New Member (No PMs)
hey all, howsit going?
i've been wondering for some time if it's possible in photoshop 6 to put a dotted or dashed line around a selection... as i would like to make for eg. a circle made from a dashed line or other objects like that... if your not sure what i mean be dashed line heres an examplehere.
Is this possible... can anyone help?? I'd really appreciate it...
thanks a bunch..
mreeeooooww!!
teamkitten.com
New Member (No PMs)
hey all, howsit going?
i've been wondering for some time if it's possible in photoshop 6 to put a dotted or dashed line around a selection... as i would like to make for eg. a circle made from a dashed line or other objects like that... if your not sure what i mean be dashed line heres an examplehere.
Is this possible... can anyone help?? I'd really appreciate it...
thanks a bunch..
mreeeooooww!!
teamkitten.com
Member
Well, you have me stumped. I dont think you can. I would think that this kind of option would be with the stroke command...but there is no such animal there. You can only define the width of the stroke. This kind of thing might be best handled in a drawing ap. Or perhaps a 3rd party plugin can do it. (can Kai's tools??)
A weird work around in photoshop:
First, you should set your feather to 0. This option should be available when you have any of the selection tools selected...look in the options bar at the top if you are using PS6 (doubleclik any selection tool in earlier versions which will display the options tab). Make a selection that conforms to the shape you want oulined. Modify>boder and type in half your desired line thickness (the border command will increase the selection x number of pixels on both sides of your initial selection). Then fill it with an apropriate pattern. There is a weave pattern that works quite well. Unfortunately, there is not a great deal of control doing this...but it does work.
Member
Hiya peoples...
The effect you want kat & Beth can be done by simply stroking a Path, with any brush.
1) To start with, create a solid version of the shape you'd like to serve as your outline.
2) Ctrl-click the shape, loading it as a selection. Then open the Paths palette and convert the selection to a Path.
3) With the Path visible on the canvas, choose your preferred drawing/painting tool and the brush type & size you want to use.
NOTE: you'll need to change the default "Spacing" of the brush, to create the dashed effect. In my example, i used a 200% spacing.
In the Paths palette at the bottom, you should see an icon that looks like a solid circle with 4 control nodes (dots) around it's edge. Click on that once, then turn off the Path (Ctrl+H - PS6)(PS5+ - look in the popout menu).
If you like the results, then you're done. If not, "unDo" and make any needed changes. Then reapply the Path stroke procedure.
Notes:
Depending on the complexity of your shape (and thus selection) you may need to clean up the resulting Path before stroking it. Photoshop is definately NOT adept at quality Path creation 'by default'. This effect works best (easiest) on simple shapes with either large or very little curve in them; otherwise you'll need to do some cleanup.
----------------------
To create the dashed outline as in my example image, i used a specific technique, and not the above one.
1) Create your shape as in the above method. Then stroke it with the line thickness you'd like.
2) Now use the line tool and create a grid that covers the entire outline shape, just beyond it's boders.
3) Load this grid as a selection, activate the outline shape layer, and press Delete.
This method can also work for circles and such. Your grid will simply need to be created differently to facilitate each type of shape you use - for example: your grid for creating a dashed circle would look like a big star; made from single Line shapes like the example below.
Tip:
In the example below, the outmost dotted outline was create using a 5 pixel "Pencil" brush. The Pencil tool can produce 'cleaner' shapes than the other tools, should you desire this effect. You can always add a little Blur to soften the effect afterward if that's what you'd like.
Hope that helps get you started on this effect. Use your imaginations now to think of other ways to create various other types of outline effects. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
Member
Way to go Mark!
Such nicely detailed instructions. Ouuuu.
Beth
New Member (No PMs)
Thank you both soo much for your help.. i have tried the technique you described theKeeper by creating a path and stoking it... wowsers i never really used that path pallet much until now and i've found all sorts of use for it...
the only problem i found with paths tho is when i tried to make a circle and wanted to make a path from that circle selection how unperfect it came out... i thought a full circle would be easy to make a path from but it came out almost right except for a line it put in to join the circle up... instead of keeping it curvy..
Does anyone know a way to rectify this.. or experiences the same problem.. or maybe it's just me.. ?!
teamkitten.com
Member
i try! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]
Kat you are correct about how a selection converted to a path turns out in PS. As i stated, Photoshop is definately weak in that department.
One thing you must try with this though is to set your conversion threshold to 0.5. To do that, do NOT just click the "Make path from selection" icon on the palette. Instead, click on the right-arrow button in the top-right of the palette. In that menu, choose the option; that way you'll be able to modify this threshold before PS converts the selection to a path.
And aside from that... the only real solution that i've seen work 'better' (but not perfect) is to either copy & paste a Path straight from Illustrator, of import one.
But i'm always trying to solve things like this. So if i find a better solution, i will post it here; and on my own PS board as well.
Cya folks!
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