PS6: Feather puzzle

PE
Posted By
phoney.email
Jun 2, 2004
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425
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3
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Closed
Version 6.

I ran some tests by creating two images: one white and one black. Next, I selected a small area of one and copied it to the other.

Now then, without Feather the border between the copied and underlying color was solid, as expected, i.e. instant transition from white to black.

However, once I applied Feather the number of affected pixels for the transition was not what I expected! For example:

Feather: 1 – took 6 pixels to go from pure black to pure white Feather: 2 – resulted in transition needing 10 pixels
Feather: 3 – took 14, and so on…

I would’ve expected a feather of 1 to take, well… 1 pixel. I could also understand if Feather of 1 resulted in a 2-pixel transition: 1 on the white side and 1 on the black. But 6!?

What’s going on here?

Don.
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S
saswss
Jun 3, 2004
In article ,
(Don) writes:
Version 6.

I ran some tests by creating two images: one white and one black. Next, I selected a small area of one and copied it to the other.
Now then, without Feather the border between the copied and underlying color was solid, as expected, i.e. instant transition from white to black.

However, once I applied Feather the number of affected pixels for the transition was not what I expected! For example:

Feather: 1 – took 6 pixels to go from pure black to pure white Feather: 2 – resulted in transition needing 10 pixels
Feather: 3 – took 14, and so on…

Hmm. I thought Photoshop used Gaussian blur to do feathering, but those numbers are way off for 8-bit mode. They’re closer for 16-bit mode, but if you’re pasting in PS6, you can’t be 16-bit mode, can you?

—

Warren S. Sarle SAS Institute Inc. The opinions expressed here SAS Campus Drive are mine and not necessarily
(919) 677-8000 Cary, NC 27513, USA those of SAS Institute.
PE
phoney.email
Jun 4, 2004
On 3 Jun 2004 19:23:49 GMT, (Warren Sarle) wrote:

However, once I applied Feather the number of affected pixels for the transition was not what I expected! For example:

Feather: 1 – took 6 pixels to go from pure black to pure white Feather: 2 – resulted in transition needing 10 pixels
Feather: 3 – took 14, and so on…

Hmm. I thought Photoshop used Gaussian blur to do feathering, but those numbers are way off for 8-bit mode. They’re closer for 16-bit mode, but if you’re pasting in PS6, you can’t be 16-bit mode, can you?

Yes, this was in 8-bit mode (although, I have figured out a – convoluted – way to copy in 16-bit as well using my lowly PS6…).

So what does this pixel value mean in the context of Feather?

It’s clearly not the number of pixels used for the transition which, sort of, makes it a meaningless number.

Don.
PE
phoney.email
Jun 4, 2004

P.S.

I just tested Gaussian Blur and, you’re right, the values are about the same.

But I figured out the Feather mystery. Nothing is as simple as it seems…

There are *two* Feathers. One is in the tool bar when Selection Tool is active and the other is in the Select menu. To a casual observer (read, yours truly) this would appear to be the same thing. It is not!!!

For one, it’s possible to enter 0 pixels in the tool bar but not in Select/Feather – where 0 is converted to a "minimal" value of 0.2.

Long story short (too late…) it’s the conspiracy of these two settings which produced the weird results.

Don.

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