool for the canvas. It replaces the old Rectangle tool and adds four shape modes under a single toolbar button:

• Rect
• Oval
• Polygon
• Freehand

You can activate the Shapes tool from the canvas toolbar or with the default hotkey U.

Where Shapes Draws

Shapes always draws into the active raster target:

• On a regular raster layer, Shapes adds filled pixels to that layer.
• On an active inpaint mask layer, Shapes draws directly into the mask.

Note

Shapes overlaps with some Lasso workflows on mask layers, but the tools are not identical. Lasso is still the more specialized masking tool and can create a new mask layer automatically when one does not already exist. See the Lasso tool guide for mask-specific behavior.

Common Behavior

• Shapes preview live while you draw.
• The fill color uses the current active color.
• On a raster layer, the active color’s alpha is respected when adding pixels.
• Hold Ctrl on Windows/Linux or Cmd on macOS to switch to subtractive mode and cut pixels out of the active layer.
• In subtractive mode, alpha is ignored and the shape fully clears pixels.
• Press Esc to cancel the current shape session.

Tip

When subtractive mode is active, the canvas cursor shows a small minus badge so you can tell at a glance that the next shape will erase instead of fill.

Shape Modes

Rect

Drag to draw a rectangle. Hold Shift to constrain to a square. Hold Alt to draw from the center instead of from a corner.

Oval

Drag to draw an ellipse. Hold Shift to constrain to a perfect circle. Hold Alt to draw from the center.

Polygon

Click to place vertices. Click the first point to close and commit the shape. Hold Shift to snap the pending edge to horizontal, vertical, and 45 degree angles.

Freehand

Click and drag to sketch a filled freehand contour. Release the pointer to commit the shape.

Moving and Panning During Drawing

The Shapes tool supports different Space behavior depending on the current mode:

• Rect / Oval: While the pointer is still down, hold Space to move the uncommitted shape instead of resizing it. Release Space to continue resizing.
• Polygon / Freehand: Hold Space during an active session to pan the viewport without discarding the unfinished shape.

This is especially useful when drawing large shapes that extend beyond the current viewport.

Color Picking While Using Shapes

The Alt key behaves differently depending on the active Shapes mode:

• Rect / Oval: Before you start dragging, Alt can be used for the temporary color-picker quick-switch. Once a drag is active, Alt is reserved for drawing from the center.
• Polygon: Alt remains available for the temporary color-picker quick-switch between vertex placements.
• Freehand: Alt is available before the stroke starts, but not during an active stroke.

Practical Examples

• Use Rect or Oval to quickly add clean filled regions.
• Use Polygon when you need straight edges and deliberate corner placement.
• Use Freehand for irregular organic regions.
• Use subtractive mode to cut holes back out of an existing filled region.

Summary

The Shapes tool is the fastest way to add filled geometric or freeform regions to canvas layers. Use it for structured fills, mask authoring, and precise subtractive edits without switching away from the current raster target.