Misbehaving shapes?

[vawitt]

Hello, everyone. I have drawn a pair of simple shapes, using the Shape tools (elliptical and line). See screen shot below:

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1bRt7XYigPJvIulRIWLTPuyrlIPyh1_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1bRt7XYigPJvIulRIWLTPuyrlIPyh1)

When I try to save as GIF or JPG, the lines disappear. If I try to merge the layers, the lines disappear. If I simplify the layer(s) (either one, or both), the lines disappear.

Should I be using a different tool set to create this simple shape?

Thanks for any guidance!

~Val in icy IL

[Byron Gale]

Val,

Are you viewing the image at 100% zoom?

Byron

[Diana]

Hi Val,

You might use the Eliptical Marquee to drag out a circle selection, then Edit > Fill Selection with your color. Then on a new layer, use a hard brush to draw your straight lines. You can click once where you want your line to start, then Shift-Click where you want your line to end, and it will draw a straight line between the two points. Turning on the Grid will help, too.

Diana

[vawitt]

Byron - not sure if I was viewing at 100% zoom; would that make a diff?

Diana: I'll try drawing with the marquee & brush (I'm at work now...can't try) but I'm wondering what the difference is? Can't you combine shapes?

~Val in icy IL

[Byron Gale]

...not sure if I was viewing at 100% zoom; would that make a diff...Val,

It might make a difference. When an image is viewed at less than 100%, it is re-sampled for the screen, and things can appear differently than they do when the image is viewed full-size.

Byron

[ljameso1]

Does it still disappear if saved as a psd or tiff?

[vawitt]

Hi, Linda. Yes, and yes.

I redrew with the marquee and brush and Diana suggested and that works OK. I'm still curious about the behavior of the shapes, though. I wonder why they won't save...

[hukari]

I hate to be asking such an obvious question, but, as you have the line shape layer highlighted in your image, are you sure the lines are a different color?

When the layer is highlighted, the outlines for the line shapes are shown, but if you flatten the layer and both lines and circle are white, you won't be able to see the lines any more.

[vawitt]

Reka - that was it!! In my toolbox, my foreground/background colors were set to default, but in the actual line tool in the options bar the color was white (same as the circle).

Such an obvious answer -can't believe I missed it.

THANKS! Now I can sleep at night :p:D

~Val in foggy IL

[hukari]

THANKS! Now I can sleep at night :p:D

~Val in foggy IL

<Chuckle> Maybe I can sell that answer to a pharmaceutical company as a sleep aid??

Glad it helped...I knew that one cause it has happened to me before.:cool: