Tell me more ×
Graphic Design Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for professional graphic designers and non-designers trying to do their own graphic design. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 0 down vote favorite

I just drew a 1px line with a 1px drop shadow in Photoshop, yet parts of it are really off. Please see the image below....

enter image description here

Is Photoshop just not able to hand things well at the 1 pixel level? I was hoping it could produce shapes more exactly than this. Thank you.

share|improve this question

1 Answer

up vote 3 down vote accepted

Your shape is just crooked. Is this a vector path? If so, just select the points and reposition them.

To clear it's name, Photoshop does very well at the pixel level. That's what it's for. Just make sure you draw your shapes/pixels well and set your effects correctly (according to the desired result). Photoshop can only give you what you ask for.

share|improve this answer
2  
Yep. If it's raster, hold down the shift key and that will give you a nice straight line. – Lauren Ipsum Jan 30 at 18:12
2  
@Zak833 I think plainclothes means that the line isn't 100% horizontal, which I at least am pretty sure of that's the case. When drawing a horizontal line, you can hold shift so it doesnt stray off. – poepje Jan 30 at 18:22
When you have a 100% horizontal line though, you may still see a line above it with less alpha, to get rid of this just zoom in as much as possible then Ctrl+T and drag the line to the exact right line so it is exactly 1 pixel of height. – poepje Jan 30 at 18:25
Thanks, everyone! @poepje, I'm not sure what you mean exactly... You mean transform the original line? I'm not sure if it would be possible to transform the line above and if the first line is 100% horizontal... – zakgottlieb Jan 31 at 11:14
What I mean is: Let's say its not completely sharp on either side of the line (basically the same thing what you show in the picture), you can make it completely sharp by zooming in to the max, then transforming it so the vector mask line is exactly on the edge of the pixel. – poepje Feb 1 at 12:09

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.