Adjusting Stroke Width Warps Path Shape

When I try to adjust the width of the stroke on a closed shape by increments of one point at a time it warps the shape a little bit each time i add more width. But if I use the drop down menu, the storke changes width without affecting the shape of the closed path. What the heck is happening?
Here's whats the shape looks like with 1pt stroke.
And this is what it looks like after I adjust the stroke with to 386pt by clicking and holding the up arrow to adjust it one point at a time:
I almost never would use such a thick stroke but i wanted to accentuate how much of the original shape is being lost.
Any ideas?

You've got a problem with align to pixel grid:
Illustrator: Problems with Align to pixel grid

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How to adjust the width of a shape?

I am tweaking an image that was created by another person (long gone). It's a shape that is too wide and I want to make it narrower. When I click on the shape itself, I see the outline, but no handles to adjust the width. How does one change the width or height of a shape that is already created?
Thanks,
Amy

One way is Edit>Free Transform Path.
MTSTUNER

Variable stroke width after effects

Hey there,
I've been doing a lot of growing dotted lines in after effects with shape layers and by using 'trim paths'. What I wanted to do, was have a varying stroke width on that shape layer. For example, have one end thicker than the other (Like the image below). This is easy to do in Adobe Illustrator, since you just use the 'width tool', so I was wondering if AE has something similar?
I already know about the 'write on' and 'stroke' effects, but I'd like to avoid using those since I'm already using the awesome 'trim paths' effect. Are there any other presets I could look at? Maybe even one that fakes it?
Cheers,
Shannon

The way to do this is to start in Illustrator, create your tapered lines there, Expand appearance in Illustrator, then import as a comp in AE and convert vector layers to shapes. There are two ways to animate the creation of a tapered line. If you use Offset Paths instead of Trim Paths then the line starts growing from the thinnest point and moves to the thinnest point. If you use Trim Paths then you must have a straight tapered line and you have to set the right first vertex and then animate both start and end values to make the line start at the thinnest end and extend to the thickest end.
Here's what a comp looks like:
Here's a zip file for you with both a CC and a CS6 project inside. Sometimes AE is buggy creating shape layers from vector layers. If that happens you can add a stroke, then just turn the stroke off in the AE project. I hope this helps. There is usually a way to do what you want in AE if you think outside the box. Here's what it looks like (Click on the animated gif to see it)

Lock stroke width when scaling?

Hi,
Is there a way to make the stroke width of a shape remain constant when I scale the shape?
I find it frustrating that my stroke widens as I enlarge and thins out as I shrink the shape.
Thanks

If you are using the layer scale that's expected since you are scaling everything in the layer.
The easiest way to get what you want is to use the "Transform Control Points" option for Scaling the shape.
-Switch to the edit points tool and select all the control points in you shape.
-From the Edit Menu select"Transform Control Points". This will allow you to rotate and scale the control points. Make sure you have all of the points selected.d
-At this point you can animate the scale (or rotation) for the shape and the width of the stroke will stay the same.
-Use this for all the scales you need to do with this layer.
Remember, as soon as you scale the shape at the layer level you will alter the width of the stroke.

Scale path without affecting stroke width

Hi all,
This seems like it should be simple to do but I'm not having any luck here. Basically I have a path parented to a null that controls several things, scaling them down, rotating and moving across the composition. One of those items is a path with a stroke of 32 px. I want to be able to scale the path itself down, but leave the stroke the same.
I thought I could key the stroke width manually but that has no effect- scaling it up as the path scales down doesn't seem to change the stroke width at all at the end keyframe, only at the beginning keyframe. I see the px count start at 32 and increase up to as it moves along the timeline, even though the stroke width on screen is still getting smaller as if there were no change at all to the width.
Thanks!

