Tip: Arbitrary Angle Psuedo-Guide (Simple and Fast)

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Posted By
Phosphor
Feb 2, 2004
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1089
Replies
3
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Closed
Here’s a tip to make an arbitrary angle psuedo-guide that stays visible while a layer is rotated.

At first I thought I could just simply use:

– the Pencil tool, and hold down shift. Alas, the line isn’t constrained to 45 degree increments, unless there is another modifier key I’m not aware of.

– the Pen tool, but the guide isn’t visible when the layer is rotated.

My solution:
1. Make a New Layer and make sure it is on top of the layer you wish you rotate
2. Make a single row selection, manually or with the Single Row Marquee Tool. The Single Row tool is nice, since if you hold down the mouse button you can just drag the row marquee to the bottom of the canvas and it won’t go off the edge.
3. Fill it
4. Unselect it
5. Edit, Transform, Rotate, making sure the bottom left corner is used as the center of rotation, and enter in the angle you wish to use as a guide.
Note: Photoshop does NOT use the standard mathematical definition of angle, so you need to enter a negative number for a Counter Clockwise angle.

Probably would be even simpler if Photoshop had Smart Guides. 🙂

Any other ways?
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MM
Mick_Murphy
Feb 2, 2004
I’m not sure if this is any good to you but the measure tool is very handy when rotating although it does disappear during the rotation. However, say if you want to straighten a dipping horizon (which is what I use it for mainly), you first draw along the horizon with the measure tool. Then, when you go Transform – Rotate, the angle you need to rotate by will automatically appear in the options bar and the bounding box acts as a guide during the rotation. Same thing for Image – Rotate Canvas – Arbitrary. Not sure what you mean about PS not using the standard definition of an angle. The direction of rotation is also important and an easy way to think about this is in positives and negatives.
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Phosphor
Feb 3, 2004
Not sure what you mean about PS not using the standard definition of an angle.

Mathematicians define a 2D angle, as a positive rotation being CCW, and negative as CW (Right Hand Coordinate System.) Photoshop has them reversed (i.e. Left Handed Coordinate System). If you argue that it’s all arbitary anyway, I’ll grudgingly agree.
Y
YrbkMgr
Feb 4, 2004
What I do is use the measure tool like a protractor. Draw with the measure tool in the angle of choice, then hold down the alt key and draw the second leg of the angle. Then I place guides at the three points. Functionally it’s the same thing as the method the poster uses, only one sees the representation differently, using guides as the end points (which is all I would care about any way).

Peace,
Tony

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