Known Participant

Question

Reference point doesn't stay in desired place

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
July 20, 2020
7 replies
5379 views

Hello,

I need to rotate/scale a layer around a specific point so I just set the reference point at the right position. The issue is that when I loose the focus of the layer, the reference point goes back to its default place (center of the layer).

For instance I have to lose the focus when I need to lock/unlock another layer during the process.

And I will need to repeat this operation many times.

Does someone know how to avoid the automatic reset of the position of the reference point ?

Exactly like After Effects for instance.

I would be very grateful if someone had a solution because I haven't found this question yet.

Windows

D

Daniele26739051a31f

Participant

One effective approach to address this issue involves creating a shape layer that is larger than the layers intended for scaling or rotation, ensuring it is centered at the reference point. This shape layer can then be utilized as a null object for scaling the other layers. By doing so, Photoshop will consistently reference the anchor point of the larger layer, allowing for more precise control over the transformations applied to the smaller layers.

M

mandla_8443

Participant

Hey! Idk who OP is but I found a solution. Press option key on mac when selecting it and then drag it down:

How to Duplicate Objects Around a Circle EASILY in Adobe ...YouTube·Photoshop Tutorials Pejiz·11 Oct 2024YouTube

Also was struggling with this. Hopefully you all can apply it for future projects!

PECourtejoie

Community Expert

Hi, Bonjour, this seems to be a default behavior, indeed, once you lose focus, you commit the change, and since the image might have been transformed, the reference points goes to the new center (or the same if no transform occured.

You cannot change the order of operations? I have a hard time to understand the lock-unlock process.

Could you maybe place guides?

Roland_Rick

Known Participant

@PECourtejoie , I think, the video I posted is more than sufficient explaining what's the problem. - Please don't take it pesonally, using the Adone Help Community is nothing else as a giganic waste of time. NEVER got a solution of a problem posted. Adobe is just simply a super ignorant company. "Attention, a customer! Where can we hide?". - FYC: @Laurent_D

PECourtejoie

Community Expert

@Roland_Rick I understand your frustration. There are millions of users of Photoshop, if hey all called the team whenever they have an issue, there would be no Photoshop update anymore... I know this is not the first thread you are part of.

I understand that you want the equivalent of the pan behind tool, to permanently move the reference point.

I'll see if there is a FR on that topic already.

Laurent_DAuthor

Known Participant

If it's just not doeable in these new versions I suggest to report this directly to the Adobe tech support. I cann't find the feedback/suggestion section for Photoshop though.

PECourtejoie

Community Expert

Hi, just go to the main page of Photoshop's Ecosystem forum, and select new discussion, you can select a bug report, an idea...

Roland_Rick

Known Participant

Just to clarity what @Laurent_D and I am talking about:

Bojan Živković11378569

Community Expert

I knew what are you both talking about.

Roland_Rick

Known Participant

I have the same problem. Any solutions?

JJMack

Community Expert

How do you set a reference point to use manually with transforms? Are you settings a vertical and horizontal guide lines so you can snap to the point over the canvas? I set them all the tine using color sampler, My script can process all 10 and rotate a layer about them.

JJMack

Laurent_DAuthor

Known Participant

Here is the way to set a reference point for manual transforms :

Select the layer
Ctrl+T
check the box :

But I still don't know how to keep it where it is after having lost focus.

Bojan Živković11378569

Community Expert

When you record trasform step in Photoshop action it will record and reference point. You can turn on modal [arrow is pointing to modal control in screenshot below] what will instruct Photoshop to enter free transform, set reference point to desired corner and to wait for you to further adjust transformation before finishing execution of that step. You can have only one step in action by the way, and to assign keyboard shortcut to play action. That is what comes to my mind at the moment.

Action can be even more useful if you are always doing same transformation with all your files but be careful, check everything before running batch process, if you ever come to that idea.

Roland_Rick

Known Participant

Bojan, thanks for your reply, but the question/problem of @Laurent_D has nothing to do with actions. I have the same problem.

I'm in Ps 23.5.1 on a Intel Mac.

I press Cmd+T then drag the reference point to the desired position. After confirming by pressing the Enter key, the reference point jumps back to it's initial position. Is it a bug or a super hidden setting in the preferences?

Bojan Živković11378569

Community Expert

My answer is one possible workaround because things does not work as you and OP need them. Its not ideal, you can not reuse same action with layer in different position and with different dimensions but it can save time when you need to use same reference point multiple times for the same layer/object. There isn't super hidden preference settings. However, it can be also very useful if you need to rotate multiple objects or layers around same reference point in the document.

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