How to Make A Square, Rectangle, Triangle, and Other Shapes In Illustrator, InDesign
Jul 22nd, 2008 | By admin | Category: Illustrator, InDesign, Tutorials | 2,134 views | SubscribeActually, the eclipse tool was the default front and center tool in my Adobe Illustrator program. But try pressing the letter “M” if this relates to you. Pressing “M” changes the Ellipse tool to the Rectangle tool. I actually used the rectangle tool to create the square (shown below). Now I can continue on with the 3D Logo tutorial!
Of course I’ll write up some more on how it went, especially if I run into another problem.
How to Make A Square, Rectangle, and Other Shapes In Illustrator, InDesign
As far as making other shapes goes, try some of the following commands to get what you need:
- Press “L” for ellipse
- Press “M” for rectangle or square
The other shapes are Rounded Rectangle, Polygon, Star, and the Flare tool. You’ll need to press and hold the shape tool icon to select these. See the image below…
How to Make A Triangle
Making a triangle can be done in a number of ways. We’ll there’s only two that I know of. Make a triange from the star tool, or make it from the polygon tool.
Making the triangle from the polygon is most simple. Simply select the polygon tool. Of course go ahead and draw the polygon. But before you let go of the mouse click button, press the down arrow key to 2 times.
Making Hectagons, Octagons, Or Whatevergons
The arrow keys are used to specify the number of sides for the polygon. So for a triangle, that’s why we used the down arrow to navigate to 3 sides. Use the up arrow to get hectagons or octagons.
Remember the trick: Before you let go of the mouse click button, press the arrow keys for the number of sides in the shape.
There are many tips and tricks when it comes to using shape tools. I really learned alot from adobe shape tool video.




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