Adjust Live Shape Corner Radius in Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop utilizes Live Shape properties to provide a non-destructive, parametric workflow for vector shapes, allowing designers to dynamically modify the corner radius of rectangles and rounded rectangles at any stage of the design process. This article explains how Live Shape attributes maintain vector editability, how to adjust corner radii via the Properties panel and on-canvas widgets, and how independent corner controls streamline interface and graphic design workflows.

Understanding Live Shapes

When you draw a rectangle or rounded rectangle using the Shape tools, Photoshop generates a Live Shape rather than a standard static path. A Live Shape preserves its original geometric attributes—including width, height, fill, stroke, and corner rounding—as editable metadata. This prevents the corners from becoming permanently baked into the vector path, ensuring that resizing or modifying the shape does not distort the corner curvature.

Adjusting Corners via the Properties Panel

The primary hub for editing dynamic corner radius is the Properties panel (Window > Properties). When a Live Shape layer is selected, the panel reveals dedicated controls for corner curvature:

  • Uniform Adjustments: By default, the four corner radius fields (top-left, top-right, bottom-left, and bottom-right) are linked together by a chain-link icon. Entering a value or scrubbing the slider updates all four corners simultaneously.
  • Independent Corner Radii: Clicking the chain-link icon unlinks the values. This allows you to define distinct radii for individual corners, making it easy to create complex shapes such as chat bubbles, tabs, or custom UI elements without manually editing vector anchor points.

Using On-Canvas Controls

Photoshop also offers interactive, on-canvas controls for dynamic editing:

  1. Select the shape using the Path Selection Tool (A) or the Direct Selection Tool (A).
  2. Circular handles (widgets) will appear just inside each corner of the shape.
  3. Dragging any handle inward increases the radius, while dragging outward flattens the corner toward a sharp 90-degree angle.
  4. To adjust a single corner on the canvas, hold Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) while clicking and dragging the specific corner widget.

Non-Destructive Scaling and Transformations

Because corner radius is stored as a live property, resizing a shape using the standard Free Transform tool (Ctrl + T or Cmd + T) or through the Properties panel can behave non-destructively. When configured properly, Photoshop preserves the exact pixel or point value of the corner radius rather than stretching the curve, eliminating the distortion typically caused by scaling traditional paths.