P: Photoshop 22.0: Where is Line Weight/Width and Pixels options?

[mrbobdobolina]

I'm having trouble using the Line Tool in PS 22.0.0. 

How do I set the width/weight of the line? In PS 21 there was a "Weight" option along the top bar, but I don't see that anymore. Am I missing it? Or did it move? 

This might be a separate issue, but the lines I'm drawing are not showing up. I have a fill color and stroke color selected, but when I make a line, I don't see it. I just see a blue outline of where it is... the same that might happen if I made a "path" instead of a "shape." 

I just need to make a line with a width/weight of 20px.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Can one day "Line" under "Form tool" actually be a line (with 2 anchor point) not a 1px height rectangle ? it's quite annoying when you can't really draw a line and change line style or easily change line width....

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Hello, I just updated to PS 2021, I noticed an odd change. The line tool does not create pixel lines anymore. I'm curious as to why such a odd change has been implemented and only for the line tool. It doesn't really make any sense to me. Maybe I am missing something.

I'm curious as to why such a change was made, and only to the Line tool.

Thank you.

[RosaPerry]

Hi Philip,

You can adjust the properties in the Properties tab for the shape tools.

Read more about it here:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/whats-new/2021.html#other-enhancements

[mrbobdobolina]

Hi Rosa, thanks for the reply, I don't see any options for making a line thicker/wider in the Properties tab. Please advise.

[J453]

Click on the gear icon for the line tool options.

[mrbobdobolina]

Hi Jeffrey, thanks for the reply. The gear only lets me choose a thickness of 3px. Is it no longer possible to make thicker lines in Photoshop?

[J453]

Yes, currently native lines only go to 3px.

You can use this method to use Stroke to make the lines thicker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDoZdcj26HQ

[mrbobdobolina]

Thanks Jeffrey, this was helpful.

Does this mean the old "weight" option for lines is gone for good then?

[christinar90870321]

How could you do this?? Am I the only person on the planet who uses the line tool to actually draw lines? I work in commercial real estate, and need to draw lines and arrows multiple times a day. But now I can't because the tool doesn't work any more. PLEASE tell me the reasoning behind this absurd decision to get rid of this functionality.

[scenicshutterbug]

I'm having problems with it as well.    I drew 3 lines, each with a different stroke/fill and line combination.  In the lowest two layers the lines look identical in spite of different colors/thicknesses.  In the top layer with the dashed line, there is no dash and appears to be no fill.

Also, if the top layer is active, you can not see the other two layers, even though all layers are turned on and the background on each layer is transparent.  If the middle layer is active, you can see the top layer and the middle, but not the bottom.  If the bottom layer is active, you can see the bottom layer and the top, but not the middle.

Also the length of the top line is much shorter than the bounding box for that layer.

I would attach the psd file, but I can't upload a psd and apparently the Save for Web function is not working right either.  I asked it to save a jpeg but in the 4-up display, I see the original, one jpeg option and two GIF options?  Interestingly, in the jpgs created by Export for Web, the only thing you can see is the yellow "line" with no fill and neither of the blue fill with no stroke lines.  Something clearly isn't right.

[risaggar]

Yes, the weight option has been removed and now stroke field will govern that functionality instead. Its at options Bar and Properties Panel

Thanks!

[mrbobdobolina]

Thank you Rishu for the confirmation. (I'm not particularly thrilled with this change, but I appreciate your quick and informative response.)

[Mark C. Dahm]

Previous to Photoshop 22, the line tool was defined as a rectangle with a fill and a stroke. This was changed to two end points and a stroke between them (similar to how lines in Illustrator and XD work).

The size of the line is now controlled by the stroke width of the segment between the endpoints. Fill now just refers to the fill color of an arrowhead, should you use that.

So yes, the width function is no longer applicable.

For the dash issue, check your alignment for the strokes; make sure it's center-aligned.

[Earth Oliver]

Yes, i use Pixel lines all the time too and the tool is now greyed out in the dropdown?

[residentninja]

I appreciate the new behavior in Photoshop and I think it will prove very useful. However, I am very disappointed that the old behavior is gone. I often draw vector shapes in Photoshop and relied on the original "rectangle" behavior of the line tool to be able to draw rectangles as lines. For example, right now I am doing some outlining work (below) and was immediately thrown by this change of behavior. Now to to accomplish the same task which was quick and easy with the line tool before, I will have to draw out rectangles and then rotate and scale them into position--much more work, tedious, and imprecise--or switch over to Illustrator for this work so that I can draw out lines and convert them to shapes.

An ideal solution for me would be to add back in the original behavior as a separate vector shape or a toggle/option for the line (or rectangle!) tool.

[Mark C. Dahm]

@colton,

Do you need a vector for this gap or do you just need to fill it in?