You generally don't want to scale the layer that contains the stroke, you want add keyframes to the mask path and animate the size of the path. This is easy. You just start by double-clicking one of the vertices and using the transform box.
If this technique does not work for you then you have two other options, both involving expressions. Both of these options use exactly the same expression to look at the scale of your null layer and both assume that the null is at 100% scale at the start of the animation. The option that I would choose would be to replace the mask path on a layer with stroke applied with shape layer path with stroke applied. You have so many more options and you're dealing with vector information. With either solution this is the expression.
sf = thisComp.layer("Control Null 1").transform.scale[0]/100;
ov = value;
nv = ov / sf
sf (scale factor) is the x scale value of the controlling null that is the parent of the stroke layer or the layer with the stroke effect applied to a mask divided by 100. If you intend to scale X and Y of the parent you'll have to modify the expression and then combine the scale factors and this solution will not work as well. The original scale value is divided by 100 to turn it into a decimal value
ov (original value) is the original set value of the stroke.
nv (new value) is calculated by dividing the original value by the scale factor.
This is just basic algebra from the 7th grade. If your controlling parent is scaled below 0 then the stroke will go away because the value will change to a negative number. If this is necessary in your composition you can write an if statement that will change the nv back to a positive number if the scale factor becomes less than or equal to zero and solves the divide by zero error you would get with a scale factor of zero.
One last point, and this is important. This expression will produce accurate results if applied to the brush size of a mask path when using the Effects>Generate>Stroke effect to create your line but when scaled over 100% the line will begin to fall apart and anti aliasing will not be able to keep up with pixilation caused by the scale. Over about 120% the line will start to look thinner and over 140% it will look bad even though the stroke width is numerically accurate.
I'll let you take it from here.

Manually setting up size for shapes or stroke width bug

Hi everybody,
Since I installed Photoshop CC 2014 I have the most annoying problem.
I can't seem to change the sizes of my shapes or the stroke width manually.
So let's say I created a square of 150x150 and I want a new size of exactly 126x126, I can't write the exact size in the top field.
I write it and, once I press tab to leave the field, it puts back the previous value.
Same for stroke width. I'm obliged to use the slider to be able to change the width of my stroke - which obviously is everything but precise.
I don't know if I missed something but this is the first time is happening since I'm using Photoshop.
Thanks for your help!
Doro.
UPDATE 29/01/15
This is coming a bit late but it seems we found where the bug is coming from.
I'm using a macbook pro retina 13 with a french keyboard. To type a number I need to press shift + the number.
So to get back to my example I want to change the size of 150px to 126px. I would write the number 126 in the size field and to do so I would need to press the button shift + 126. The fact is that once you're interacting with the size field in the top menu, it seems that the shift button triggers the path operation "combine shapes" and overrides my action of typing a number.
Let us know if you can do something about it.

hi Y. BIG time thank you for this. i was not aware this was such an issue. i definitely cannot have any ambiguities in my spreadsheet and customizing it in numbers is the whole reason i am spending this time formatting (i.e. to make it intuitive and visual).
that said, if accepting excel and then exporting to excel will cause problems i absolutely cannot have this.
can you help me a little more on what the problems are? i have already got a file with two tabs directly imported from Quickbooks (by my book keeper in excel) and a tab that she set up that pulls data from these tabs - and then i have MY tab that i have been customizing and proofing and fixing as i go along. more info on this work below.
are there commands i can run to clean this up?
what is considered OK to do in numbers if i am accepting excel (printing? adding new numerical entries)?
THANK YOU
background: right now i am /mostly/ doing formatting things like adding bold outlines or adding color or whatever but i have /also/ been dragging and dropping some rows to put them in a better place and fixing some cell sums that were either left out by my book keeper or which needed to be added to check THEIR work. are you saying that by doing this i am setting myself up for various formatting issues such as merged cells?
if so, once i finish the format of the spreadsheet and the tabs i can only exclusively open in numbers if this is necessary. are there some commands i can run to "clean up" issues? for instance can i go around the various tabs and unmerge cells to clean things up?
also, i definitely cannot split up tabs into individual documents as the customized spreadsheets are pulling numbers from a set of tabs that are quickbooks imports....

How to select paths with the same stroke width

I would like to know how to select all the paths inside a document whose stroke width are equal to 0.361 points
I will appreciate any help.

here you go
#target illustrator
// script.name = selectPathsThisSize.jsx;
// script.description = selects pathItems that have the same supplied stroke width; limited to 3 decimals;
// script.required = a document with at least one path item;
// script.parent = CarlosCanto // 6/5/11;
// script.elegant = false;
var idoc = app.activeDocument;
var strokewidth = prompt ("Enter Stroke Width in points of paths to be selected", 0.361, "Select Paths this size:___");
for (i=0 ; i< idoc.pathItems.length; i++)
          var ipath = idoc.pathItems[i];
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                         ipath.selected = true;
app.redraw();

When drawing with the shape tool in Flash how can I vary the stroke width?

I created an oval shape and I'd like to vary the stroke width so it's not all just one uniform thickness. However in the Properties window I can only find the uniform stroke width and style options (solid, dotted, hashed, etc...). How can I add some tapering?
Thank you for your help.
Sarah

You probably need to convert the line to a fill and then change the shape of it. .. Modify -> Shape -> Convert Lines to Fills

CS6 : How to convert a path stroke in a vector shape ?

