Some paths are not smooth

[riddy65]

Hey guys,
I've just notied recently in CS2, that when I am drawing shapes that are mainly straight lines, certain line segments of a shape are fuzzy or jagged, but not all of them are? It has happened to me on multiple occasions in different projects. Does anyone have a clue why some lines wouldn't be crisp and smooth?

P.S. I do all of my illustrating with the pen tool.

Thanks,

 

[itchybug]

Riddy:

Are you perhaps working in RGB mode with View>Pixel Preview on in some of those documents?

Bert

http://www.itchybug.com

 

[riddy65]

Nope, I am working in RGB mode because they are all web graphics that will be put into flash animations, but it's just the normal preview mode. I tried deleting and re-drawing the shapes and playing with lots of different settings and changing strokes, but nothing changes?

 

[jmgalvin]

If streaight lines are "jaggy", are you holding down the shift key (mac) when drwing the line with the tool? That constrains the line.

Using OSX 10.3.9 on a G4

 

[riddy65]

The lines aren't all perfectly horizontal or Vertical? is there another way to draw angled lines without having them look jagged or fuzzy?

 

[jmgalvin]

You can use the pen tool to click at the beginning of a line and then at the end - at any angle - and you'll get a straight line. This is also useful for drawing odd shapes with straight edges/

If you hold down the Option key (mac - think it's alt on pc) and use the line tool you get to draw a line from its center at any angle - rotatable.

If you hold down the shift key while using line tool, the line will be constrained to 45 degrees.

You can also draw a straight of vertical line and then use the rotate tool to rotate it.



Using OSX 10.3.9 on a G4

 

[riddy65]

I know how to do all of those things, i'm not trying to be rude, but i've been a full-time designer for two years now, I am drawing complete shapes with the pen tool, not juse stray line segments. I creat for example a polygon with 6 sides, 4 of the sides will look great, and 2 of them are jagged for whatever the reason may be. It's not that I can't draw straight lines, it's that the lines display shitty, even if they are perfectly straight.

 

[jmgalvin]

If you're using the pen tool, I have no idea why 2 sides would show jagged. You might try the polygon tool and then do any distortion as necessary.

Please realize that, when you ask a question like "is there another way to draw angled lines without having them look jagged or fuzzy?" others have no idea about your experience level, so they give you likely answers to that question.



Using OSX 10.3.9 on a G4

 

[apepp]

...sounds to me like a monitor anomaly, i can't imagine those dodgy looking lines will ouptut to a high end device like you are seeing them on screen, more likely better, much better...

all the best!

andrew