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TorstenChrist
TorstenChrist
Participant
April 30, 2019
Question

Jagged edges on layer styles

  • April 30, 2019
  • 4 replies
  • 4230 views

I can't seem to figure out why I'm getting this jagged edge on certain layer styles. The one shown below is a 1px inside stroke. I've disabled usage of the graphics processor, no luck there. I've checked resolution & bits per channel. Couldn't see any obvious anti-aliasing issues... So I'm not sure where to go now. Any ideas as to what I'm missing here? Thanks!

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4 replies

Trevor.Dennis
Community Expert
Trevor.DennisCommunity Expert
Community Expert
May 1, 2019

I've had a similar problem on and off for a while now, and started a thread on this forum asking about.  I've never tracked down a definitive answer.  This thread is from December last year.   The artefacts are not the same, and in fact, probably more ugly.

Broken Stroke Layer Style (no AA)

I downloaded the dropbox  file, and my results were strangely interesting.

  1. The original as opened from Dropbox
  2. I cleared the style and added it again with the same settings, and got the same result.
  3. Here's  where  it gets interesting.  I created a similar raster shape with the same angle and curve,  and  added the same layer style stroke, and it is much thinner than the original.  Note this is a simple raster object  made by filling a selection.  There is no feather set in the Options Bar.
  4. Same again, but using a two pixel stroke to see if  matched the original.  The original is definitely set to 1 pixel stroke.
  5. I Ctrl clicked  the layer to  load the selection, and  used  Edit > Stroke and applied a 1 pixel stroke.

A  section at 200% zoom.  This shows  the  original shape/layer  (which was raster as DL'd from Dropbox) appears to have no aa,  and the  same thing happened when I applied a LS stroke to a copy of the same layer.  I was wondering if something like the Preferences FT algorithm might make difference. I usually  have it set  to bilinear but I changed it to bicubic smoother to give it the best chance.  I think  that was grasping at straws, and made no difference.

My similarly shaped layer clearly has more effective aa,  but I have no theory as to what is going on here.

[EDIT] Just a thought, but I  was wondering if it was  a display issue, and I even considered saving to JPG and opening in  another app, but I think my experiment above shows that not to be the case.   There is definitely something going on with the way Photoshop is laying  down pixels.

    TorstenChrist
    TorstenChristAuthor
    Participant
    May 1, 2019

    Very interesting! Yeah it seems when the edge is harder (i.e. shape layer) the issue does indeed disappear. Though when used on a brush stroke (even set at 100% hardness) the issue is pretty bad and get progressively worse the softer the brush is. I'm relatively sure that strokes on soft edges used to fade appropriately in earlier versions of Photoshop rather than artifact like this. Though I can't say with absolute certainty!

    Grant H
    Community Expert
    Grant HCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 30, 2019

    its a 1 px stroke it will fill square pixles so zoomed in that much going around and look that way.

    if you had a much bigger canvas, thicker stroke on a bigger curve zoomed out it will look smooth

    TorstenChrist
    TorstenChristAuthor
    Participant
    April 30, 2019

    Thank you for your reply. I appreciate that if I had a bigger canvas and increased the stroke size, this would alleviate the problem. But as I produce work for the web and need to have pixel perfect graphics in many cases, this isn't really a suitable long term solution unfortunately

    c.pfaffenbichler
    Community Expert
    c.pfaffenbichlerCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 30, 2019

    Were the screenshots taken at View > 100%?

    Are there additional (Adjustment) Layers above the Layer with the Stroke?

    TorstenChrist
    TorstenChristAuthor
    Participant
    April 30, 2019

    Thanks for your reply. I've just tried the Legacy Compositing, doesn't seem to have made a difference - as below. And yes, I am indeed at 100% view.

    Here's the .psd should you want to take a look at it yourself - Dropbox - jagged.psd - Simplify your life

    Thanks

    JJMack
    Community Expert
    JJMackCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 30, 2019

    The problem is that on most display the human eye can resolve down to the displays pixel size.  Even with anti-alias a stroke that is one pixel wide your eyes will pick up on the staircasing straight lines that are vertical, horizontal and +-45 degrees will look ok. If the strokes were thicker anti-alias  will work better smoothing the  staircase effect.

    JJMack
    c.pfaffenbichler
    Community Expert
    c.pfaffenbichlerCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 30, 2019

    Can you provide the file?

    Have you tried

    Photoshop > Preferences > Performance > Legacy Compositing

    and restarted Photoshop?

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