myhrbatb

Hi,

When I use the stroke command to apply a border around an image (square or rectangle), the inner 'corners' are correct but the outside corners are flattened, as if one has cut of the 'points' of the corner.

The feather command is set to '0' so that's not the reason.

Any ideas please why this is happening?

Thank you!!

MsOz

1. How large a stroke are you applying?
2. (And this is where your problem is arising) What setting are you using to apply the stroke, Inside, Center, or Outside?

I'm betting it's outside, and if the stroke is thick enough, you will see the "corner cutting." It has to do with the mathematical algorithm to apply the stroke.

Instead, enlarge your rectangle the size of your desired stroke, and apply it INSIDE the selection. No more corner cutting!

Welles

myhrbatb,

Welcome to the forums!

I moved your post from the Photoshop Resources board as that not for questions but for sharing brushes, styles, actions etc. No biggie. I also thought your question would be answered in the General Photoshop forum more quickly and, sure enough, MsOz is 'on the job.'

daveob

(in reply to MsOza answer to my post)
"1. How large a stroke are you applying? "

Well, it happens with all strokes but the larger they are the more obvious it is.

"2. (And this is where your problem is arising) What setting are you using to apply the stroke, Inside, Center, or Outside?
I'm betting it's outside, and if the stroke is thick enough, you will see the "corner cutting." It has to do with the mathematical algorithm to apply the stroke.
Instead, enlarge your rectangle the size of your desired stroke, and apply it INSIDE the selection. No more corner cutting! "

Well .. yes and no ... the edge cutting is still there .. wheather I use a small or larger stroke. This is what I do ...

I want to create a solid boder, with sharp corners 'around' an image (the border has to start on the outside of the image) and with crisp sides.

So ...
1) I enlarge the canvas first, then select the image (making sure feathering is off), then I expand the selection by the size of the stroke I want (and at this point you already see that the selection is cutting off the corners), and then I apply the inside stroke command .. corners are cut!

*) If I just select the image, and then apply an inside stroke then the corners are not cut - but like this the stroke is on the inside of the original image and i want it to be on the outside of the image that's why I used above method (1)

*) I am not using the border command, because this is giving feathered sides and i want clean and crisp sides ...

A work around I use is just to enlarge the canvas with the size I want the border to be, place it behind the image and just fill the layer. This is working of course,, but I just thought it would be possible to get the same result with the stroke command ...

Thanks again.

Bacardi

Can't you just change the size of the image first (Image>Size) so that you have height and width as you want them, then double click on the background to make it a layer, next press Ctrl+A to select all and finally use the Edit>Stroke command set to inside?

You can easily create an action for this.

(For more complex strokes, I prefer the layer styles.)

Sark

If all you're trying to do is create a solid sharp edged outline, you can simply create a rectangle selection on a new layer, fill it with your chosen colour, then reduce the rectangle selection the desired amount and cut the centre from the rectangle.

Sark

Welles

Erik's suggestion of using the stroke in Layer Styles made me think I'd never seen those truncated corners that come with stroked selections. A little experiment was in order. Here is a little 150 X 150 px canvas with just a pattern and then I used an arbitrary 29 px stroke from the Layer Styles dialog. Look at that! Perfectly square.

When it comes to stroking marquees, another unwanted effect arises if you should want a round/oval stroke. There will be a flattening at the top and sides which becomes more pronounced as the stroke gets wider. The solution is to use a shape as a path and stroke the path.

MsOz

Thanks erik for "polishing up" what I was trying to spit out...The only further change I'd make to the idea would be to combine yours and myhrbatb's techniques...

1. Enlarge canvas desired size.
2. On a new layer, select all.
3. Edit>Stroke>Inside

The reason you want to enlarge the canvas, as opposed to simply applying the stroke to the image, is that you will lose those portions of the image by applying an inside stroke. The "frame," if you will, needs to be outside the outer edges of the image, not covering it.

chrisXR

Theres is also an option in the canvas size dialog to set the canvas extension color. Thats one less step. Set it to an action!
1 Load your image
2 Image>Canvas size
3 Set to relative
4 Anchor in center
5 If you want a 40 pixel border, set width and height to 80 px
6 Set your canvas extension color

Welles

Hey hey, chrisXR! Good tip and welcome to the forums. [righton]