Pen Tool curves are barely visible. Are there any options to make them more conspicuous?

[KillerRabbit]

Hello everyone,

When I like to make precise masking or cut outs in Photoshop I like to use the Pen Tool. Once I finish I simply select it and nice easy clean cut outs.

The problem is I can see the paths while I'm working in Photoshop anymore. I have a 4K iMac and upgraded to PSCC last year. Now the paths and anchors are so light or thin that I can barely see them. The other annoying thing is that it is a lot harder to pick anchor points and curves to adjust or join points. You need more precision to pick the path. This slows down the production and not to mention more frustrating and time consuming. The visibility issue also happens with the marching ants (marquee) when something is selected.

Is there any way to make them stand out more and be more responsive? I had to start making an separate layer with very garnish color overlays so I can see them better, but I guess I was used to thicker and more conspicuous designing for these tools. They are too "hi-def" perhaps. I rather they be a little more bulky and noticeable.

I was thinking maybe there is something that I can do in preferences that I'm not aware of.

Thanks.

[Barbara Ash · Accepted solution]

This is a long-time problem. The workaround I've used is to choose Shape instead of Path in the Options bar.

Then you can set No Fill and a Stroke width and color.

The path will appear on a separate layer as well as in the Paths panel.

When you're done, you can delete the shape layer and save the path in the Paths panel.

[KillerRabbit]

Thanks Barbara. That look like a way for me to be able to move a little easier, but it doesn't solve the problem with the "too precise" anchor points. Oh well. Hopefully there will be some option in future updates.

[Barbara Ash]

Yes, and hoping we don't go blind using the pen tool before Adobe comes out with an update. You can submit enhancement requests at Feature Request/Bug Report Form

[Trevor.Dennis]

An oft used trick is to create a new layer, fill it with black, and set its opacity to 50%.  This forces the path to white with decent contrast

The worst case then becomes when the background is full white, which will appear as 50% grey because of the black layer.

[KillerRabbit]

Trevor, Are you using am 4K display? I wish the lines looked a lot like that. Not for me. It doesn't matter what I do really to the background whether I make it bright pink or darken it. The paths are hard to see. The anchors are a lot more visible, but sometimes I can't tell if the path is continuous or I lost it along the way. Also this doesn't solve the issue of selecting paths where you have to be really precise to select the anchor points. A miss more than half the times. I think it's a display problem. When I upgraded all of a sudden everything is a lot more tiny. The options bar and everything else. It's funny how things seemed easier with lower resolution monitors and now when I need glasses to see things are even more smaller and harder to select. Not a good sign for the aging PS users.

[KillerRabbit]

Barbara,

I found a topic inside the link you sent me to request implementations that seems helpful. It doesn't help the anchor section issue, but it might help see the paths a little better.

Photoshop: It's hard to see the paths/lines that are drawn using the pen tool in Photoshop CS5, CS6 ...

[Barbara Ash]

Thanks for sharing that post. The Photoshop preference setting is somewhat helpful. It would be nice if Photoshop gave users the option of changing the color of the path to a contrasting color (not just for shape layers).

[davescm]

Check out today's Photoshop CC update (version 19.0) for new path colour and size options

Dave

[Barbara Ash]

Dave,

Thanks for bringing that improvement to our attention.

DiazArtist,

List of enhnacements at Photoshop CC new features | More library asset support

[alexyork]

A similar issue here is that the Line Tool is always pure black when drawing, no matter which mode you are in or what kind of path settings you choose. So if you're drawing on a dark image (i.e. all the time!) the line tool is completely invisible during drawing. This makes using it a real pain now. It needs to pick up the colour that you are drawing it i.e if your foreground colour = red then the line should be red while being drawn.

[davescm]

Good point

I would suggest putting in a feature request here, where it is more likely to be seen by Adobe staff

Photoshop Family Customer Community

Dave

[KillerRabbit]

What!!! Awesome! Can't wait to use these!

[hamzaz1477266]

my path line color is white

[davescm]

What version of Photoshop are you using and what path settings have you got in the options bar (under the cog wheel)

Dave

[hamzaz1477266]

photoshop cc 19.1.5

[davescm]

Hi

Try the following in this order:

1. Reset the pen tool

2. Go to Preferences Performance and ensure that Use Graphics Processor is turned on and that it shows your GPU.
If it does try changing the drawing mode Basic/Normal and Advanced (you will need to start a new document after each change)

If neither of the above work :

3. Reset Preferences using Preferences >General >Reset Preferences on Quit then close and restart Photoshop

Dave

[marekc56826369]

As much as this workaround seems to work fine it doesn't solve the problem and it's 2020! My pen tool changes in the middle of creating a path... How do we get Adobe to finally address this? I have tried to change the path thickness in the tool preferences but that suddenly goes to a really thick line (even if I set it to 1.5px). Reseting the tool doesn't work. Nightmare.