Moving Anchor Points in PSE 6.0 after lasso was used

As a former user of Microsoft Image Composer, I am trying to make a smooth transition for my photo croppers to Photoshop Elements 6.0. Here is the problem that I cannot solve:
In Image composer, I could use a Polygon tool to create a shape around a product (pants, for example). After making the shape, I could choose to "Move Points", which allowed me to adjust the points and refine the shap (lengthen one leg, adjust the width, etc). After the points were where I wanted, I would "Cut Out" the image. The end result is that some of the products (pants) are cut off to create the shape I want.
In PSE I have used the lasso tool to create the shape, but am unable to move the points. It is not reasonable to start over- some shapes are so complex, that it would take a lot of time to re-do.
How can I move anchor points? Should I use a tool other than lasso? Thanks for helping me make the switch to PSE!

For the marching ants, it sounds like you are using the quick selection tool. You want the regular selection brush, which only works exactly under the brush and doesn't do any thinking on its own.
The options bar settings for the Magnetic Lasso control it:
Width: how far away to look for edges
Edge Contrast: How much difference to look for between the edge and the background: A higher number = sharper contrast, lower number= softer contrast
Frequency: How often to put down those anchor points

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CS5: Moving Anchor Points w/ Transform Panel, Not Whole Object

Hey there. Did the digging before asking but nothing came up. I'm pretty green, so I'm sure it's something silly. I'm trying to move specific anchor points on a path a few pixels up from their current position, while keeping everything else where it is, so it'll transform the figure's shape. I'm trying to do it precise by changing it's dimensions, rather than clicking and dragging. Thankfully, that's at least an option because it -does- work when I direct select the points I want and drag them. Problems with that:
1) I have very little control. If I want the point moved up by whole pixels, I pretty much have to get lucky because it's always in decimal points.
2) With shapes bordering each other (parts of a complex shape), if I want to move their location to scrunch something (Half circle in a larger half circle, wanting to flatten out the base), if I lift those points up, they leave a gap. As if the top border of the outer circle has another anchor point under the lower of the one above that, and I can't click on it to move everything while they're still touching. I can take screenshots if needed. I'm following a tutorial to get used to the program.
Alternately, I suppose if you have a shortcut for constraining the drag to whole pixels instead of fractions, that's great too. In Photoshop and the like, holding Shift would give me precision, but that's not the case in this tool or perhaps program.
Thanks a bunch. This program is frustrating, but I know I'll have fun with it when I get it.

Hard to decipher exactly what you are asking for, but after reading your post a few times sounds like you want to move vector point by whole pixles amounts.
Have you tried setting your keyboard increment to 1 pixel, and using the cursor keys to nudge points.
If you are working on digital work, you may want to turn on snap to pixel grid, which will also kepep all your times to whole pixel amounts.

Moving anchor point with arrow keys crashes Photoshop CC

Hey guys,
I've recently run into this bug many times while working with shapes. Don't really know what initiates it but it's super annoying as it crashes the PS CC completely without possiblity of recovering the unsaved files.
The bug appears while working with shapes after file is saved and reopened. Because I use to design pixel-perfect UIs, I work with arrow keys a lot to be sure every pixel is in the right place. So after selecting one or more anchor points of shape and hitting any arrow key (to move it by pixel), photoshop immediately crashes with this super-long description of bug: http://justpaste.it/ccshapecrash
Dunno why but this occurs very often when handling 1px-thin rectangles.
Is it only me or has anybody else experienced this as well? Any idea what exactly is causing it or what might be wrong with my config?
Never seen that kind of error in Photoshop before. It completely destroys my everyday workflow

I have exactly the same problem and I don't have any solution. I was tried to update the latest video drivers - nothing! Tried to update Photoshop which updates fixes bugs - nothing! The problem continues.
My OS is Windows 8 64bit, video card Nvidia GT 630. For the case, my Photoshop 32x works better (faster) than the 64x. Why is that ? I hope to have a solution.

Direct selection - moving anchor points with keyboard arrow keys

Hi,
I am using Illustrator CC. I just used the image trace tool to create a vector version of my company logo. It worked pretty well, but I am now just trying to clean it up a bit. I have a few anchor points that I just want to nudge up or down in the smallest increment possible.
I think it would be easier for me to do this using the keyboard arrow keys rather than using the mouse, but the arrow keys cause my selected anchor point to jump by way too large of a distance. I checked to make sure Smart Guides, Snap to Grid, and Snap to Point are all turned off. I can't think of anything else to do.
Can anyone tell me what controls how far the keyboard arrow keys will move an anchor point, and how I can set this to the smallest possible distance?
Thanks in advance,
Paul

Under Preferences (Command-K on Mac), on the first screen there is Keyboard Increment. This is the amount the arrow keys will move selected content, such as anchor points.
I usually keep this at "0.005 in", but when doing things that need extreme accuracy, I change it to "0.0002 in", which on my screen (2560 x 1600) is one pixel at AI's 6400% magnification.

Moving anchor point using spacebar while drawing with pen?

If you're an Illustrator user, you may be familiar with the ability to move the active anchor point of the line, by holding "Spacebar" and dragging during the drawing process. This is a useful timesaver for creating complex paths. While Photoshop CS6 has introduced some useful new path-editing features, this is one that is still missing. I cant' figure out why Adobe does not make the pen tool identical between the two programs. This is an old feature in Illustrator. Don't the Adobe programmers talk to each other.
I'm just hoping/wishing someone could tell me the feature can be accessed in some other way, withing Photoshop.

Thanks, conroy. Yes, I'm familiar with that feature, but it requires clicking on the anchor point and dragging. The feature missing in PSD is the ability to move an associated anchor point while "holding" an associated direction point. This feature is activated, in AI, by holding down the Spacebar. It's a real timesaver and I miss it in PSD.

CS5 moving anchor points

Anybody else enormously frustrating when trying to reposition anchor points in CS5? They never were very easy to select and move, but now in this version, they'll only move in certain directions but not others, or not at all.
There seems to be some mysterious order required, where if I select the bezier points first adn then the central node, sometimes I can get the central node to move, but not always. Or sometimes if I press the shift key while selecting, I can get them to move. But not always.
It looks to me like Adobe has made the points too smart, so that they'll only go where they won't interfere with a nearby node. But I've got a lot of repositioning to do, and I sure wish this thing would trust me enough to let me move the nodes where I want to put them.
Anybody have any suggestions?

Something else I noticed, by the way: if I delete an anchor point, then undo, then Shift+click and try to move the anchor point, about 80% of the
time, I can get it to move.
But this is so frustrating, I'm going back to CS4 to make the shape I want.

Moving Anchor points

I move the anchor points of a shape/path by using arrow keys on my keyboard. Points move 1 pixels , sometimes less than 1 and sometimes more than 1 pixels. It doesnt matter i zoomed in or out, it does the same. Somehow it is triggered by something but i cant figure it out. Does anyone know to set the movement amout to 1 pixel for all the times.
I Use Flash CS4.
PS: I dont press shift/ctrl/alt or anyother modifier keys. Only Arrows
Thanks in advance.

For the marching ants, it sounds like you are using the quick selection tool. You want the regular selection brush, which only works exactly under the brush and doesn't do any thinking on its own.
The options bar settings for the Magnetic Lasso control it:
Width: how far away to look for edges
Edge Contrast: How much difference to look for between the edge and the background: A higher number = sharper contrast, lower number= softer contrast
Frequency: How often to put down those anchor points

Moving Anchor point in Basic 3D effect

I need to use Premier's basic 3D effect (Swing in door), but with the anchor point on the left or the right (not default, in the middle), like the one in the transision (3D motion Swing in).
Does anyone know what 3d package, or other source has it?
Thank you in advance.
James.

Craig,
Thank you for that. It is not quite the same though. To build a door looking effect, I would have to apply several other effects.
I would prefer to find and existing effect with controls, etc.
Do you know of those.
Thanks.
James.

How do I use my iPod on Mac after it was used on a PC?

For Christmas I received a MacBook Pro and I have an iPod that I have been using for the past 2 years with on my PC. Do I need to reset my iPod now that I will be using it on my mac? I want to avoid problems with the different configurations and such. thank you!

Macs can access and use Windows formatted iPods just fine. So if you prefer to use the iPod as is on the new Mac, you can plug it in and use it Windows formatted if you like. You will get a message about the iPod being synced to a different computer though, and do you want to erase the iPod and sync it with the Mac's iTunes library.
If you need to move your library...
How to use your iPod to move your music to a new computer using iTunes7
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300173
If you want to be able to use the iPod on both computers still, leave it Windows formatted and switch the manual updating...
Using iPod with multiple computers
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61675
Managing content manually on iPod
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61148
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Shapes disappear when editing anchor points (CS5)

Hello,
Some of my shapes simply disappear on mouse button release after moving anchor points or adjusting the bezier angle. The edit history does not mention any deletion; the event is registered as "move point" so I can "edit->undo move point" to have my shapes reappear.
This looks like a bug to me, but I'm quite new to Flash - I may have missed something.

Here is what they are referring to if this does not happen on everyone's then it is a common enough issue to figure out a solution but as far as I know it has always been this way, if anyone is seeing it differently we should know how they work around it so we can all benefit.
I agree if you want to draw a shape over other objects say as a clipping mask then you should not have to have a stroke which can be one distracting and two you prevent you from seeing an important small detail that might be important.
It might also be useful to be able to make this guide vary in width to mimic a stroke to see how it will effect the underlying art. I know why not just use the stroke and give it a color and transparency which is not the point the idea that you are creating art and you want to investigate you possibilities before driving yourself crazy selecting stroke colors and widths is the issue. It is more for the visual process and not finalized art and we are use to using the layer color to let use know what layer it is on so a color will only interfere.
It would be good to change this behavior and get everyone's input here of how they would like to see this drawing capability improved IMO.
I think it is a good issue to bring to the surface once again.
Path without stroke

Anchor Points Refuse To Join

I have been making a simple object using just the pen tool and the line segment tool. I joined all of the points on the object, but two of the anchor points refuse to join. I have tried using Command>J. I also tried averaging and then joining via the object menu. It always comes up with an error that says "open endpoints are not selected / not on the same path" when they clearly are.
Below is a screen shot. The point that's selected is the point in question. All of the other points joined without issue. Any suggestions would be very helpful.

Thanks for the reply. I tried moving the points back and forth as you recommended and made sure that there were just two points. I tried ungrouping and regrouping the objects to make sure they wre not separated, I even tried re-creating the line segment in question sevral times using three different tools. Unfortunately it is still giving me the same error.
Here is an image of the object without the segment in place with arrows pointing to where the open anchors are.

Pen tool anchor points

Hello,
Is there a short cut on Mac or a way to add 1 handle to an anchor point that already has a handle - other than using the convert anchor tool?
When I use the convert anchor point tool, it resets the previous curve that I had already drawn, and I have to draw out the 2 handles to make the curve I had already made.
It would be much easier if one could just pull out 1 handle from an anchor point in order to tweak the curve or line.
Thanks

Here’s another trick if it is imperative to move only one handle:
With Smart Guides turned on, drag ruler guides to intersect at the handles.
With the Line tool draw a line between those intersections.
Scale that line with the scale tool and Shift held down. It will get longer at both ends.
Convert the line to a guide (Cmd/Ctrl+5).
Now you can drag one handle along the new guide and the opposite sector won’t move.

Add Anchor Points by Distance?

I often need to add anchor points to a shape when I bring it into Cinema 4D to extrude and warp.
The Object>Path>Add Anchor Points just adds an additional anchor between existing anchor points, effectively doubling the density every time its run.
This isn't great for shapes with very long segments and very short segments. The short segments don't need subdividing, but the long segments need more subdivisions.
Is there a script or plug-in that can add anchor points based on distance? Such as: Add an extra anchor point to a path every 10 mm?

Navarro,
You may do it in this roundabout way:
1) Select the object and Select>Object>Direction Handles;
2) Ctrl/Cmd+X to Cut;
3) Press Delete;
4) Ctrl/Cmd+F to Paste in Front;
Now you have changed the path segments into separate paths;
5) For each (path segment) path apply Object>Path>Add Anchor Points as needed or maybe (depending on version) use the more versatile free Divide script, see below;
6) Select the paths and Ctrl/Cmd+J to join them (use Direct Selection in older versions).
With the rectangle shown, it would be changed into two long horizontal paths and two short vertical ones; you can select each pair and add Anchor Points, or maybe just leave the vertical ones as they are.
You may download the Divide script here:
http://park12.wakwak.com/~shp/lc/et/en_aics_script.html

Application windows remembering original anchor points when moving or resizing

Recently it seems that most of my windows, especially iTunes, Safari, and Finder, seem to retain the anchor points from when they were opened and revert to their original position if a window is resized. I've noticed the following odd behaviors that seem to be related to this problem:
After moving an iTunes or Safari window, right-clicking will open the context menu in a location that corresponds to where the window was originally placed.
After moving a window, a drag-n-drop target remains relative to where the window was. For example, in iTunes, if I open the application and move the window, it becomes impossible to drag a song into a playlist (unless I drag the song to the location where that playlist was when the window originally opened). The same sort of thing happens with Finder windows. In the image below, a screen grab of a Safari window, I right-clicked on the signal strength display pictured on the phone to the left; notice the context menu way off to the right of the Safari window.
Resizing a Safari window makes the window first snap back to the original location, then allows the resize to occur.
Opening/closing a tab in Safari, when the action causes the tab bar to appear or disappear, causes the Safari window to snap back to the original anchored position.
I've noticed this behavior over the past week or so. It was about a week ago that I installed the 10.9.5 update to the OS, but I'm not sure if the problem pre-dated the update or not.
This is driving me insane. Does anyone have any suggestions or, hopefully, a fix?
Thanks.

You can try running the combo update.
10.9.5 Combo Update

Anchor points: Photoshop to After Effects

Hello!
I have imported some shape layers from photoshop into after effects. I would like to make them swing in three dimensional space, so I am trying to change the anchor point to the top of shape so that it will swing from that point. I cannot see the anchor point as you would with text, and it seems to be rotating around some random place further down. Perhaps this photoshop layer is rotating around the centre of the photoshop composition?
What would be the fastest way to rectify this situation. There are 24 shapes but I will remake these shapes in AE if that is going to be the fastest way to make it happen.
Thank you!

Hi Trill:
Use the Pan Behind (Anchor Point) Tool (‘y” is the keyboard shortcut) to click and drag the Anchor Point to where you need it to be for your animation.
This behaves very much like moving the Anchor Point while using Free Transform in Photoshop. Also, it will retain the registration (or placement) of your layers relative to how they were stacked and aligned in Photoshop by changing both the layer Anchor Point coordinates and Position coordinates at the same time.
Assuming that you’re importing your layered Photoshop document as a Composition, the Anchor Point for each layer defaults to one of two locations:
The center of the respective layer if imported as “Composition – Retain Layer Size”
The center of the Photoshop document Canvas Size if imported as “Composition”
From what you’ve described, it sounds like you’re choosing as “Composition”. Although, you’ll need to use the Pan Behind (Anchor Point) Tool layer by layer regardless to achieve what you’ve going for.
There’s a behavior in AE that you could take advantage of to speed this up if you have pre-positioned your Photoshop layers such that the offset for the Anchor Point value change and the Position value change are the same for each layer. If that’s the case, you could select all the layers in After Effects and when you change the values for one layer After Effects will change the like values for all the currently selected layers as well. Since it looks like each of your layers currently has the PS Canvas Size, this might work right now.
- Warren

Moving Anchor Points in PSE 6.0 after lasso was used

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