Centre of Image

[Lofty1967]

Hi Guys,
Could anyone help me to get this starburst image exactly centred, it seems to have a small circle in the middle.
Many thanks
Stephen

[Steve13]

View rulers, run horiz and vert guide lines at center of canvas, blow up image and center circle where guides cross. It's always going to look off center, because the points are off.

[Lofty1967]

Thanks for the answer Steve, do you mind explaining a little more how I do this, I am fairly new to photoshop.
Help appreciated.
Stephen

[Steve13]

This should work for all versions of photoshop.
View > Rulers
Click Curser on left ruler and drag a guide to the center using the top ruler to find half.
Same with top ruler going down
Click magnify tool
Click zoom (looks like a magnifying glass)
Click and drag a small area around circle.
Select > All
Click Move tool (first one in tools window)
I think then you can nudge left/right/up/down with arrow keys
to center circle where the guides cross.
If you get a blank area on one or two sides, you can
probably bring the edges in a little with the Image > Canvas size window
and still keep it centered.

[Chain]

Unless you have every "spoke" as a separate layer, the best thing will be to recreate it.

I recommend you start off by making guides as suggested by others so you have the middle point (turn on the rulers, then click-drag from them to create guides). Then create a triangle shape, transform it into place as the top "spoke", then copy-paste the path and transform it to make the bottom spoke.

Now select both of them and copy-paste. Rotate them 90 degrees (hold down shift).
Select all four, copy-paste, rotate 45 degrees (hold down shift).

That's what I have done - and attached here as a PSD with layers.
I've also attached a PNG-file.

Ps: Illustrator is also an option here!

[Lofty1967]

Thanks for your advice Chain, will have a go and let you know how it goes, when you say about Illustrator, do you think this is a better program for this sort of work.
Stephen

[JHD]

That's what I would recommend is Illustrator.

[Chain]

Illustrator is superior for vector graphics.
If all you want is shapes like this starburst, then Illustrator is probably the way to go – but as seen in the PSD I gave you you can do some basic vector stuff in Photoshop as well (by using "shape layers").

[DJSoulglo]

Easiest way to find the centre of the image is to make a new guide
View > New Guide. Then just make one horizontal one and as an amount put 50%. Hit enter, make another one and set that to vertical and also at 50%. This puts it perfectly in the middle.

[Chain]

Originally Posted by DJSoulglo

Easiest way to find the centre of the image is to make a new guide
View > New Guide. Then just make one horizontal one and as an amount put 50%. Hit enter, make another one and set that to vertical and also at 50%. This puts it perfectly in the middle.

Good tip to type in the percentages. Don't know why I didn't think of that

[DJSoulglo]

Originally Posted by Chain

Good tip to type in the percentages. Don't know why I didn't think of that

Read it ages ago in a CS2 book. I think it was by Deke. Good tip to remember.

[Chain]

I'm used to typing in the positions for guides in InDesign, but in Photoshop I usually don't have the need.

[Flashtones]

Another Deke tip is to call up a free transform on a full layer (ie, a layer that's a big as the document). The transform box will show the center/axis point and you can pull your guides into alignment with it.

But DJSoulglo's way sounds even easier.

[Lofty1967]

Hi Guys,
I have done this starburst effect manually (image attached) as when I use the snap to guides option is seems to go off centre, is there a reason for this?
I am reading from a tutorial that says put these on so the creation of the shape will snap into place, when I created the second one it was clearly off centre so I duplicated the layer and line it up 'by eye'. (Not sure if that is a good idea but opinions welcome).
On a slightly different note I have started using the pen tool in regularly now, is there a way to make this show brighter when selecting as I seem to loose the trace of what I am selecting due to not being able to see the selection line?
Help once again appreciated.
Stephen

[Chain]

Unfortunately you cannot change the colour of the pen tool (or the selected path) as far as I know. You could change the colour of your layer(s) while using it if it is a problem that the outline is hard to see.

