Photoshop Elements 2018 - Dotted line around a picture...

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
May 12, 2019
4 replies
6501 views

OK - relatively newbie with Photoshop (so please be gentle... )

I have a couple of simple b/w clipart images that I want to add a general dotted line around the outside - ideally about 10mm around the general shape, which will give us a cutting guide line for my team of volunteers to cut around said picture.

To give the basic idea - these are two clipart butterflies which we're sending to schools for the kids to colour in - once done they'll be sent back and the team need to cut them out ready for a big public display, so ideally the cut lines need to be fairly generic.

I can't see an easy way of doing this - have tried drawing the line freehand but not the easiest thing with just a mouse (don't have a pen/pad facility sadly).

So hoping someone out there might have a suggestion.

Thanks

Moderator Edit: Title changed to Photoshop Elements 2018 was Photoshop

This topic has been closed for replies.

M

Mark_Sand

Inspiring

More on 99jon's method...

To get rounded dots you can initially choose a hard round brush size.

For a straight horizontal or vertical line: click start point, hold Shift, and draw.

Y

Ynot_DAuthor

Participant

Thanks all for the pointers.
I was still struggling so enlisted assistance from a friend who was better able to interpret the solution than I was.

All sorted now.

99jon

Legend

In Elements select the brush tool and choose a square brush of about 9 or 10 pixels

Click the brush settings button and adjust spacing and roundness until you see a dashed preview

Click once on your image where you wish to start the line, hold down shift and click again at the end point. Holding down shift will give you a precise horizontal or vertical line. Click image below to enlarge. If preferred you can make the brush setting give just dots by using roundness/spacing and choosing a different brush preset.

Michael J. Hoffman

Community Expert

As with all things Photoshop, there are multiple ways to accomplish this. The trick is knowing what you want to do.

In the video below, the approach uses the following steps:

Create a selection around the object using the quick selection tool;
Use the Select menu to smooth and expand the selection;
Convert the selection to a work path, and use it to create a shape;
Modify the shape properties to have a transparent fill and dashed stroke.

Its easier than it sounds:

As I mentioned, there are many ways to get the job done in Photoshop. I hope this helps!

Mike

Y

Ynot_DAuthor

Participant

I'd been sent that same video but stumbled when it said 'right click and select MAKE WORK PATH' - unless I'm doing something wrong (likely) that work path option is not available that I can see...