4 Replies Latest reply: Sep 2, 2010 9:41 AM by Semaphoric RSS

    How to create clipping paths shape like a slice of a circle?

    avpromedia Community Member

      I want to make a DVD label by dividing the circle into 8 equal slices (like cutting a pie 4 times). In each slice I will put an actor's photo in it.

       

      I think I need to create 8 layers to house the 8 slices of photo, each layer gets a clipping path that is in the shape of a 45 degree slice of the circle. Once I have this setup I can paste photos into the layers and adjust the photos until it looks good in the confine of each slice.

       

      The question is how to create these clipping paths in the shape of a slice of the pie? I have already drawn a 120mm circle (using the elipse path tool) denoting the outside boundary of the dvd label. But I don't know how to cut it into 8 precise slices of 45 degree each. Help?

        • 1. Re: How to create clipping paths shape like a slice of a circle?
          Gyno-jiz Community Member

          Basically, just set guides on the four bounding tangents of the circle, and also two bisecting it horizontally and vertically. Use the resulting guide intersections to draw the eight sections of the circle. Then just use the intersect mode in your path tool to overlap each of those 8 triangles with a copy of the original circle.

           

          circle.png

          • 2. Re: How to create clipping paths shape like a slice of a circle?
            avpromedia Community Member

            It works! Thanks.

             

            Is there a general solution that would work for arbitrary number of slices, let's say 7 instead of 8 slices?

             

            I tried doing it myself was was successful, but is there a simpler way?

             

            using the guides already created per your suggestion

            draw a circle

            draw a rectangle to cover the right half of the circle

            cut away the right half of the circle

            rotate the half circle by 51.4 degrees, set the rotation center to the previous center of the circle

            draw another rectangle like the previous one

            intersect this rectangle with the rotated half circle -- what remains is a 51.4 -degree slice, or 1/7 of a circle

             

            once I have one slice, I can duplicate it and rotate it 6 more times to create the other 6 slices. Althought the last slice may not complete the circle due to cumulative round-off error. I can get over this by not creating the last slice, and just put a photo there without a clipping path, and put the 6 other photos with their clipping paths on top of this one.

            • 3. Re: How to create clipping paths shape like a slice of a circle?
              Zeno Bokor CommunityMVP

              Not really, no as Photoshop isn't very good with vectors. If you have and know Illustrator then try using that

              • 4. Re: How to create clipping paths shape like a slice of a circle?
                Semaphoric Community Member

                Here's another way:

                Make a circle and a square that covers one quadrant of the circle. Select the square with the Path Selection Tool. Edit > Free Transform, using the reference point that corresponds to the center of the circle, and 90 minus the angle of the slice into the Horizontal Skew field. Hint: you can copy the results from the Windows Calculator and paste them directly into Photoshop for this. This will give you greater precision that you might care to enter by hand.


                Once you have committed the transform, select 'Intersect shape areas' in the option bar for the Path Selection Tool, and click Combine. There's your slice.

                 

                Skew.gif