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marcbjango
marcbjango
Known Participant
March 31, 2011
Under Review

P: Add options for softer anti-aliasing for Vector Masks/Shape Layers

  • March 31, 2011
  • 49 replies
  • 2063 views

*** If this is important to you, please comment below. ***

Vector Masks in Photoshop have sharper anti-aliasing than shapes created other ways. Quite often, I find that the results are too sharp. This is especially true for very small shapes, making it an issue for icon creation.

It’s interesting to note that vector Smart Objects that have been pasted from Illustrator have vastly different anti-aliasing to Shape Layers that have been pasted from Illustrator. The Smart Objects are far heavier and the anti-aliasing seems posterized.

I don’t really have a solution for this, except a suggestion that the Shape Layer/Vector Mask rendering is very close to ideal for me, but I’d prefer slightly softer anti-aliasing. I don’t know how this could be implemented while keeping legacy support. I guess there’s three ways it could be done: A global change or preference, where all documents get the new rendering (breaking legacy rendering), a per document setting or a per object/layer setting. The first breaks compatibility, the second and third add UI and file bloat.

Steps to Reproduce — Create a circular marquee selection at a smallish size, say 9x9 pixels and fill it with white. Create a pixel snapped vector circle that’s the exact same size (you may have to use the rounded rectangle tool with a large radius and Snap To Pixel turned on). Compare the results—the marquee selection bitmap layer is smoother.

Workaround — None. Only really crazy, silly stuff that I’m not usually willing to do because it removes editability.


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If you'd like to see the original files, grab them here: antialiastest-597642.zip

View an animated comparison between the various methods.

*** If this is important to you, please comment below. ***

    49 replies

    Show previous replies
    45634563545
    45634563545
    Inspiring
    October 15, 2012
    Brilliant idea!
    S
    salmanabbas007
    Participant
    August 17, 2011
    Any update on this?
    marcbjango
    marcbjangoAuthor
    Known Participant
    August 15, 2011
    Matt, I'd love some more info as well. Maybe there's some interim fixes already available, or maybe it's a different type of issue?
    F
    FeedbackCommunityMember
    Inspiring
    August 2, 2011
    You might want to provide more information about that - because it sounds like you're describing the reverse of what others are asking for here...
    M
    Mama Shan
    Participating Frequently
    August 2, 2011
    You took the words right out of my mouth! It was my intention to mention to put the options in the Masks Panel....but you've covered that! Best idea for placement of vector aliasing options, in my opinion, too!
    F
    FeedbackCommunityMember
    Inspiring
    July 22, 2011
    I signed up to Photoshop.com just because of this topic. I'm getting so frustrated because I've been making icons for mobile phones in Illustrator, then bringing them into Photoshop to resize. The anti-aliasing is destroying the graphics. I have to go in with a 1 pixel pencil and fix up every single one.
    marcbjango
    marcbjangoAuthor
    Known Participant
    July 2, 2011
    Didn't know about that! Thanks. Yeah, maybe that's a better place for it. I guess this also demonstrates how spread out the options are for vector masks.
    F
    FeedbackCommunityMember
    Inspiring
    July 2, 2011
    Would it not be more appropriate in the masks panel? You can already control feather, just needs another slider for anti-alias.


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    marcbjango
    marcbjangoAuthor
    Known Participant
    July 2, 2011
    The more I think about this, the more I'd actually like vector shapes to be able to run the full gamut from completely aliased to anti-aliasing similar to the elliptical marquee tool. It'd mean those building retro pixel art could keep everything as vector paths. How awesome would that be?

    An example circle, from completely aliased to elliptical marquee tool anti-aliasing. (Doing this with the current tools is possible, but more time consuming and impossible while maintaining vector objects.)


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    And where we've been talking about placing the option:


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    marcbjango
    marcbjangoAuthor
    Known Participant
    April 10, 2011
    If there's any more information required, please let me know. If Photoshop becomes better, my job gets easier, so I'll do what I can to help.
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