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Discovering Photoshop 5.5
The Measure Tool

Dateline: 09/06/99

Measure Tool Measure Tool
The measure tool plots the following information and displays it in the info palette:

  1. The X and Y starting location
  2. The horzontal and vertical distance traveled from the X and Y starting points.
  3. The total distance traveled.
  4. The angle measure relatived to the axis.
Image with measuring line
Results of measuring line shown in the info palette

Here the Info palette displays the measured points for the image on the left. The unit of measurement used is determined by your settings in user preferences under Units and Rulers.

You can also draw a second line to create a protractor which measures the angle separated from the x and y axis. This is best demonstrated with an example. In the images below, A shows you the the measuring lines. The resulting angle, is circled in B. This angle can then be used to make precise numeric transformations as shown in C. In this example, I was able to precisely straighten the bottom edge of the triangle, as you can see in image D. If you choose Image -> Transform -> Arbitrary Angle, the dialog box will default to the correct angle measurement automatically.

A Measure tool used to create a protractor B The results of the measurement
C Results used to create a precise rotation D The rotated image

The measure line can be moved anywhere in the image by clicking and dragging, and it can be removed simply by dragging it completely outside of the image. There are no tool options for the measure tool.

Return to the Introduction/Table of Contents.
Go to the Next Page: Type Tool & Editable Type Layers
Also see: Photoshop Resources

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