ANOTHER Photoshop question
 

How in the world do I draw a nice clean arc in PS? I can do it in100 different programs from Pro-E to Word. I'd HATE to draw an arc in MSPAINT (free) to export it into PS (not so free)

All help is appreciated.

Collins

Have you tried using paths?

If you know of an easy way to use paths I'll try it...

Aparantly a line on PS is just a skinny filled rectangle and "Paths" just modifies one side making a great ugly bulge unless you can guess the other side well enough... Yes, It blows big moose.

I drew it in PAINT and copied it in.

Collins

Paths in Photoshop are a little tricky, and they require multiple steps to achieve a result.

Once you draw a path, you can manipulate the handles to change the curve. If you want a simple arc, then you just need two points.

After you have your path, you can select it, pick another tool (airbrush, pencil, etc) and choose 'stroke path.' That will stroke the path with the tool you have selected. If you want to manipulate that on its own, make sur eyou have it on its own layer first.

If you don't like it, then you can erase it, adjust the path, and stroke it again.

The reason it's more difficult than, say, Illustrator or Corel Draw is that Photoshop is a raster editing program and not a vector editing program. It can integrate vector illustration elements, but it's not really designed for it.

Yeah, illustrator sounds like it might be the better choice here.

- Rob