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Hi, this is Jeff at Magical Fruit Tuts. In this video I will show you how to use Photoshop
to divide a circle into an equal amount of segments - either odd or even. For example,
five equal segments or six equal segments. This can be done if Photoshop without having
Photoshop Extended or having Adobe Illustrator.
Begin by opening a new file. Make it six inches by six inches and 300 pixels per inch. Duplicate
the background layer and name it circle. Double Click the old background layer and rename
it B G.
Change the foreground color to a light color. Then fill the B G layer with that color. Using
the paint bucket or the edit fill command. Choose the circle layer and make sure black
is chosen as the foreground color.
If there is no paths tab go to Window Paths and insert it somewhere below the layers panel.
If there was a Paths tab, merely drag it down below the layers tab. We will want to see
both the layers and the paths panels at the same time.
Choose the brush tool and make sure the size is six pixels and hard-round is selected.
Choose the circular Ellipse Tool.
From approximately the center of the canvas, hold ALT and SHIFT down and drag a circle
approximately to the size you want. Right-Click on the work path - then choose Stroke Path,
make sure Simulate Pressure is un-checked. Right-Click again on the work path and choose
Delete Path.
Go to the Circle layer. Use the Magic Wand or selection brush to select the area around
the outside of the circle. Make sure contiguous is checked. Press delete to remove the area
outside the circle. Then choose unselect or Control-D to deselect.
Make sure the circle layer is active. Also make sure View Rulers, View Snap,and Snap
To layer is checked. To avoid confusion, uncheck document bounds.
Drag the verticle ruler to approximately the center of the circle, it should snap to the
exact center. Drag the horizontal ruler to approximately the center of the circle, it
should also snap to the exact center.
Add a new layer on top of the layer stack. Name it radius. Select the Line Tool. Set
the line tool weight to 6 pixels. Make sure the path option is selected. Adjust the screen
zoom to achieve better accuracy. Move the cross-hairs to where the top of the circle
intersects the vertical ruler grid. Left-Click the mouse, then hold down Shift and drag a
line to the center of the circle. Let go of the mouse.
Right-Click the Work Path, be sure Anti=aliased is turned off. Choose Make a Selection. Right-Click
the Work Path again - and choose Fill Path. Click OK to fill the selection with the foreground
color - which should be black. Also make sure anti-aliased is not selected. Deselect the
selection. Right-Click the work path and delete the path. Double-Click the hand tool to maximize
the screen.
At this point you may want to save your work, as it is a good starting point to begin various
different segment options.
Here is a chart that lists the number of equal segments you want and the corresponding degrees
of rotation you should use for that number of equal segments. For example, if you want
a circle divided into 5 equal segments, use a 72 degree rotation on each segment.
At this point, make sure your radius layer is selected. Press Control T. Now go to the
reference point grid and click the bottom middle dot. Now enter 72 degrees in the degrees
of rotation area - and press Enter twice. Repeat by pressing Control Alt Shift and T. 2 3 4 and we're done.
Select the top layer - holding down the Shift key click on the Circle layer. Then Right-Click
and merge layers. Close the eyeball of the B G layer. You now have an equally segmented
circle that you can place in any Photoshop project.
I have made available some completed templates for 10, 12, and 16 segmented circles. These
pictures are 300 pixels per inch. They can be downloaded at my website for free. See
the description area of this video for the link. This concludes the tutorial.