If all you need to do is fill it in, you can use stroke to adjust width, instead of the former width setting. Draw the line down the center of the gap, then change the stroke to the correct size (width).

[Mark C. Dahm]

@CMJRoss_CRE 

As four cornered rectangles, Photoshop's old lines were problematic to move around onscreen after you drew them, and the weight control was not interactive (after you drew the line, changing the value would not affect the line, but would control how the NEXT line would be drawn).

A two point path with a stroke is the prevailing line design paradigm that most apps with lines follow, even across non design apps, but in Illustrator and XD, as well. It offers what we believed to be a simpler, but equally functional interaction model; use stroke to adjust line width (no more non-interactive width control setting). Together with the new on-canvas controls added for all shapes, we believed this would make changing the width of lines simpler, and moving the lines around on screen after you draw them easier as well (just grab one of the two anchor points the move either of the ends around).

We didn't expect to see any degradation of options with the new lines, though admittedly, the arrow heads should be made to be more interactive. What aspect of the new line fails for you and your workflows; there is always room for improvement.

[Mark C. Dahm]

Earth, with the new lines being two end points and a zero point 'weight', there is no line to stroke with pixels, so the option is now grayed out (just as it is for the path tool).

Rasterizing the line gets you to the pixels you're looking for. But wouldn't the non-rasterized lines be more useful and interactive in most cases?

[Mark C. Dahm]

Alternatively, maybe we could add an option like we have for the polygon tool that lets you draw the shape in any direction (freeform; it's also new in Ps 22); an unconstrained 4 sided polygon in freeform mode might include all the same functionality of the former line tool (minus the arrowhead), but again, is that any better than the stroke solution for you?

[Earth Oliver]

Thanks Mark, in theory they'd be better, yes. The problem is that we often simply want to quickly just draw a bunch of arrows without needing editablity after. Imagine needing to draw a dozen arrows on a page... with the new version, my only options are either creating 12 shape layers or a using the Path option, which really isn't a Path? It's a live shape? But i can't use the Properties Panel to change its appearance? Nor can i change the shape of the arrow after being drawn? If i use a path, it behaves so strangely too when i try to transform. Even though it's a path, it doesn't behave like a path... Honestly, I've never in decades of daily Ps usage been so confused by a tool and its behavior. 

[residentninja]

Hi Mark!

Thanks for the quick reply! Actually, no--not fill the gap--make it!

Drawing "lines"/rectangles from any angle could work assuming it worked like the legacy line in previous versions. Again--love the change, but just looking to have the previous functionality returned if possible in some way. It was unique and useful.

I hadn't yet put the new version down on my laptop, so I made a very quick video example of how I'd been previously using the line tool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT4bxFUtTVg&feature=youtu.be

A bit quick and rough in the example, but the point comes across. The advantage here is that as pointed out, I'm not drawing lines but quickly drawing rectangles that cut into the shape at various angles and thicknesses. I've also made use of them as additive too in projects--so not limited to cutting.

[Mark C. Dahm]

How about using the pen tool for this, again, using stroke, like this:

https://shared-assets.adobe.com/link/01f39f81-4a62-48dd-5ba2-0bfcf4cdc82c

You can still change the width of the lines with stroke weight.

[Mark C. Dahm]

Hold the shift key down to NOT create all those layers; you can select all the lines by selecting that layer, and all the lines change (eg, stroke).

Yeah, that arrow editing needs to get better.

[residentninja]

Hi Mark!

Thanks for the reply and suggestion.

Depending on the end use of the artwork, that could work yes. However it doesn't necessarily replace the missing functionality.

Using the pen tool as in your video, the end result will be pixel-based because it is creating the effect with a stroke. If the project's output is pixel-based that would do just fine.

However, the Line Tool's previous functionality is a vector rectangle that could be merged and copied out to another application like Illustrator and it would retain all the inner detail from the linework. A line with a stroke will simply disappear from a merge operation.

An alternative usecase might be if the artwork we made in the videos were to be an icon. If we were to use a stroke for that detail, and then scale the icon, the stroke will not scale proportionally with the icon. The example video I posted would scale proportionally because the linework is not reliant on a stroke.

Also in my example I was using it to cut into the artwork, thus allowing it to show the layer beneath it, which is also sometimes desired if I were creating an icon or a single color that I wanted to work on a black or white background--I'd need the subtraction.

The best other parallel I would have would be a method like you showed in your example video--but done in Illustrator instead where it could be followed up with an Outline Stroke operation to remove the stroke but retain the appearance--which I suppose could be another way to attack the request--being able to outline the stroke in Photoshop.

Thanks for hearing the request!

[Earth Oliver]

that helps, thanks. There's a lot to like about the direction the tool is headed, but the UX is not feeling very intuitive relative to the rest of Ps. And I'm talking just about the line/arrow tool, specifically. I think all the other shapes are in a pretty good place.