Revision Date: 27 February 2024

Shapes Tool 
O twice or Shift + O

The tool for creating geometric shapes in Paint.NET is the Shapes Tool.  This tool replaced the Rectangle, Rounded Rectangle, Ellipse and the Freeform Shape tools found in Paint.NET 3.5x.

The Shape Tool has 29 predefined shapes. Eight Basic shapes, Eight Polygon & Star shapes, four Arrows, four Callout shapes and five Symbols.

The different Shapes are selectable from the drop-down menu in the Tool Bar when the Shapes Tool is active.

Basic Shapes

• Rectangle & Rounded Rectangle
• Ellipse
• Diamond
• Trapezoid & Parallelogram
• Triangle & Right Angle Triangle

Polygons & Stars

• Pentagon (5), Hexagon (6), Heptagon (7) & Octagon (8)
• Three-point Star, Four-point Star, Five-point Star & Six-point Star

Arrows

• Arrow & Notched Arrow
• Pentagon Arrow & Chevron Arrow

Callouts

• Rectangular Callout & Rounded Rectangle Callout
• Ellipse Callout
• Cloud Callout

Symbols

• Lightning Bolt
• Check Mark
• Multiply
• Gear
• Heart

To create a shape, click on the shape type in the Tool Bar menu and drag the shape out on the canvas.  The shape will be created in Edit mode. In Edit mode, the shape is not fixed and can be altered in size, orientation, fill and color along with antialiasing options and blend modes.  All these options are available from the Tool Bar when the Shapes Tool is active. Click the Finish button in the Tool Bar to commit the shape to the active layer.

Control Nubs

The draggable control nubs transform the Shape by moving the corners of the Shape's bounding box. Click and drag the nubs to relocate them.

When resizing using the control nubs, the anchor point will be the nub opposite the one being dragged.

Dragging one nub over the one diametrically opposite has the effect of flipping the shape.

Shift Modifier Key

When creating a Shape, hold down the Shift key to maintain the original height and width ratio. In this mode, any control nub can be used to resize the shape which will remain in proportion.

The anchor point for resizing with the Shift modifier will be the nub opposite the one being dragged.

Alt Modifier Key

Hold down the Alt key to force the Shape to be resized about it's center. This mode effectively anchors the center of the Shape while the bounding box flexes about it.

Shift & Alt Modifier Keys

Hold down both the Shift and Alt keys forces the Shape to be resized about it's center while remaining in its original Height & Width proportion.

Moving a Shape

Before a Shape is committed to the canvas, it can be moved anywhere on the canvas. Click and drag the pulsing four-arrows-in-a-square icon (see diagram below) using the Left Mouse Button to reposition the Shape.

A Shape can also be moved by positioning the pointer inside the Shape. It will turn into a four-way arrow. Click and drag with the Left Mouse Button to move the Shape.

The keyboard arrow keys ↑ ← ↓ → can also be used to move a Shape.  A single key press moves the object by one pixel in the direction of the arrow. Simultaneously holding the Ctrl key moves the object by 10 pixels per arrow key press.

Rotating a Shape

Before a Shape is committed to the canvas, it can be rotated.

The Rotation Point determines the center of rotation. It looks like a circle with a cross inside it (see diagram below) and is initially located in the center of the Shape. Click and drag the Rotation Point to relocate it (it can be moved outside the Shape or even off-canvas).

Rotate the Shape about the Rotation Point using the Right Mouse Button to click and drag.  An alternative is to position the cursor just outside the Shape when it will become a double headed curved arrow (see diagram below).  This indicates the Shape can be rotated about its center by clicking and dragging using the Left Mouse button.

If the Shift key is held down while rotating the angle of rotation is snapped to 15 degree increments.

The keyboard arrow keys ↑ ← ↓ → can also be used to rotate a Shape while the Right Mouse Button is held down.

Committing a Shape to the canvas

Commit the Shape to the active layer and exit editing mode using any one of these methods…

1. Press the Enter key
2. Click outside of the bounding box of the current Shape.
3. Click Finish in the Tool Bar
4. Draw a new Shape.

Tool Bar Settings

Shape Selector

Activate a Shape by clicking on it in the selection dropdown.

Draw Mode

Shapes are able to be drawn in three distinct modes; Shape Outline, Filled Shape and Filled Shape with Outline.  The first two options use the Primary Color if the Left Mouse button is used or the Secondary color if the Right Mouse button is used.  In the Filled Shape with Outline mode, the fill will be the Secondary color and the outline the Primary color if the Left Mouse button is used.  The Right mouse button reverses this coloration.

Brush Size

Brush size measures the size of the shape outline.
The keyboard keys [ and ] increase and decrease the size of the outline by one.  If the Ctrl modifier key is added, the outline width will change by 5 per combination keypress.

Corner Size (Rounded Rectangle only)

The Rounded Rectangle Shape has an additional configurable Tool Bar setting: Corner Size.

Corner Size is the radius applied to each of the corners of the Rounded Rectangle shape.  Small values see the rectangle rendered with sharper corners. Larger values round off the corners more.

Line Styles

The edges of the shape can have different styles applied while drawing. The style can be either solid or a combination of dashes and dots.

Fill Styles

Shapes can be rendered using a Fill Type as specified in the Tool Bar. This feature allows the Shape to be filled with one of numerous patterns rather than a solid color.

Fills utilizing a fill style will make use of both the Primary and Secondary colors.

Antialiasing

There are two antialiasing modes associated with the Shapes tool.

These settings determine whether the lines used to create the Shape are rendered in a clip-to-pixel mode or not.

When Antialiasing is enabled, lines will appear slightly thicker and smoother (upper example). Internally, Paint.NET uses x2 or x4 super sampling to improve the quality of antialiasing.

When Antialiasing is disabled, lines are rendered in solid pixels and appear more jagged and thinner (lower example).

Antialiasing can be switched on or off via the Tool Bar when the Text tool is active.

Blend Modes 

Shapes can be applied using a Blend Mode selected from the Tool Bar.  The Shape will be applied in accordance with the other parameters then reinterpreted as if the pixels were on their own layer with the layer blend mode set.

Selection Quality

This setting determines if the selection boundary should be aliased (pixelated) or antialiased (smoothed). If aliased/pixelated is used, selection boundaries will be snapped to the nearest pixel, resulting in a jagged or stepped appearance when shapes meet these edges. If antialiased/smoothed is used, the selection boundaries will be antialiased so a meeting between the shape and the boundary will be smoother.

Custom Shapes

Paint.NET's built-in Shapes cannot be deleted or modified, however you can add new Shapes or create your own.

Shapes are rendered from customized XAML files. One file is required for each Shape.

XAML Shape files must be copied into the Paint.NET/Shapes/ folder and Paint.NET restarted before new Shapes will show up in the drop-down list.

The best place to find free pre-made custom Shapes is the Paint.NET forum: Paint.NET Shapes forum

To install custom shapes, see this guide by forum Administrator BoltBait: How To Install Custom Shapes

If you wish to create your own Shapes, you may find this tutorial useful:

How To Create Custom Shapes

Additionally, there is a plugin which will assist making your own custom Shapes:

ShapeMaker