Custom polygon shapes cannot be created

Symptoms

If one or more of these match what you are seeing, you are on the right page.

• •The side count will not go below three
• •The polygon is always regular when you need an irregular outline
• •The star looks like a blob rather than a star
• •Changing points does nothing visible

Causes and fixes

Ordered from most to least likely. Work down the list — each cause is paired with what to do about it.

1. 1

   A side or point count below three was requested.

   Three is the minimum for both polygons and stars — below that there is no closed shape. There is no enforced maximum.

2. 2

   An irregular shape is needed.

   The polygon generator only produces regular shapes. Draw the outline with the Pen tool (B), or generate a polygon and then edit its vertices in Vertex Edit mode.

3. 3

   Smoothing is turned up.

   Smoothing rounds both the inner and outer vertices of a star. At maximum it becomes a lobed organic form rather than a geometric star. Reduce it towards zero for sharp points.

4. 4

   Inner radius is too close to outer radius.

   In Star mode the ratio between inner and outer radius controls point sharpness. Close together gives a shallow, fat star; a much smaller inner radius gives sharp spikes.

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