Can the pen draw in a straight line.?

[Jeff Leese]

Is there any option to make the pen draw in a straight line in photoshop for iPad?

[Trevor.Dennis]

Do you mean the brush?  If yes, then try holding down Shift.  In the full version shift forces the brush to move perpendicular to the screen, or at 45°.  Touching down with the brush, and them holding down shift while touching down at a different location will force a straight line between the two locations.

[Jeff Leese]

Just wanted to note there is no keyboard on iPad. I was hoping there might be a way to reprogram the touch modifier, but not as far as I can see.

[Trevor.Dennis]

OK, I have an iPad Pro around here somewhere. I'll try and find it and see if I can work it out.

[Trevor.Dennis]

@Jeff Leese 

OK,  I had to wait for it to charge up, and I don't have the best news for you.  I have a keyboard on my iPad so was able to try the Shift key options as per the desktop version of Photoshop, and it doesn't work. So I did some hunting around it it appears that a lot of people are looking for a way to create straight lines on the iPad.

There are some completely unworkable suggestions involving the Ruler tool, but that would interupt your workflow so much you'd never get anything done, and it would destroy your ability to be creative.  There is talk of using Fresco which I have on my desktop but have not used beyond a quick try.

The best option I could find was to click on the three dots at the bottom of Brush Settings and set Smoothing to 100%  It does not create the same perfectly straight lines that we can do in the desktop version using the Shift key, but it definitely helps you create much straighter lines, and is a significant aid for sketching.  Especially with the Apple Pencil.  I barely know how to use the iPad version, but I was able to work it out quite quickly, and found I was enjoying the experience.

So give 100% Smoothing a go. I think that will move you forward for now, and with the amount of interest being shown for a straight line feature, I suspect it is just a matter of time.

Good luck

[Leslie Moak Murray]

If you mean the Pen Tool, do this:

-Set your brush to the desired thickness

-Drag a guide to where you want your line to be

-Place your points along it to the desired length (or height if it's vertical)

-With the Pen Tool selected, right-click, and from the dropdown menu choose Stroke Path.

[Jeff Leese]

I should have said brush, sorry. In Photoshop for Ipad, I don't think this program offers guides. 

[jane-e · Accepted solution]

@Jeff Leese 

This is a very awkward work-around for PS on the iPad, and I wouldn't want to do it more than once or twice in an image.

• Set the Rectangular Marquee tool to Fixed Size and type a Width and Height
• Click and drag to create and position the Selection marquee
• Fill with the foreground color (Option+Delete or Paintbucket)
• Deselect
• (Reset the tool if necessary)

Jane