Hi Im using photoshop cs3 and created a rectangle using rounded rectangle tool and was wondering how do i erase off the upper portion of the shape leaving 3/4 of it remaining as i could not do it using eraser tool

use the rectangular marquee selection ( or something like that) should be the very top left tool on the tool box(well it is for cs2) if you cant erase it then its because the layer is in a shape form so just rasterize the layer

Hi, I'm using a different PS version, but hope this helps: You can use different options on the (rounded) rectangle tool.

If you used the "fill pixel option" on the rounded rectangle tool, you can just use the "rectangular marquee" tool to select the upper part you'd like to delete and hit the delete key on your keyboard. Just make sure you're on the correct layer.

If you used the "shape layers option" on the rounded rectangle tool, you can have a play with the paths.

Why not get a screen shot set up on here and show us all

Ok I think I have put together a decent tutorial here.
Hope it helps.

1. Draw your shape, change its colour, blending options to however you want them.

2. create a new layer below the original shapes layer

3. select both layers by holding 'shift' and clicking on them

4. hold 'Ctrl' and press 'e' to merge them together.

5. select the rectangular marquee tool and select the part of the shape you want to delete.

6. press delete, and you should have your desired shape.



Note: you can also use the eraser tool to delete the top of your shape, however the marquee tool will give a better finish in my opinion.

I have made screen shots here for each step to help you get through the tutorial:

1. http://img78.imageshack.us/my.php?image=steponeus9.jpg

2. http://img399.imageshack.us/my.php?image=steptwowf9.jpg

3 and 4. http://img372.imageshack.us/my.php?image=stepthreesv4.jpg

5. http://img394.imageshack.us/my.php?image=stepfouriw3.jpg

6. http://img235.imageshack.us/my.php?image=step5nd5.jpg



And thats it, I hope it helped you.

Thanks
Alex

Why not get a screen shot set up on here and show us all

Pretty sure that everyone here knows what a rectangle looks like. ;)

Thanks alot for the help everyone, really appreciate it :)

Few things to note here.

1. Rasterizing the layer (making a new one and merging with ctrl + e) will do just that, rasterize it. It will no long be a shape layer and as such it will have issues should you decide to scale it.

2. The eraser tool could be as fine as the marquee tool in this instance if you hold the shift key down while dragging your mouse (will force your tool to go in a straight line).

There's two ways that I would do it:

1. Draw it with the pen tool.

A lot people seem to be afraid of the pen tool, but it really is your friend! The first step to using it is to have a nice grid setup though.

Edit -> Preferences -> Guides, Grid, Slices & Count
Gridline every: 10 pixels
Subdivisions: 2

Click OK.

This will give you a major gridline every 10 pixels with a smaller gridlines every 5 pixels.

Ctrl + ' <- That will turn on your grid (press it again to turn it off)

Now with the pen tool and a grid it's easy to draw a perfect radius. If you want say a 5 pixel radius, select the bottom left point where you want to draw your corner and make a dot with the pen tool. Go up 5 pixels, over 5 pixels (using your grid lines) and click and hold the pen tool. Drag it to the right 5 pixels. This will give you a 5 pixel radius curve.

Replace the numbers as you wish with 5, 10, 15, whatever your favorite dimension is.

Now using this you can draw by hand a shape that has a flat top, and then a rounded bottom for example.

If that's confusing your you just like doing things another way, you can start with the rounded rectangle tool as you did and draw it on the screen where you want it.

Select the shape layer with the rounded rectangle tool and click the paths tab (by the layers tab). This will allow you to edit the path of the shape. Now with the path selected, grab your rectangle tool.

On the top there should be the toolbar for the shape tools, you can either click the button that says "Subtract from shape area" or you can hit the minus ( - ) key. Now when you draw with the rectangle tool, wherever you draw photoshop will subtract that rectangle from the path you have selected.