photoshop tutorial- Rulers, Measure tool, Guides, & Grids

Photoshop - Rulers, Measure tool, Guides, & Grids

In photoshop Rulers, the measure tool, guides, and grids help you position images or elements precisely across the width or length of an image.

Photoshop Rulers: To display or hide rulers, Choose View > Show Rulers or Hide Rulers. When visible, rulers appear along the top and left side of the active window.

You can change the rulers’ zero origin by dragging diagonally down onto the image. The ruler origin also determines the grid’s point of origin. To snap the ruler origin to guidelines or gridlines, choose View > Snap to Guides or View > Snap to Grid, before dragging.

To reset the ruler origin to its default value, double-click the upper left corner (origin) of the rulers.

Changing the rulers’ settings:

• Choose File > Preferences > Units & Rulers to open preference window.
• In the preference window, choose a unit of measurement.
• For Width and Gutter, enter values for the column size. You also can change the units.
• For Point/Pica Size, choose PostScript (72 points per inch) if you are printing to a PostScript device OR Traditional to use printer’s 72.27 points per inch.

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The measure tool

The measure tool calculates the distance between any two points in the work area. When you measure from one point to another, a non-printing line is drawn and the Info palette shows the following information:

• The starting location (X and Y).
• The horizontal (W) and vertical (H) distances traveled from the x and y axes.
• The total distance traveled (D) & the angle measured relative to the axis (A).

All measurements except the angle are calculated in the unit of measure currently set in the Units & Rulers preference dialog box. You can measure between two points by Dragging from the starting point to the ending point.

To edit a measuring line, select the tool and do one of the following:

• To resize the line, drag one end of an existing measuring line.
• To move the line, place the pointer on the line away from either endpoint and drag the line.
• To remove the line, place the pointer on the line away from either endpoint and drag the line out of the image.

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Guides and the Grid

Guides appear as lines that float over the entire image and do not print. You can move, remove, or lock a guide to avoid accidentally moving it. The grid appears by default as nonprinting lines but can also be displayed as dots. The grid is useful for laying out elements symmetrically.

To show or hide guides:Choose View > Show/Hide Guides .
To show or hide the grid:Choose View > Show/Hide Grid.

Creating a guide:

• Drag from the horizontal ruler to create a horizontal guide, OR hold Alt and drag from the vertical ruler to create a horizontal guide. The pointer changes to a double-headed arrow () when you drag a guide.

• Drag from the vertical ruler to create a vertical guide, OR hold Alt and drag from the horizontal ruler to create a vertical guide.The pointer changes to a double-headed arrow () when you drag a guide.

To move a guide:

1 Select the move tool and position the pointer over the guide (the pointer turns into a double-headed arrow).

3 To move the guide do the following:

• Drag the guide to move it.
• Change the guide from horizontal to vertical, or vice versa, by holding down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) as you click or drag the guide.
• Align the guide with the ruler ticks by holding down Shift as you drag the guide. The guide will snap to the grid if the grid is visible and View > Snap to Grid is selected.

To lock all guides:Choose View > Lock Guides.

To remove guides from the image:

• To remove a single guide, drag the guide outside the image window.
• To remove all guides, choose View > Clear Guides.

To turn snapping to guides or the grid on or off:Choose View > Snap to Guides or Snap to Grid, respectively.

To set guide and grid preferences:

• Choose File > Preferences > Guides & Grid.
• For Color, choose a color for guides or the grid, or both. If you choose Custom, click the color box, choose a color, as described in Using the Color palette, and click OK.
• For Style, choose a display option for guides or the grid, or both.
• For Gridline Every, enter a value for the grid spacing. For Subdivisions, enter a value to subdivide the grid. If desired, change the units for this option. The Percent option creates a grid that divides the image up into even sections. For example, choosing 25 for the Percent option creates an evenly divided 4 by 4 grid.
• Click OK.

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