Outside stroke with square corners

[familybees]

I would like to be able to apply an outside stroke with square corners to any layer in Photoshop. The layer styles stroke tool always rounds the corners when setting the stroke to outside. I don't want the stroke inside because it covers up part of the layer. I know this can be done in the vector shape stroke tool, but I would like this same functionality to be available in the layer styles stroke tool panel. Or better yet, one tool to apply any kind of stroke to any layer would be great. I'd be happy with the same functionality in the existing tools, though. Thanks!

[kevin stohlmeyer]

@familybees perhaps what would be helpful is to allow the same stroke controls as InDesign or Illustrator which have join, corner and bevel controls:

[AndrewDodsonPhotography]

Yes! This drives me absolutely crazy. I wish Adobe would give us greater control over the outside corners like Kevin points out in Illustrator.

So far my workaround has been to go ahead and set my outside stroke for however many pixels (ex. 20px) and let it do it's rounded-corner thing. Then with the Marquee tool (set at 0 for the corners) select the area of the outside stroke and create a solid color layer matching stroke color. Put it directly below the layer with the outside stroke and link the two layers together. It's a PITA, but so far seems to get me the results I wanted.

[Jumpenjax]

Stohlmeyer shows a great example of how to accomplish this.

[Stephen_A_Marsh]

Vector shape layers have these miter options and avoid these issues.

I have added my vote for layer styles on a raster layer. Until such a thing is available, depending on the use case, I can recommend a work around using a layer mask or clipping group layer with an oversized stroke – it is multi-step so best put into an action or script.

[Kaj35945084nura]

is there any aprovement to this problem?

I need to get thise corners sharp.

[Stephen_A_Marsh]

@Kaj35945084nura 

Can you provide a sample PSD file?

As I previously wrote, vector shape layers avoid the problem. Otherwise, a workaround using a layer mask or clipping group layer with an oversized stroke is also possible.

[Kaj35945084nura]

Hi, the problem is that I have jobs like this. I need to get sharp angled lines around the pieces. There may be more than 30-40 pieces in the structure.


Ystävällisin terveisin,
Best regards,

Kaj Salin
Designer

Dekotel Coating Oy
Hepolammentie 25
08680 Lohja
Finland
Tel:+358 20 773 9390
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Email:kaj.salin@dekotel.com
http://www.dekotel.com

[Stephen_A_Marsh]

@Kaj35945084nura 

The following action works fine in my test setup, but yours may differ. Presuming a transparent layer with a raster fill with a stroke layer style applied and does not have any existing layer mask or clipping group applied. The following animation has a 2 second frame delay on the loop showing the round to square corner that the action delivers:

* Run the action on the selected layer.

* When prompted, set the Maximum filter to the size of the required stroke thickness in pixels (i.e. 8 px)

* Edit the stroke layer style and double its thickness (i.e. from 8 to 16 px)

Download link:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/n40xme9q3el2c85f5oiq6/Mask-Stroke-Style-to-Square-Corners.atn?rlkey=l...

[Stephen_A_Marsh]

You may have to play with the action a bit...

Your off-list sample file had a stroke of 39 px.

I had to set a Maximum filter of 28 px. When I used 39 px the result was too thick, which was unexpected, so YMMV.

Then I made the stroke 56 px. It doesn't have to be double, just large enough that the rounded corners extend past the mask.

As you have rotated/angled content, I don't think that this will work for you as the corner is chamfered, not sharp:

[Stephen_A_Marsh]

I think that you need to redraw the raster layers requiring a stroke as a vector shape layer, where you have proper control over the stroke – don't use layer styles!

It might be possible to convert a raster layer to a vector shape layer with a script, however, I'm not sure if I'm the person to make such a script.

Good luck.

[Kaj35945084nura]

think that you need to redraw the raster layers as a vector shape layer, where you have proper control over the stroke – don't use layer styles!

This is out of the question. Errors may occur in measurements.


It might be possible to convert a raster layer to a vector shape layer with a script, however, I'm not sure if I'm the person to make such a script.

This might be the right solution. The layers must stay in exactly the right places. The line has to be at least 39 px thick.

- could a plugin be the solution?

Ystävällisin terveisin,
Best regards