How to outline images.... the simple way?

[realmillions]

ive been tryin to figure this out for a while now ive read and tried a whole bunch of different tutorials and downloaded numerous programs photoshop corel etc and still cant get what i want the tutorials are most times too advanced and go above and beyond what i actually want to achieve i slimply want to be able to outline a simple or free form shape and pull the outline away from the image or have it appear in a separate window

and example of what im trying to do is this i have no idea how to upload an image in a forum post so heres the exact link (http://www.jacorre.com/design/candycane.htm) to the image i used the candy cane i am talking about is on this page of this website listed in step ten of how to draw a candy cane its positioned vertically and is all red (describing the image on the website) i simply want to place a black outline around this image which i can move around as a separate "shell" i can copy and paste at will which would be a shape in its simplest form i guess and example of what im describing would be a circle drawn using the ellipse tool in paint using black on a white background thats the type of outline im trying to achieve that same circle filled with red and removing the black lines is the type of image im working with now as you can see on the website

somethings i have tried using tutorials and suggestions from experiences users i added the candy cane shape to a blank document in photoshop selected it and then clicked the small flash icon which said add layer style and chose stroke and all that happens was two vertical red lines appear at the sides of the image window which as far as i could tell had nothing to do with the candy cane and produce no outline around the image any suggestion geared towards use with photo shop or the standard Microsoft paint program would be preferred but i greatly appreciate all advice

[jkersh]

In PS. I would stroke the image, create layer from stroke, select red in other layer and delete it out of stroke layer.

[tombothetominator]

- I would create your shape first.
- Create a selection of your shape (CTRL+Click on the thumbnail of the layer, or whatever method you prefer to use, the wand tool would work too)
- with the marquee tool selected, right click inside of your shape, and select 'make work path'
- create a new, blank layer. select this layer
- go to your paths pallete
- setup your brush (B) tool for what you want your stroke to look like (width, color, blah, blah, blah)
- right click on 'work path' in paths pallette, and select 'stroke path'
- in dialoge that comes up, select brush as your tool

You now have a strok around that path, on a separate layer.

If you want a visual tutorial i can make one for you, just let me know.

[thehen]

Is it possible to do this in a way which is scalable?

[tombothetominator]

Is it possible to do this in a way which is scalable?

Hmmm... never tried that, so i dont know if there is an efficient way to do that...

[realmillions]

thanks to everyone that helped i finally figured it out after 3 days heres how i did it i pasted the simple shape in a blank document then i clicked the create a new fill or adjustment icon under the layers tab and chose the solid color option afterwards i clicked the add a layer style icon under the layers tab and chose stroke which allowed me to pick and outline color and line thickness which was applied to the image