hair line pixels

[capwellcc]

I am trying to make technical drawings using photoshop 7 but the smallest pixel I can use is 1 px.

Does anyone know how to make hair line size pixels (or pixels less than 1 pixel) in photoshop?

[Soul]

No such thing as less than one pixel :)

[Yeldarb]

make the rest bigger and just use 1 px :)
or make it 50% transparency....

[DDD]

is that possible? Less than a pixel? I know you can cram a pixel with info as in floating point for like HDR. But half a pixel?

[awligon]

no, you can only create the illusion of half a pixel by using a lighter color or using the half transparency which in effect, lightens the color. Soul ("There is too a f'ing spoon!) is the master of the pixel, and I fear that your comment of a half pixel has offended him.

[mlk]

you probably have the antialias on and it makes the line a bit thicker - try turning the antialias option off and you should have your 1 px line.

[BBatPA]

Originally posted by capwellcc
Does anyone know how to make hair line size pixels (or pixels less than 1 pixel) in photoshop?
Not in PhotoShop, but FreeHand and Illustartor it can be done.

http://projectallure.com/ssLines.jpg

[mlk]

look closely, it says POINT. Not pixel.

[BBatPA]

Originally posted by mlkdesign
look closely, it says POINT. Not pixel.
It's a smaller line....;)
Does it not work out that way?
Why is it when I create a new document in Illustrator if choose points or pixels at 800x600 and later change the document setup to inches are the sizes the same in both instances???
If I'm wrong could somebody explain that to me???

[mlk]

yes. but let me explain there ARE no smaller size than a pixel, for the simple reason that the computer cannot display something smaller; pixel stands for 'picture element' and is the image broken to its smallest possible size, a pixel cannot be divided - computer graphically speaking...

[BBatPA]

Originally posted by mlkdesign
yes. but let me explain there ARE no smaller size than a pixel, for the simple reason that the computer cannot display something smaller; pixel stands for 'picture element' and is the image broken to its smallest possible size, a pixel cannot be divided - computer graphically speaking...
So even though FreeHand and Illustrator can draw smaller lines than PhotoShop it's still a 1 pixel line?:hangover:
From now on I'll just think of a pixel as a crumb. If you break a crumb in half you don't two half crumbs, you get two crumbs.:thumb:

[mlk]

So even though FreeHand and Illustrator can draw smaller lines than PhotoShop it's still a 1 pixel line?

look, zoom in your PS document to 1600%, make your pixel and zoom it back to 100%. You won;t have anything smaller than that pixel.

If you resize your image your pixel will either a) be deleted or b) blended in with the colors next to it to make it appear smaller - but it won't be.

[BBatPA]

Originally posted by mlkdesign
look, zoom in your PS document to 1600%, make your pixel and zoom it back to 100%. You won;t have anything smaller than that pixel.

If you resize your image your pixel will either a) be deleted or b) blended in with the colors next to it to make it appear smaller - but it won't be.
True.....But....
In Illustrator or FreeHand show grid set to 1 pixel increments with the zoom at 6400% draw 3 lines, one with stroke set to 1 "point", 1 at .5 and the last at .25. Are the last 2 not smaller than the 1 pixel division of the grid?
Now zoom out to 100%, you still have 3 "very different" sized lines. How can that be?

[asphaltcowboy]

ok guys.. vectors are quite different from pixels..

EDIT: here are some very simple explanations:

http://www.giftmugs.com/artwork/format_samples.htm
http://campratty.com/1faq/faqpages/a11.html
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/classes/cadc/INDD3230/photoshop/photoshop.htm

Google is your friend: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=difference+between+vectors+and+pixels&btnG=Google+Search

[BBatPA]

And now I can see what you're saying BTW.....

When I export those lines from Illustrator to PS at 72dpi....
1. With anti-alias on, the smaller lines are lusr "shades" of the 1 pixel line
2. With anti-alias off, all the lines were the same size

When exported at 300dpi and anti-alias off....
1. The 1 point line became a 4 pixel line
2. The .5 became 2 pixels
3. And the .25 point line was nonexistent

[BBatPA]

Originally posted by asphaltcowboy
ok guys.. vectors are quite different from pixels..
:stunned: Part of my education...:sigh:...I'm still quite new to computer graphics (started with FireWorksMX 'bout a year ago)
I didn't mean to start an aurgument or anything:love: I just wanted to understand what I was seeing.
I think I got it now..;) :blush:

[Soul]

Originally posted by awligon
Soul ("There is too a f'ing spoon!) is the master of the pixel, and I fear that your comment of a half pixel has offended him. :bad:

[asphaltcowboy]

Originally posted by BBatPA
:stunned: Part of my education...:sigh:...I'm still quite new to computer graphics (started with FireWorksMX 'bout a year ago)
I didn't mean to start an aurgument or anything:love: I just wanted to understand what I was seeing.
I think I got it now..;) :blush: dont worry - wasn't aiming anything at you.. :love:

[mlk]

ok sorry for having sorta hijacked your thread capwellcc here's what I did when I PMed you:

big image with circles I drew in PS
http://mlkdesign.online.fr/misc/kirupa/technibig.jpg

and the image which looks a bit more technical when reduced 50%:
http://mlkdesign.online.fr/misc/kirupa/technismall.jpg

[BBatPA]

Originally posted by mlkdesign
ok sorry for having sorta hijacked your thread capwellcc
I feel responsible for the thread-jacking....I went off topic with the FreeHand and Illustrator bit. Sorry all....:blush:

[posix]

Go to image>size and bump up the resolution. The problem isnt that you want less than a pixel, which is impossible. Its that you want the drawing area to have more pixels total so that your lines look thinner.

good luck.

[Nocturn]

Originally posted by BBatPA

Why is it when I create a new document in Illustrator if choose points or pixels at 800x600 and later change the document setup to inches are the sizes the same in both instances???
If I'm wrong could somebody explain that to me???

Because the amount of pixels (800x600) hasn't increased or decreased.

The dpi setting (dots per inch) is just used for printing, it has nothing to do with how an image will look on a monitor.

If you have an image of 800x600 PIXELS and set it's resolution to 1000 dpi or whatever, and have another image also at 800x600 pixels, set it's dpi at 10, the two images will be EXACTLY the same size on your monitor, since they both contain the same amount of pixels. Turn off Resample image from the Image Size dialog box in PS before changing the dpi setting.

You have only changed the printing resolution, so the 1000 dpi image, when printed, will come out tiny.

[mlk]

look guys i think we all agreed - and now if you've got solutions to help him do technical drawings like i did then try to help - we all agree about the pixel size thingy - move on...

[bleutuna]

Technical drawing would be better done in Illustrator or Freehand. In Illustrator, you can choose .5px and even less.

However, your best bet is to simply use 1px for small lines and 2-3px for larger lines. It still looks nice and slick, don't worry :p

http://www.mywebfile.com/q/btc_gamecube_advance_face.gif

http://www.mywebfile.com/q/btc_gamecube_advance_back.gif

http://www.mywebfile.com/q/btc_gamecube_advance_dock.gif