Question: how can i make a slanted line in photoshop without it looking too pixelfied. (jagged)??? 

when i need then lines i usually use the pencil tool and hold shift while i draw, but slanted lines just aren't that easy. is there some other tool? (i tried line tool maybe i used it wrong) is there an easy trick?? By Shannon.

I would suggest using the polyginal lasso tool and then stroking it - you should check that the line you create isn't pixelized and only then click to create a point in the polygonal shape. You can create points outside the area of drawing. The only problem is that you have to create a closed polygonal shape - so if you don't want the line to reach any of the page borders, you will need to create the polygonal shape and stroke it ona new layer, then erase the areas you don't need, but i recommend that you erase after zooming it a lot to get an accurate result, and with a small brush. By stroking I mean: in the "edit" menu you will see the "stroke option. It lets you essentially colour along a given line (selection line). Make sure that your stroke is a single pixel width. I stroked in the center. Pick any colour to stroke with. By Vered



You might also want to retry the line tool, making sure it's set to anti-alaised. If it isn't set to anti-alaised, you'll get a very badly pixelated line, but w/ a-a, it's nice and smooth. 

The line tool is better to use for free-standing lines (ie lines that aren't making up a closed shape) because the lasso tool has to select a *shape* not a line, plus it's a lot faster to draw a single line w/ the line tool, if you're making many free-standing lines. 

Oh, btw, the default line tool in PS 6 is not only set to anti-aliased, but also "shape layer". So, if you haven't fooled around w/ the line options, you'll need to. "Shape layer" basically creates a new layer and path each time you use the line tool. This is NOT how the line tool is normally used. Look at the top control pannel, and see the three "boxes" (one dark w/ squares on each corner, one w/ the pen tool in the middle of it, and one that's just solid) and click the one that's just solid. There you go, no need to mess w/ that anymore. That really bothered me when I first got PS6, coming from a version of PS that hardly had any extra options like that. 

If you're going to use the polygon lasso method, make sure that it is also set to anti-alaised before you stroke :)  By Emtarte

Question: How can I make  those dotted lines around an image? What about a dashed one?

For a dotted line, I just type a whole lot of "---------", then I move them to the outer part of the image, so it oulines the image in a --------.  By Megan.

1)create a canvas with HEIGHT=4 WIDTH=1 (transperancy bg) 
2)make ONE half black 
3)Select all 
4)Edit>Define Pattern 

now go to your collage or image... and 
1)select the vertical marquee tool (hold down the square marquee tool in the tool bar.. it's a 1pxl vertical line) 
2)right click and select FILL 
3)select pattern 
4)select the pattern you just made 
5)deselect it's done! :) By Kim.

I used your trick in the past (always grateful) - and I have an elboration for it - make a rectangular dashed box around an image. 

This is for PS6 users. 

1.Open a new image - 8x8 pixels, transperant background. 
2.Zoom in a bit. 
3. go to the rectangular marquie tool, and then give it a fixed size of 4x4 pixels. 
4. using this defined selection - select the top left 4 pixels and the fill them up with black using the "fill" command from the "edit" menu. Repeat the same on the lower right 4 pixels. 5. define it as a pattern. 
6. open a new image. 
7. in a new layer do one of the following: 
A. create a rectangular selection and fill it up with a colour. 
B. Crop a rectangular selection from another image and paste 
it as a new layer. 
8. In the layer pallette, double click on the layer you have just 
added to open the "blending options". 
9. check the stroke option, then adjust it as following. The "Fill 
Type" should be "pattern". Choose the pattern you just 
defined. 
In "structure" Make sure the "size" is 1 pixel and the "position" 
in "inside". 
10. And that's it! 

Addendum: If the image you added the dashed rectangle to is dark, then you might want to use a pattern that has no transperancy. To get this follow steps 1-4 and then add this step: 

A. Go to the "select" menu and choose the "colour range option". B. Use the colour picker in this dialogue box and click anywhere 
where the colour is black within the actual image (not within 
the "colour range" dialogue box). 
C. To make sure you selected all the black, go again to 
the "select" menu and choose "similar". This will make 
sure you selected all the black in the image. 
D. Now once again go to the "select" menu and choose "inverse" 
to select all the transperant area in the image. 
E. Then go to the "edit" menu and choose "fill" and fill it with a 
bright colour of your choice, preferably white. Now Repeat 
steps 5-10. 

Sorry if this sounds complicated - but once you define the pattern(s) - you can always use them again (make sure to save the pattern in the pattern dialogue box). By Vered.