Hello,
When you use the Photoshop CS6 new function stroke on the path of a vector shape, how can you convert the result in a vector shape ?
Merging multiple vector shapes doesn't work. The strokes outlines are not vectorized in the new vector shape.
It's possible to convert in pixel and keep the stroke drawing, but no way to convert in vector.
Illustrator has a similar function in order to vectorize the stroke.
Thanks for your help

Yes, I misunderstood.
Photoshop has no command to directly create a new vector path from the outline of a stroke.
You could try making Path from Selection. With the Shape on a white background, click on the pink with the Magic Wand Tool with options as shown below:

How is width measured for shapes and strokes converted?

How is width and height calculated in the transform panel for an object? Does it use an average? An example can be seen in the first image. The lines are not a uniformed width.
Also, how are strokes converted from pts to pxls? For instance, if I make a stroke that is 2.3 pt, when I expand the object the width in the transform panel will say 2.3px ; however, I thought the point to pixel conversion (even for a 72 dpi screen resolution) was different. An example can be seen in the last two images, where a line was made with a specified stroke width and then expanded.

Hmm, I'm a bit confused. If I have a 1 pt stroke and Preview Bounds is unchecked in preferences, I recieve a width of 2.56px as seen in Figure 1. With preview checked I get the width of the bounding box at 3.56 px. However, I still put down a 1 pt stroke. Also when I change the angle of that stroke the widths change as seen in Figure 3 (same thing when expanded or Preview Bounds is checked or unchecked.)
I'm really looking at trying to find the width of an object (such as the engraved lines below) and the width of distance between each; however, if I measure from point to point the angle should not matter, which is not the case as seen in Figure 3. Also, the width changes between various points of the jagged lines. Is an average used which is then displayed in the Transform or info panel?
Thanks!
FIGURE 1
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 3

Why doesn't the stroke width tool create smooth curves?

Am I the only one who has edited a stroke with the stroke width tool, then outlined the stroke only to find a countless number of points and noticeably unsmooth edges? Is there a setting or certain way to ensure that the stroke width tool won't corrupt the smoothness of my shapes? The stroke width tool is the most handy new feature I can imagine, but this problem makes it almost entirely useless, unless designing something where precision and smoothness are not important. What can I do?

...Am I the only one who has edited a stroke with the stroke width tool, then outlined the stroke only to find a countless number of points ...
I also have noticed that too, for example using the width tool with the same width on all points and expanding on open path results in a lot more anchor points than expanding the same path with the same weight or offset.
... and noticeably unsmooth edges?
I haven't noticed that yet but creating paths with smooth anchor points are more smooth when created with less points, at least when I do it manually but if I use Object > Path > Add Points, or just click on a path to add points, I don't see loss of smoothness.
Is there a setting or certain way to ensure that the stroke width tool won't corrupt the smoothness of my shapes? ..
I'm not aware of such settings
... The stroke width tool is the most handy new feature I can imagine, but this problem makes it almost entirely useless, unless designing something where precision and smoothness are not important. What can I do?
I don't know what your precision requirements are, may be an image example of what you are trying to achieve and what you are getting will help understanding you better but so far I haven't considered this as a problem and have used the width tool a lot in my work.

Turn a broad stroke into a filled shape?

Hi there,
I've made some lines/paths using a broad 20pt stroke which tapers to a point (using variable width profile).
is it possible to turn these paths into filled shapes so the paths would become the outer edges of the current stroke?
thanks for any help!
using CC
Steve

Yes, you can convert a stroke to a filled shape.
You can use either object>expand appearence then ungroup
or
You can use object>path>outline stroke

I don't understand how to 'warp paths'. Please help.

Hey,
Can someone help with me 'warping paths'. I don't understand how to do step 2 of this tutorial
[url]http://www.pegaweb.com/tutorials/moonbase/moonbase-website-layout-1.htm[/url]
It asks you to pick a foreground color, use the pen tool and make a traingle with the points, completing your last point by clicking on the first and completing the loop.
Then it wants you to go to Ctrl+Click on the path, add a few new points, and drag them around to warp the path but I cannot warp it like in the tutorial. I just get some random shapes and inversion of foreground color and white.
How do I do step 2?
Thanks.

