Can I disable anti-aliasing in Photoshop?

I'm currently working on some very small images in Photoshop. It always tries to anti-alias the edges, but this makes them really blurry on this scale.

Is there any way to turn this off, so I can draw sharp edges?

Simon Verbeke

Posted 2012-01-06T17:32:45.887

Reputation: 3 553

Edges? For which tool? – iglvzx – 2012-01-06T17:55:23.317

Most of them. Most annoying are the brush and when deleting a selected area. When I have a black object, on a a white background and try to delete a part, the edge will become grey. – Simon Verbeke – 2012-01-06T17:58:20.497

Answers

To the best of my knowledge... Photoshop doesn't anti-alias most things. (I believe font layers are... but that's another subject) I believe you're referring to "feathered edges" or are working with "semi-transparent areas". You either need to remove the alpha-channel from the layer... (meaning no transparency) or be sure not to use tools that select/create soft-edges or have a feathered edge.

TheCompWiz

Posted 2012-01-06T17:32:45.887

Reputation: 9 161

For what it's worth, here's a good explanation of anti-aliasing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-aliasing

– TheCompWiz – 2012-01-06T18:40:38.370

That page shows exactly what's happening. The image near this Title shows it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-aliasing#Signal_processing_approach_to_anti-aliasing). The left is what I want, the right is what I get.

– Simon Verbeke – 2012-01-06T19:01:08.237

1You're working with semi-transparent pixels. try grabbing the pen tool... with a 1px square shape... (make sure it's not a feathered edge or something weird) and color that one pixel. You'll quickly find it's not black or white... or grey... but rather black... with 50% transparency (or so) The paintbrush tool typically has a feathered edge... to make it behave more like a "real" paint-brush. – TheCompWiz – 2012-01-06T19:03:18.487

You meant the pencil tool? Because the pen only makes a path. The pencil seems to work fine, thanks :) – Simon Verbeke – 2012-01-06T19:11:49.370

yeah... sorry the pencil looks like a pen... but you know what I meant. :D – TheCompWiz – 2012-01-06T19:14:43.393

For those who come after, I believe that the issue here is that your shapes are not aligned to the pixel grid.

Tips:

show the ruler, and right click it, set to pixels
zoom to 100% so that:
- nudging with arrows moves exactly a single pixel, and
- Holding shift constrains guide movement to the currently selected ruler units.
when free transforming, click the top left (any but centre, really) anchor point and set the x/y values to whole pixels
right click the dimensions and set to pixels, then set to whole pixels
when creating shapes, click the options drop-down and set 'snap to pixels'

More details: http://memelab.com.au/photoshop-tips-aligning-guides-to-the-pixel-grid/

ptim

Posted 2012-01-06T17:32:45.887

Reputation: 926