Making edges of picture crisp?

gruntLOL · 11th July 2012, 2:15 PM

This might be hard to explain but I've basically drawn something up (in AutoCAD because it was easier for me) then I converted it to a jpg (it was massive like 10000x10000 pixels in size). I really only wanted to do solid colour fill on some shapes which I have done but when I removed the background to make it transparent I've noticed that the edges of the shapes are really ragged. I want them to be crisp hard lines but I'm not quite sure how to achieve this. I attempted to magic wand the areas select the inverse and fill them in but it didn't work to well. Is there a simply way to draw straight lines? Either using GIMP or pixlr.

You can see here that the blue fill and the grey fill don't look crisp around the edges and it's annoying. Looks even worse when I get rid of the background and make it transparent (which is next on the list). I know this is because I drew outlines and then filled those and so the outline is a different colour and is still there but no idea what to do now....

lithos · 11th July 2012, 4:11 PM

Are you working in a lossless format? This sounds like classic JPEG artifact syndrome...because it's such a large image you (or the program) didn't crank up the compression, did you/it?

Is there some way for you to antialiase the edges in your chosen image editor?

gcflora · 11th July 2012, 4:17 PM

The other option is to select the black area (without feathering) and increase the selection by 1 pixel (or 2, or more) and then fill with black.

Philll · 11th July 2012, 7:17 PM

I don't know how AutoCAD works, but this takes about 3 minutes in Photoshop

http://www.coflash.com/stuff/gruntlolling.psd <----- vector file, resize it by image > resize, or you'll have to deal with styles not scaling inline with the rest of the image

http://www.coflash.com/stuff/gruntlollinglarge.jpg

For such a simple thing, you should try using Photoshop/GIMP/other vector programs with the pen tool

gruntLOL · 11th July 2012, 9:57 PM

Thanks! I don't have a copy of photoshop which was the problem I may have to invest.HERE it is in action. Only had 30 mins before work to set the UI up will have to do end screen tomorrow.

Herro · 13th July 2012, 11:02 PM

Google "Illustrator"

11th July 2012, 2:15 PM	#1
gruntLOL Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Adelaide Posts: 2,767	Making edges of picture crisp? This might be hard to explain but I've basically drawn something up (in AutoCAD because it was easier for me) then I converted it to a jpg (it was massive like 10000x10000 pixels in size). I really only wanted to do solid colour fill on some shapes which I have done but when I removed the background to make it transparent I've noticed that the edges of the shapes are really ragged. I want them to be crisp hard lines but I'm not quite sure how to achieve this. I attempted to magic wand the areas select the inverse and fill them in but it didn't work to well. Is there a simply way to draw straight lines? Either using GIMP or pixlr. You can see here that the blue fill and the grey fill don't look crisp around the edges and it's annoying. Looks even worse when I get rid of the background and make it transparent (which is next on the list). I know this is because I drew outlines and then filled those and so the outline is a different colour and is still there but no idea what to do now....

11th July 2012, 4:17 PM	#3
gcflora Member Join Date: Jun 2012 Posts: 590	The other option is to select the black area (without feathering) and increase the selection by 1 pixel (or 2, or more) and then fill with black.

11th July 2012, 7:17 PM	#4
Philll (Taking a Break) Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: NSW Posts: 10,962	I don't know how AutoCAD works, but this takes about 3 minutes in Photoshop http://www.coflash.com/stuff/gruntlolling.psd <----- vector file, resize it by image > resize, or you'll have to deal with styles not scaling inline with the rest of the image http://www.coflash.com/stuff/gruntlollinglarge.jpg For such a simple thing, you should try using Photoshop/GIMP/other vector programs with the pen tool

11th July 2012, 9:57 PM	#5
gruntLOL Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Adelaide Posts: 2,767	Thanks! I don't have a copy of photoshop which was the problem I may have to invest.HERE it is in action. Only had 30 mins before work to set the UI up will have to do end screen tomorrow.

13th July 2012, 11:02 PM	#6
Herro Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Brisbane Posts: 742	Google "Illustrator"