PSP8: New preset shape?

[terrypin]

I can't get my head around how to create and use new preset shapes in PSP8. Could someone help straighten me out please?

For example, I opened a large arrow, changed its fill colour, and followed the instructions to save it (using File > Export > Preset Shape) with the name MyYellowArrow.

That appears in the small Presets window:



But there's no sign of a big yellow arrow in the drop-down list:



(The program won't let me enlarge that window, or list the entries by name.)

Same with my empty circle, 'MyEmptyCircle#1'.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[hartpaul]

an you list in numberes steps what you did.
I just used the pen tool on a transparent background and drew a yellow triangle and exported that as Preset Shape .
I located it in My Documents / My PS8 Files / Preset Shapes .

I also saved it in that Presets box and it shows in
My Documents / My PS8 Files / Presets

The first one shows in the drop down pbox of preset shapes as New Shape. I can't seem to do anything with the Presets box so not sure what that does.

[terrypin]

Here's a short YT video illustrating what I did:

http://youtu.be/LrM8sLIUu0o?hd=1

(Switch YT playback setting to the HD option, as it never seems to do so automatically.)

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[hartpaul]

OK at the point wher you use Object --> Properties and change the colour, change the name there as well. I think that will then solve your problem.

[LindaSue]

Terry, here's a tutorial by Suz Shook that might be helpful. I know that there are some tricks to doing this which include making sure that you've given your object layer a unique name. I've had trouble with making shapes myself so I'm going to go through her tutorial step-by-step and see what I might be doing wrong.

Creating Preset Shapes

[terrypin]

OK at the point wher you use Object --> Properties and change the colour, change the name there as well. I think that will then solve your problem.

Excellent, thank you! That indeed gets it into the drop-down illustrations.

I remain baffled about how to use the Presets dialog though. Any thoughts? It still contains the same two entries (no new one called MyRedArrow) and neither appear in the 'Shape List'.

If I look at some of the other Tools, most also have Presets. But the interface differs. For example the Crop presets appear to be a straightforward list of all the options. The Selection presets dialog in contrast looks like the Preset Shapes one, although in my case it's empty. In short, the penny hasn't yet dropped for me on this!

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Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[terrypin]

Many thanks, Linda, that tutorial from Suz was exactly what I needed! I don't think I'd have understood properly without it, even though hartpaul's suggestion fixed the immediate problem. The crucial issue was the obscure file naming and associated ambiguity over what filenames mattered.

However, Suz doesn't cover that pesky Presets dialog, which remains largely obscure to me!

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK