Small imperfections in curves drawn with pen tool.

I have noticed that when drawing with the pen tool that whereever two paths segments connect in a curve, there sometimes is a small bump. I am wondering how to avoid this problem when initially drawing and/or how to fix them afterwards. Currently my solution is to add either a single anchor point or one on both sides of the offending point then removing the problem anchor point. This seems to work in most cases.

In the screenshot, that should be a smoothPoint, not a cornerPoint. In Illustrator, only smoothPoints ensure tangency between the two associated segments. You have buttons in the Control Panel by which to convert a cornerPoint to smooth (and vice-versa). Doing so auto-extends the handles if they are retracted.
If that already is a curvePoint, then you need to lengthen its handles. If you have other anchors too close to it, that will be problematic. If the visible portion of the black path with the circled anchor were the entire shape, that shape should be drawn with no more than 5 anchors.
Be aware is sometimes possible that the antialiasing of the screen preview pixels can cause the the preview to look like there are subtle kinks at the horizontal/vertical extrema of curves, but since you say you have an anchor there, the anchor is probably the cause.
When showing screenshots about path shape, it's usually better to select the path so others can actually see the anchors and handles needed to advise.
JET

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Fill shape drawn with pen tool

There are three posts dealing with this issue and each time the person who posted the problem said they figured it out but did not say what they did. Here is the problem:
I draw a shape with the pen tool in Flash CS4. I made sure the shape was closed. But, I cannot fill the shape no matter what. Paint bucket tool does not work. Whatever I do, I get the red diagonal line on the fill color. I can fill a shape with the rectangle or oval tools but not the pen tool.
Please help. Thanks.

Thanks for your help. I tried what you suggested but the union selection was grayed out. I was in the drawing object mode. But after fooling with it for a bit the following worked (I'm still not sure why):
I double clicked on the object with the selection tool.
I then selected a fill color in the property panel and it filled in.
However, I cannot replicate this. I tried drawing another shape with the pen tool and cannot fill it in. I tried converting it to a symbol and that did not work either. I must have done something to the original shape that allowed me to fill it in last time I fooled with it.

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Hi,
I just got Photoshop CS5 and I'm having a bit of trouble with the pen tool - namely, I can't see the path I'm creating. In CS3 I could clearly see the line between two points but in the new program the line is nearly invisible making it very difficult to create the path. Is this a setting I can fix?
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I was having 32 bit while I upgraded from CS3 to CS4. The only problem with CS4 that time was with pen tool.Though I cannot precisely recall , I can say it t was very lazy and very frustrating and this was resolved totally after shifting to 64 bit.--If urs existing system is 32 bit try with 64 bit

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Adobe cs5 slow down when processing image clipping use with pen tool. The path is applying after few seconds when we draw on the image. My system supporting 4 GB memory with 64 bit.

The main thing i use paths for in photoshop is extracting objects from photos.
Other uses include stroking paths with the paint tools. For example, if you had
a powerline to remove, one could trace the line with the pen tool and then stroke
the path with spot healing brush set to content aware fill.
more info on photoshop paths:
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/photoshop/cs/using/WSfd1234e1c4b69f30ea53e41001031ab64-73ada.h tml
MTSTUNER

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Using Photoshop CS5, Mac OS 10.6.8
I'm trying to create a simple vector mask using the pen tool to create a curved line at the top and bottom of a photo. Here's what I'm doing:
1. Create a new layer and select it.
2. Select Pen tool.
3. Choose "work path" by selecting button at top menu.
4. I draw my shape with the pen tool.
5. Now comes the problem... I can not select this shape, or assign it a color. When I create a clipping mask, it does not recognize my path. When I throw away the layer, the shape is still there in outline only. What am I missing here? I'm familiar with doing this in Illustrator, but I don't understand how it works in PSD.
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The main thing i use paths for in photoshop is extracting objects from photos.
Other uses include stroking paths with the paint tools. For example, if you had
a powerline to remove, one could trace the line with the pen tool and then stroke
the path with spot healing brush set to content aware fill.
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http://help.adobe.com/en_US/photoshop/cs/using/WSfd1234e1c4b69f30ea53e41001031ab64-73ada.h tml
MTSTUNER

Minimum amount of segments with pen tool

I have a really basic question using the pen tool in Flash. Is there a minimum amount of segments (or something that I'm not doing) that need to be drawn in order to close a polygon shape created with the pen tool. I've found in many instances I seem to be closing the polygon and yet when I go to fill the object it won't fill. I then discover that the beginning and end points are not "joined" together (as in Illustrator). The icon turns to a hollow circle when I get to the original point (as in Illustrator) but it doesn't close the segments.
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Check if you have your fill color set to non-blank. In Properties Panel, under Fill and Stroke.
After drawing your polygon, select a Paint Bucket Tool (K), select fill color and click inside the polygon.
If the shape is (from any reason) really not closed, select Selection Tool (V) and check the main menu -> view -> snapping -> snap to objects: true.
Hover over the unconnected anchor point until you get a corner icon next to the cursor. Then click & drag the point to the other point you want to connect it with. Snapping will ensure the polygon will close now.
Now you can use the Paint Bucket Tool.

Lost bezier handle on closing path with pen tool

Can any of you please instruct me how to avoid losing the first point’s backwards bezier handle when closing a path with the Pen Tool?
This is a longtime annoyance for me, but I cannot rule out that I simply have failed to find the proper way of turning off this behaviour.

I just did!
See my last post with the picture. I rotated not just the anchor point but the straight line that it was coupled to.
Steve.
Steve, you can rotate anchorPoints and adjacent straight segments all day long, and you will still not be replicating the behavior and intent of FreeHand's Connector Points.
We're not talking about rotating straight segments here. (I would hope that everyone knows you can do that.)
Forget rotating things. Draw a path with a curved segment and an adjacent diagonal straight segment. The straight segment has no extended handles; only the curved segment does. Now adjust the length of the handle of the anchorPoint that joins to the straight segment in such a way that you cannot break tangency of the curve with the straight segment. In other words, the handle is always constrained to the angle of the adjacent straight segment.
Don't bother coming back with the workaround of scaling the handle. That still does not ensure tangency.
Example: This is Fontographer (FreeHand's progenitor). The highlighted point at the bottom of the motorycycle's skid plate is a Corner Point. The segment to the left of it needs to be curved, while maintaining perfect tangency with the straight segment to the right of it. In the inset, the Corner Point has been converted to a Tangent Point, and its handle is being dragged out (all with one selection tool, I might add.) The handle cannot be dragged out at any angle other than that which is tangent to the right segment.
That's just an example of converting a pre-existing Corner Point to a Connector Point. But now consider ensuring tangency fluidly as you draw with the Pen. In Illustrator, click to place a CornerPoint. Click or clickDrag to place a second anchorPoint oriented at any angle from the first point such that you are guaranteed that the first segment is straight, and that the next segment will be curved and tangent to the first segment. Can you do that in Illustrator?
While we're at it, note that in FOG, as in FH, you always know what kind of point you are dealing with. Corner Points are displayed as squares, Curve Points as circles, and Connector Points (Tangent Points in FOG) as triangles (regardless of whether their handles are extended or retracted).
JET

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Hi! I'm currently using Illustrator CS6 as a test version and when I use the pen tool to make a beaver (school assignment), it all end up in one layer. I want to have a new path-layer from every line with the pen tool, so I can remove lines in the layer panel too. At the moment it's one layer that have a picture of a beaver and I can't see the individual lines I've drawn. When I used CS5 recently I didn't have this problem.
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If you want to see a "layer" for every object change the Layer Panel display by choosing Panel Options from the Layer Panel Menu. In the lower section of the panel options window, make certain Groups and Objects are both checked. You'll then see a "layer" for each object.
I am quoting "layer" here because technically they aren't layers. They look like layers and are in the Layer Panel, but they don't exactly allow the options which actual Layers allow. You will be able to select and move the objects in the panel this way however.

Fixing paths after drawing with pen tool?

Afer you draw a shape with the pen tool and you are not happy with the way you drag the curves and drew the path, do you do anything more with the pen tool at that point or do you later fix it with the Direct Selection tool to manipulate the anchor points to fix it?
Thanks.

Access to the direct selection tool works only when you clicked on it before choosing the pen tool
If you select the direct select tool before you choose the pen tool it will be accessible by holding the command/control key but if you have the selection tool selected first and then of course it shows up you can in CS 4 and 5 also then hold the command/option Tab key to toggle the direct select and selection tools while still in the pen tool.

Make selection with pen tool?

In photoshop, you can create a path with the pen tool and then make that path a selection as if you'd used the lasso tool. How do you turn a pen path into a lasso selection in Flash (CS4)?
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Essentially, any path that you drawn in Flash, that you want to use to make a sub-selection of your artwork, has to be pasted onto your artwork layer and the "outside" portion deleted.
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Hi All
I have created a path with the pen tool (the brown part), and now I want to extrude it, but it extrudes the whole containing block (See image below)
Now I have tried everything, from grouping to compound paths etc, but nothing works.
How do I extrude my path?
Thank you

...and Texturized it AFTER the extrusion....
Applied a Grain Texture after the extrusion.
For clarity:
Always pay attention to the Appearance palette. The order of the items in the Appearance stack reflects the order in which they are applied.
A so-called "live effect" (of which both 3D Effect and Grain Texturizer are examples) is an operation which is automatically re-applied after you make an edit to the object to which it is applied. The effects are applied in the order in which they appear in the Appearance stack, from top to bottom.
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JET

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Hi,
I’m trying to create an action that will erase a shape layer box that I am using for a registration point.
I have “allow tool recording” on
I select the shape layer in the layer palette
Use the direct selection tool to marquee the box on the shape layer I want to erase
Use the pen tool to delete each anchor point
I do erase the box but when I play back the recorded action,
It will marquee and select the 4 box anchor points and even though the action dialog box says
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nothing happens.
Any ideas? Thanks.

The path selection tool selects the entire shape layer and won't delete it, I only want to select and delete a small portion of the shape layer. Thanks for trying.

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I am trying to learn the pen tool. I made a line with the pen tool but now I can't find out which layer it is on, and I can't stroke it as I wanted. All of my layers are turned off and the shape still appears. However on searching through the layers there is no vector layer which contains my line. Also, I can't stroke the line as the stroke and fill options are greyed out on my paths panel. I have attached a screen dump to hopefully explain what I mean. I am using CS2 on Windows 7.

Okay thanks and as you can see from the screen dump, I have got the paths window up. So I can see the workpath. But I can't stroke it, the stroke option is greyed out. Also how can I get the path onto a shapes layer? Basically I want to stroke the path so I can show the shape of a roadway on a map. Maybe I am using the wrong method, maybe there is a better way to do this?

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I noticed this the other day. When I'm using the pen tool in Photoshop CS4, it sometimes takes the color of what I'm using the pen tool on, ie; if I'm working with a picture with a bright green or pink, the path is bright green or pink (see link below) The picture isn't the worst that it does, but if I took a screenshot when it's at it's worst, you wouldn't see anything. I went through all the preferences and saw nothing. I do have the OpenGL acceleration turned on. Thanks for any input!!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32892564@N06/3120591723/

Thanks. That fixed it. I was able to select no fill in the pen tool bar (when pen tool is active), but could not select no fill when I clicked on the fill box in the regular tool bar (unless there is a trick) - all that comes up are color gradients to select.

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I draw line 1.
Then I break (click the arrow key and then click the pen tool again) and draw line 2
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Then when I use the blend too the resulting abstract looks like - non-continguous with broken lines:
instead of something of a continuous wave and unbroken lines like:
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Thanks. That fixed it. I was able to select no fill in the pen tool bar (when pen tool is active), but could not select no fill when I clicked on the fill box in the regular tool bar (unless there is a trick) - all that comes up are color gradients to select.

Small imperfections in curves drawn with pen tool.

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