How to rotate a rectangle?

[Navy]

I apologize at the stupidity of this question, I am very new to Paint, and my question is, when making a basic black rectangle on a white background, how do you rotate that rectangle? Again, I apologize at the stupidity of this question.

[Ego Eram Reputo]

There is no such thing as a stupid question - except possibly the ones left unasked!

Hi Navy - Welcome to the forum!

As you're new to Paint.NET I'll explain in a bit of detail.

Paint.NET uses layers to construct images. The idea is that these layers are similar to sheets of clear glass or plastic. These 'sheets' are stacked on top of each other in order to assemble the final image. Thankfully this all happens behind the scenes, so we don't have to worry too much about how it happens. Suffice to say that the canvas on the screen is the assembled or composited image. The layers (i.e. 'sheets') are shown in the Layers window.

We generally place one picture element on each layer so we can move or edit them independently of the rest of the image. This is what I'm going to teach you now.

1. Open a new image. By default this will have one layer and it will be filled with white. Cool - because you wanted a white background right?

2. Next we need to create a new layer to house the rectangle. Do this by clicking this icon in the foot of the Layers window :AddNewLayer: (NB this can also be done using the Layers menu).

3. Check your Layers Window. It now has two entries right? The original white layer and the new one - which by default is transparent (Paint.NET uses the gray/white checkerboard to denote transparency).

4 .Click on the New layer in the Layers Window to ensure that it has the editing focus - it should be highlighted in the Layers Window.

5. Now draw your rectangle using the rectangle tool :ReactangleTool: . It will be drawn on the layer that is active (the new transparent one).

Let's learn how to rotate a layer:

1. Press CTRL and the A key simultaneously (CTRL + A - this selects the entire layer).

2. Now press the M key - this is the same as selecting the Move tool in the Tools Window.

3. Hold down the right mouse button and drag the mouse around - this should spin the layer. This is what you wanted to learn, plus I hope you've learned a bit more too.

What's clever about this layers stuff then? If you activate the white background layer you can fill it with any other color and you won't have to worry about it recoloring the rectangle layer!

To save the image in this format you need to save it as a *.PDN (native Paint.NET format). It's a good idea to do so in case you need to edit it later on.

[pdnnoob]

stupid question: a question that was answered in the post above it

...but that's irrelevant to this discussion.

Summary of EER's instructions:

1. create a new image

2. press ctrl+shift+n (add new layer)

3. draw your black rectangle with the rectangle tool

4. switch to your "move selected pixels" tool (the black arrow) and right click and drag

[Navy]

There is no such thing as a stupid question - except possibly the ones left unasked!

Hi Navy - Welcome to the forum!

As you're new to Paint.NET I'll explain in a bit of detail.

Paint.NET uses layers to construct images. The idea is that these layers are similar to sheets of clear glass or plastic. These 'sheets' are stacked on top of each other in order to assemble the final image. Thankfully this all happens behind the scenes, so we don't have to worry too much about how it happens. Suffice to say that the canvas on the screen is the assembled or composited image. The layers (i.e. 'sheets') are shown in the Layers window.

We generally place one picture element on each layer so we can move or edit them independently of the rest of the image. This is what I'm going to teach you now.

1. Open a new image. By default this will have one layer and it will be filled with white. Cool - because you wanted a white background right?

2. Next we need to create a new layer to house the rectangle. Do this by clicking this icon in the foot of the Layers window :AddNewLayer: (NB this can also be done using the Layers menu).

3. Check your Layers Window. It now has two entries right? The original white layer and the new one - which by default is transparent (Paint.NET uses the gray/white checkerboard to denote transparency).

4 .Click on the New layer in the Layers Window to ensure that it has the editing focus - it should be highlighted in the Layers Window.

5. Now draw your rectangle using the rectangle tool :ReactangleTool: . It will be drawn on the layer that is active (the new transparent one).

Let's learn how to rotate a layer:

1. Press CTRL and the A key simultaneously (CTRL + A - this selects the entire layer).

2. Now press the M key - this is the same as selecting the Move tool in the Tools Window.

3. Hold down the right mouse button and drag the mouse around - this should spin the layer. This is what you wanted to learn, plus I hope you've learned a bit more too.

What's clever about this layers stuff then? If you activate the white background layer you can fill it with any other color and you won't have to worry about it recoloring the rectangle layer!

To save the image in this format you need to save it as a *.PDN (native Paint.NET format). It's a good idea to do so in case you need to edit it later on.

stupid question: a question that was answered in the post above it

...but that's irrelevant to this discussion.

Summary of EER's instructions:

1. create a new image

2. press ctrl+shift+n (add new layer)

3. draw your black rectangle with the rectangle tool

4. switch to your "move selected pixels" tool (the black arrow) and right click and drag

Thanks guys! I appreciate the time you took!

Another question I have regarding the .PDN format. Is it possible to, when I'm done with the image, merge the layers and 'save as' a .jpg image to shrink the file size a little bit? I know it's impossible to keep all the individual layers without saving it in a .PDN format, but I'll probably need to shrink the file down when I'm done with it for the purpose of using it on a different forum.

[pyrochild]

Yes, you can choose JPG or several other filetypes in the File -> Save As dialog. If you have multiple layers, it will then prompt you to flatten the image.

[Ego Eram Reputo]

Always save a master copy as a *.PNG first! Then File | Save As... (optionally flatten before the last save with Ctrl + Shift + F or Image | Flatten).