The Text tool allows you to put text on your image. It has the same controls that you have seen in other text editors. It also has the Fill utility, allowing you to add some interesting patterns to your text. Here, again you have Antialiasing and Blending (as discussed previously). To the bottom-right of your text, there is a small handle called the Nub. The Nub gives you the ability to move the text around to the exact spot you want. You can press the Ctrl key to make the Nub disappear so you can see what the text will look like without anything else on the screen.

Once you click on another area of your document, the text will become part of the image and cannot be edited. For this reason, it might be a good idea to always place your text on its own layer rather than directly on the image you are working on:

The Line/Curve tool allows you to draw lines and curves. Once you select this tool, simply left-click and then draw the line from one point to another. Like other tools mentioned previously, you can use Brush Width to determine how thick you would like your line to be. You can also choose the style of line—solid or dashed—and choose the way the ends of the line will look.

In this example, I have created a dash-dot line with arrows on either side. You will notice small, pulsing boxes on the line itself. If you left-click on one of these squares, they will act as handles that curve your line any way you wish:

As with the Text tool, once you click on another part of your image, your line will become part of the image and you will not be able to edit it. For this reason, it is advisable that, as with text, you place the line on its own layer.

Geometric shapes

The remaining shape tools all function the exact same way and, similar to the Select tools, you can use the Shift key combination to draw uniform shapes. The one difference is the Draw Type selection. As shown in the following screenshot, you can select to draw a shape as an outline or a filled shape, or draw a filled shape with an outline. Your primary color will be the color of the shape; the secondary color will be the outline. As with the other tools mentioned previously, you can choose the type of fill pattern you would like to use.

Note

The shortcut key for all of the shape tools is O. By repeatedly hitting the O key, you will be able to cycle through the shapes to select one of your choosing.

The three different shapes can be drawn in three different ways.

The Rectangle tool can be used to draw rectangles and squares.

The Rounded Rectangle tool can be used to draw rounded rectangles and rounded squares.

There are no in-built ways to change the corner radius for this tool, but there are plugins available to change the corner radius.

The Ellipse tool can be used to draw ellipses and circles of various sizes.

The Freeform Shape tool can be used to draw a shape with a freeform outline.