When using it you should see the vertexes/points when selecting a path (or parts of it), and that will tell you which one you've selected.

If you cannot see because the points are outside your canvas, increase the size of the window that you work in (I recommend hitting F one or twice to get it fullscreen) or zoom out.

[Lofty1967]

Hi Chain,
Thanks for your reply, the issue I have was that the path line was too light on the image that I was creating but not outside the canvass range, I think the darken the image with an adjustment layer seems a good idea, do you have anymore tips?
Also, the attached starburst was that just created by moving the segment individually and do you think mine was any good, when I centre my image and get the 'snap to guides' on it seems that it goes off centre, do you think there is a reason for this?
Many thanks
Stephen

[chillin]

I selected a single pixel in the so called middle of the pic.
Copy it & pasted into new layer. Reselected the pixel & extracted/cut from original layer. Next, i switched to the layer with the single pixel & move this pixel/layer to the real middle using move/align tool couple with select/transform selection tool as a reference. At the and I moved manually the original layer with the one pixel hole to fill the hole with the missing/moved pixel, then I merged the layers.
I hope you understand this if not I could try to go into more details.

[Chain]

chillin: That's one way to centre it, but I believe lofty would like to also correct the problem that the spokes don't meet in the centre - and then the easiest is to recreate it using one (or several) shape layers. Also, be aware you should select 2x2 pixels when finding the centre here because the true centre of the image lies at an intersection between 4 pixels since the image is 800x800.

lofty: you latest starburst isn't perfectly centered. See the attached images. Did you have a look at my PSD-file? I just made a triangular path, and it snapped into place - then it was just copy/transform for the rest.

[Lofty1967]

Thanks for your comments Chain, here is where I am at now, (attached) I did this by creating a regular triangle with the shape tool and then copy layers for each segment, anchoring the pointing and moving, this is the best I have had so far but when I zoom in I can see it is not perfect still, unlike your attachment, I don't understand the 2 x 2 pixel comment you made earlier, could this be the reason and if so can you advise me on how to do this?
Many thanks
Lofty

[chillin]

Originally Posted by Chain

...Also, be aware you should select 2x2 pixels when finding the centre here... .

Yes, you're correct. The center is in 2x2, but I try to move the single pixel to the edges of the horizontal & vertical middle half of the pic. In this case the pixel's movement direction depends on which pixel from these four (2x2) was chosen.

[Chain]

chillin: yep

Lofty: you are extremely close, so it might be good enough? From your explanation I can't figure out why it isn't perfect, perhaps your guides are slightly off?

[Lofty1967]

Thanks Chain, that's what I thought, is there a way to check this?
Lofty

[chillin]

Originally Posted by Chain

chillin: yep

Lofty: you are extremely close, so it might be good enough? From your explanation I can't figure out why it isn't perfect, perhaps your guides are slightly off?

It may be that I used a wrong pixel to move, I don't remember now.

In this case it should be the top right chosen & moved down & left to the middle. I had to use a black filled layers to see the pixel location. I did not use guides.

[Chain]

Originally Posted by Lofty1967

Thanks Chain, that's what I thought, is there a way to check this?
Lofty

One way: Zoom in (to 100%). Make sure your rulers are set to Pixels, drag the guide until it hits 400 px (you can see this in the info palette).

Edit: Do not zoom in more than 100 %. The guides have sub-pixel accuracy (even if this is not visible in the info palette) might end up "inside" a pixel and not snap to whole pixels. This might have been your problem.

[ItsOscar]

Holy crap! 23 posts and this guy still hasn't figured it out?! Hmmm... I really think this guys Lofty is taking you guys on a ride and you're actually falling for it lol.

[ItsOscar]

So where did Lofty go? Did he figure out his problem? Lol.

[Chain]

I got a PM. I think he figured it out in the end

[Lofty1967]

Yes, thanks everyone, I got there eventually, I'm sure I will be here again needing some help.
Lofty