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robertbrown
Participating Frequently
June 9, 2026
Question

Text Layer Upscaling With Proportionate Kerning

  • June 9, 2026
  • 2 replies
  • 51 views

Starting with 400x400 image size, with 40 pt text layer. 2 letters, kerned at 5.

Wanting to create the same text layer with the same kerning at various larger sizes. For example: 500x500 image size with 50 pt text layer, 1500x1500 image size with 150 pt text layer etc.

Simply typing the larger text layer in the larger image size can produce different kerning positions. Normally one px difference.

To confirm what the new size should be regarding the correct kerning, I have tried every way of testing I can find using upscaling techniques and they can all give different results. It also changes depending on what size I start with to upscale.

  • Increasing image size
  • Increasing image size with Scale Styles 
  • Duplicating the layer, sending it to the new canvas and increasing the font pt
  • Converting to smart object, opening text layer as .psb and then increasing font pt
  • Free transform as a shape and smart object
  • Free transform as live text (this can produce kerning differences within dead zones)

If I can’t type a text layer in a new .psd and trust that kerning placement to be accurate and I can’t upscale a font pt and trust that kerning placement to be accurate, how does one determine the correct kerning position at different sizes?

2 replies

D Fosse
Community Expert
D FosseCommunity Expert
Community Expert
June 10, 2026

Your starting document is so small - 400 x 400 pixels is barely a thumbnail - that this is most likely just rounding errors and “the butterfly effect”.

 

Keep in mind that Photoshop is a pixel editor and any vector elements are always, no exception, rendered as pixels. And you only have 400.

 

What happens if you go the other way, from large to small?

    R
    robertbrownAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    June 10, 2026

    Thank you for responding. Well I agree and disagree with your first comment. I understand that for vector accuracy purposes one should create a logo at a larger size but my goal is not about quality, it’s about accuracy of proportionate kerning throughout sizes. Regardless whether I started the text layer at 40pt or 1000 pt from what I understand, increasing or decreasing any start point size should not have an influence on the kerning value being accurate, because it’s calculated as a percentage of the font’s size.

    I want the kerning at 5. I know that my 40pt is how I want it. I type another size, for example 150pt multiple times on a new 1500x1500 image size. Let’s say 2 out of 10 times the kerning is off by 1 px in relation to the other 8. Any scaling method cannot prove to me which set of kerned text layers is correct. Be that the mean or anomalous layers.

    That is a very good idea about going from large to small. I have just tried that and taken 2 150pt text layers that have come out 1 px different after being typed and committed. Moved them both to the 400x400 with 40pt, then compared them with the original 40pt text layer. They both now match the original 40pt in the .psd. When I drag them back to their original projects they go back to how they were. So I am unable to know which typed larger text layer was the correct one.

    I am starting to think maybe this is an impossible task and I should have the original 40pt vectorized, resized and then match up each typed text layer with each corresponding vector.

    Stephen Marsh
    Community Expert
    Stephen MarshCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    June 10, 2026

    Dupe post, closed here:

     

     

      R
      robertbrownAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      June 10, 2026

      i was told to repost here, its in the replies to the other one which was posted in the wrong place

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