How to smooth jagged bitmappy edges?

[atthecshore]

Hi all - I'm working with a low-res b&w type design that I need made bigger. When I do so, the edges get really jagged and I want to smooth them out.

Is there a way to make a selection and then "even out" the line? I don't want a soft edge... I need a very hard, clean, smooth edge.

Any help is appreciated!

[MichelBParis]

What you want is not exactly "smoothing", it's vectorizing. And Elements is not the right tool for that. Apart from using the 'pro' Adobe tools for vector art (like Illustrator), you migh consider free apps like Inkscape to vectorize those images.

The best I can do with Elements is to use a third-party like Elements+ or the old actions from Richard Lynch which can transform selections (or text) to paths.

https://elementsplus.net/help/en/paths.htm

That may work in some cases.

[atthecshore]

It looks like Elements + would do it, but this may be the only time I need to. But it gave me an idea...

I can take the magnetic lasso, set the width setting to about 15, draw around the jaggedoutline of the text, then expand by a pixel or two, and fill. 

I think that will do the trick!