Pls help. Need general info about Photoshop & Illustrator

[nigor]

I always used Flash to do my graphics for websties, because flash is soo easy to use to do drawings.

Now I tried Photoshop and I love the font anti-aliasing and the colors it has (like the Phantom colors u can pick and all).

Now, I read about Illustrator and it is used to do Illustrations for web / print. But the font anti-aliasing and shadows are just not as good as in Photoshop. And there is no feature where you can select pre-selected colours (bad wording?).

So the bottom line, I want to use Photoshop to do my drawings.

Now, my drawing are very precise. I do not just draw a line, I draw a line that is x amount of pixels and is located xy on the picture ... otherwise I will not draw a line. Basically, everything I draw has to have precision in pixels.

I tried Photoshop, and I cant figure out a way to draw a line that is say 10 pixels long, then move it 10 pixels down .. and so on.

So I was wondering if it is even possible, or is Photoshop not designed for it?

Thanks!

[ammck55]

Originally posted by nigor
So I was wondering if it is even possible, or is Photoshop not designed for it?
Short answer? Yes! PShop can do more things than most of us can even conceive.

First off, pull up an image you already have working and create a new layer. Menu bar > Layer > New > Layer, or use the new layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette.

The easiest way I know of to draw as precisely as you indicate, is to, make sure that your rulers are visible. On the Menu bar: View > Rulers

To create a horizontal line exactly 10 pixels in length, the use of guides is very helpful. For a line as small as this, I'd also zoom my image out to 200 or 300%. Click in the vertical ruler at the left hand side of the image and drag your first guideline out, dropping it in an appropriate place on the image. Repeat and drop the second guideline 10 pixels from the first, using the ruler scale to guide your placement.

Now you're set to draw the horizontal line. PhotoShop has a "snap-to" option, make sure this is enabled. View > Snap To > Guides.

Select the Pencil tool; it may be hiding under the Brush tool, if so, right-click the Brush tool and select the Pencil from the dropdown menu. In the Options Bar (directly below the Menu bar), select the smallest brush size, "1". Click on one of your guides and drag-and-drop on the other. You now have a line exactly 10 pixels in length, oriented horizontally.

OK, you're ready to position the 10 pixel, horizontal line. Go back to the Tool Box and select the Move tool. If your line is a good distance from where its final resting place is, execute a drag-and-drop with the Move tool to position it more closely. For precise placement, using the arrow keys on your keyboard will move the line in 1 pixel increments, up, down, right, or left. Is that precise enough? :)

For a vertical line, the only thing you need to do differently is drag your guides down-image from the ruler at the top of your workspace.

A very helpful keyboard shortcut for drawing is to depress the shift key before drawing the line (or while using any of PShop's drawing tools); this will constrain your line to either perfectly horizontal, perfectly vertical, or a 45 degree angle.

This may sound like a lot of work just for a little old line, but it's really not after you get the hang of a few of the tools and how to manipulate them.

ammck55

[nigor]

Thanks ... now that I know that it can be done, and how to do it, Im gonna get a book or find tutorials and learn photoshop. This is one of those programs that will take forever to figure it out by exploring it without tutorials ..