Those are basic path adjustments. With the pen tool selected, you Ctrl+click on the path to make sure it's selected and then click on the path a couple of times with the Pen tool to add some anchor points which you then modify
Path segments, components, and points
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Photoshop/11.0/WSfd1234e1c4b69f30ea53e41001031ab64-7390a.html
Convert between smooth points and corner points
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Photoshop/11.0/WS7EE0B5C9-A95D-465d-BFEC-2149F76CEFB9a.html
Adjust path segments
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Photoshop/11.0/WS068CF4C8-5B1A-463a-99F5-151F2EFEB38D.html

Creating Uniform Strokes from Tracing Path

I have used the Live Trace tool to trace the outline of a simple picture of gravity waves surrounding an object. When I trace it and select "Outlines" I get a nice collection of Teal outlines. However, when I expand it, I get different stroke widths for the outlines (Obviously based on the original widths in the original drawing).
(Notice the red arrow in the middle pointing to a line that is thinner than the other one in the image on the right)
I want to be able to keep the paths, and then give them a uniform stroke width. Is there a way I can do that?
b1177

Select - Same - Stroke Color (for the black lines) and then adjust Weight in the Stroke palette.

Path/Shape tool and Hand tool are awful in CS6.

We recently upgraded to CC at work and I do love the idea. Hypothetically, what could be better? Sadly, CC comes with CS6 which doesn't shine so well. Photoshop in particularl is hindering me and slowing down my productivity. Therefore I am sharing my thoughts and hoping something will get done.
Paths/Shapes in CS6 are absolute trash. As an illustrator, I use these tools frequently on a daily basis. It used to be rapid and easy. Now, when I undo more than one stage I have to reselect the path, so that's +1 click per mistake.
I used to love the expanded pathfinder view, of the shapes/pen tool. Now it's contained in a drop-down which feels very dumbed-down and is +1 click EVERY time I need to use something in there. REALLY AWKWARD and a complete pain to use. Especially if I select the wrong draw mode. Why is there not even the option to use the old expanded view, or a PATHFINDER PANEL added to Photoshop for 'traditional' users/illustrators?
Seeing as that hasn't changed for as long as I can remember... I imagine that it is annoying a lot of people. I don't know how you thought it would be good to change that outright without even phasing it out gradually or offering the original view as well. Terrible. Don't even dare tell me to draw my paths in illustrator. Worse still, the infinitely useless marquee tool keeps the original expanded view! So it's not even like it couldn't have been done. Just. Annoying.
Also the Hand tool is a right pain. Are you seriously telling me I can't scrub freely? Outside of the 'frame'?? That's retarded. Even if an imported layer is larger than my document bounds and the 'frame' I still can't even scrub outside of it?
I've been a loyal user of photoshop for over 10 years and this is the worst update I've seen in all that time. There are great things happening, with the content aware stuff and better GL processing etc etc. Sadly, tried and tested features are being wiped out as you try and turn photoshop into one giant DESIGN button.
Sorry for the massive rant. I had real high hopes for CS6 and to be honest, I'm moderately disappointed.
I couldn't figure out where on earth to post this as I couldn't find a feedback button in photoshop. Which may also be a great idea to consider.

Apologies for the triple post but this is still frustrating me.
I don't understand why Adobe would do something that slows down long-term Photoshop users so much!
When I am on the path selection tool, the little check mark to deselect all paths is gone. Why? It was one tiny button that didn't even add clutter and was impecably useful.
Now, if I'm trying to add to my path or subtract from a path, the minute I switch my pen to this mode, the whole shape layer abides by that rule. So my existing path is inverted if I select subtract, etc.
Why does the pen tool now control paths in the same way as the path selection tool? I thought that was the ENTIRE POINT of the path selection tool. For selecting and modifying a paths properties. Any modifiers applied to the pen should be strictly for once you draw with the pen? Again. More clicks, more undos and more workarounds to figure out. All of which seem much slower and more convoluted than every previous version of the CS.
Also, where have the transform controls gone from the path selection tool? Once again, another click. Right click > free transform. Who thought that would be smart? Works for some but not me for a second.
These bulky, childish cursors are annoying some of my colleagues too. Even precise cursors are now massive. Where have sleek, 1px thick cursors gone? Why have we got these chunky horible things that look like they're from the Sims or something?? I'm not playing a videogame. I'm working. I feel like a school child with these hilariously over-sized pointers.
It's not even like a fix for these issues is needed. Simply revert back to the method which was practical and useful? With some of the new additions like the rubber band and illustrator style-stroke... All great stuff, if applied to the *real* path tool. Not this lame excuse of one. Why did you got screwing with what WAS one of the most versatile tools in photoshop? I can only hope this is the first stage of a major upgrade in this tool.

Adjusting Stroke Width Warps Path Shape

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