Photoshop and shapes

Figgy

I'm very familiar with Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. What I'm trying to do, though, is create a map. I can work with the pen tool like nobody's business, but I can't seem to figure out a way to do the following without it being extremely tedious:

1) Roads. I want roads. Do I need to draw the roads as a rectangle and carefully build them out that way, or is there a way to just draw a path, then tell it to make that path X pixels thick in Y colour, with this stroke, etc?

2) Dotted lines. This seems like a no brainer but I can't get it going. Is there a way to do dotted lines similar to the above, or am I forced to create a path and then add a text layer to that path with a bunch of dashes?

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

wouldn't you just create a path, then use the stroke/width tools to make it look how you want?

ed: I haven't used it in a while but I'm pretty sure a dashed-line stroke is a default option

wrong_button

Any reason you can't build that in Illustrator (where that stuff is easier) then place it in P-shop/place your raster image in AI and draw over it, or are you locked into 100% P-shop?

edit for usefulness: if you have to do it in P-shop, you should be able to customize a brush and use that brush to stroke the path, which should work for both of your issues, though it's not probably as ideal as the AI/PS hybrid. Here's a quick link I dug up that explains the basic idea.

Figgy

I find the path/stroke method really finicky for some reason. I've got it in my head that it has to be a shape. Can a path be transformed into a shape, following its stroke for the shape?

I never thought of using Illustrator and bringing it back in....

Knight_

Believe you can make a stroke into a shape, right click maybe? Been a while. Path and stroke is going to be your best bet here though certainly.

Figgy

Ugh. It looks like I've been woefully unaware about how paths work. Unless the fact I have CS6 in front of me right now at home, but I use 5.5 at work, and paths differ... but I doubt it.

I still don't see how to use dotted lines this way.. maybe a stepped brush.

Wassermelone

Absolutely just do it in illustrator

Photoshops' vector tools are butts.

Wassermelone

If you have to do it in photoshop for whatever reason, yeah a stroked path would be best.

Choose a circular brush, remove pressure sensitivity, and increase the spacing of the brush so it basically paints a dotted line. And then as Knight said, right click, stroke path.

But still, illustrators tools are better for this

MagicToaster

I suggest to do it in Illustrator and import it to photoshop as a Smart Object, that way you can edit the vector file if something doesn't quite match.

This is the easiest way to make roads. The set up is a pain in the butt, however, it will save you time afterwards.

Figgy

Thanks for the advice, guys. I've been forging on using stroked paths for now, but the illustrator method certainly has its benefits. This particular map is for cycling routes, but for future maps I'll go the illustrator route.

This thing is a freaking beast, covering 56km and over 3,200 acres

Here is a tiny part of it so far: