Pen tool : Anchor points too small?

[Roger Breton]

Win 11 v25.11.0

I have been using Photoshop for a long time and I always found the size the anchor points generated by the Pen tool to be way too small for anyone having "normal vision"?

Sadly, version after version, there does not seem to be any Preferences related to this behavior, akin to those in Illustrator.

Am I missing something grossly obvious?
Any help is appreciated.

[Roger Breton]

Incidentally, I asked ChatGPT the following:

is therre an option to control the size the anchor points generated by the Pen tool in photoshop? They are very small and it's easy to miss them when trying to select them with the Direct Selection tool?

And got the following reply:

Yes, you can adjust the size of the anchor points in Photoshop to make them easier to see and select. Here’s how you can do it:

1. Open Preferences: Go to Edit (Windows) or Photoshop (Mac) in the menu bar, then select Preferences and choose Cursors.

2. Adjust Anchor Point Size: In the Cursors section, look for the option labeled Anchor Point Size. You can choose between Small, Medium, and Large.

3. Apply Changes: After selecting your preferred size, click OK to apply the changes.

This should make the anchor points more visible and easier to select with the Direct Selection tool

But there are not "Anchor points" section that I can see in the Preferences > Cursor tab that I can see?

[Roger Breton]

I also tried changing the UI scaling to 200% to no avail.

Could be I'm on a 4K 42" Dell monitor and Windows is having difficulty with some applications to propagate the resolution information of my display? Could be it works perfect on the Mac or other Windows system. I have a normal HD laptop I installed me second instance of Creative Cloud, I ought to give it a try there. Thanks!

[Conrad_C]

Interesting. So it looks like this is another example of where AI provided an answer that sounds good, and is actually largely correct, but is wrong about a critical detail: It confused the settings for Photoshop and Illustrator.

[Roger Breton]

I was so excited when I read the ChatGPT reply! Nothing to lose...
Oh well, it was worth asking the question ...

[melissapiccone]

Don't believe the AI - it mashes all of the apps together and just makes stuff up. It likes double down it's mistakes. I have been using it to help me write instructions for Photoshop and InDesign and it's often very wrong, making up keyboard shortcuts that don't exist and as you found, preference options that don't exist. 

[Roger Breton]

I confess my expectations on this "problem" using ChatGPT were not too high. But I had to give it a try. In case. Somehow, it must be "scraping" the net? Perhaps I wasn't the only person who ever complained about this in Photoshop. Anyhow, lesson learned. BUT I still find ChatGPT useful for various programming assignments, such as in Matlab or python or R or Javascript relating to color and simple helpful things. I mean, it's my "GoTo" place when searching for information about a specific problem. But I confess I'm not "hooked" on it. For translation, I find it useful. 

[Conrad_C]

I confess my expectations on this "problem" using ChatGPT were not too high. But I had to give it a try. In case. Somehow, it must be "scraping" the net?

By @Roger Breton

The way these AI services work is coming up with an answer with the highest probability of being correct based on their training model of the problem and solution. That’s where they get into trouble, when the answer they come up with is not “known correct” but only “high probability of being correct,” which really means “real probability of being wrong in some way.” And where we get into trouble is when we don’t keep in mind that an AI answer might not be 100% correct.

The best practice is to review and verify answers from AI. Fortunately, that’s what you did, you did the right thing: You questioned the answer you got from AI, so you asked some real humans (here), and then the humans evaluated the AI answer and gave you the real answer.

[Spas K.]

Illustrator has much more settings for the anchor point sizes, handles and so on, but in Photoshop, it's a bit limited.

You can increase the thickness of paths, which also bumps up the size of the anchor points. With the pen tool selected:

Or Edit > Preferences > Guides, Grids & Slices, increase Path to 2px (3px doesn't make a difference).

[Roger Breton]

Thanks! Every bit "helps" although we're "losing" on the "precision" of the actual path location 😞 Sigh...

[Spas K.]

Yeah, I guess while there are many uses for vector paths and the pen tool in Photoshop, it was never a priority to make it that customizable or precise.

[Roger Breton]

You are right, it's never been a prority for Adobe. Perhaps they long figure it would cannibalize Illustrator? 

[Conrad_C]

Making the apps consistent wouldn‘t cannibalize Illustrator at all. Anyone who really needs Illustrator will continue to use it because Illustrator and Photoshop have different and complementary strengths; it’s very unlikely that either will ever completely replace the other.

Also, there is no money to be lost to cannibalization with the many customers who subscribe to the All Apps plan, because they’re already paying for both Photoshop and Illustrator no matter how much they use one or the other.

[Spas K.]

13-14 years ago, when I was very much a newbie with any of Adobe's software, I tried to use Photoshop for practically everything. I liked how the Pen Tool in Photoshop worked better than Illustrator, and the interface for effects like gradient and color overlays felt much better than how Illustrator did things, which just felt more clunky to use. I was only designing for digital, so printing wasn't a concern. Also had the benefit of advanced raster editing, while still being able to work with vector elements. I think both programs can influence each other for the better, and it totally makes sense for the same tools to work in the same way, and have the same options.

[jane-e]

Perhaps they long figure it would cannibalize Illustrator? 

By @Roger Breton

The Photoshop team has been adding features from Illustrator for years! Why stop now? 😊

As you were told earlier, chatGPT told you how to change the size of the anchor points in Illustrator instead of Photoshop. Can you start a new post, tag it as an Idea instead of Disusssion, and follow these steps in your post?

To submit an idea, please provide:

1. Description
2. Why is this valuable to you?

Keep it brief and to the point. The developers will see and track it, plus others can upvote.

Jane

[Earth Oliver]

It took us 25 years of begging to get them to add line weights and colors to the Pen tool. Perhaps if we beg for another 25 we might get anchor size options?

[Roger Breton]

We'll be too old, the day they find they have nothing to do. This must be the last target on their priority list. In a way, I don't care that much. My goal is to show the students that the tool exists and that it can make better selections, at least in my experience, than any of the other tools currently in Photoshop. From there, it's "out of my hands". I'm not in production anymore. For me, "Close cutting" with the Pen tool brings back memories of my early design jobs with QuarlXpress. Those days, EPS with clipping paths were the name of the game. But, since the advent of "Transparency", things have eased up quite a bit. Layer masks never been handier and easier. But as an "Image processing" class, I want the students to see the difference. I'm not going to spend 30 minutes creating the outliine of a banana, to show them how the tool works. Besides, they'll have spent 5 classes of Illustrator with me just before starting on my Photoshop course. So, I'm sure I'll have an easy time to show them the diffierences and similarities between Illustator and Photoshop's implementation of the Pen tool. The idea is to help "learn". Beyond that point, they don't need me: once the birds have learned how to fly, they flee the nest for good.