Dotted line in Photoshop. Creating a dashed line in Adobe Photoshop Dotted line in Photoshop cs6

Here's an easy way to create dotted lines. The big plus of this technique is the advantage over some of the simpler methods - that you use the built-in brush presets, which opens up a ton of possibilities. No other programs needed and no manual work with fancy pipes or complicated mouse work.

This is the result of a simple form. Let's start. Let's open a new document of any size with a small width, let's say 200 width and any height.

First, select the Pencil tool, make sure the settings are applied to all brushes. Before doing anything else, be sure to save your brushes if you already have a fancy set of curly brushes. You can play with the settings and you can always load your previous set.


Double click on the second small brush in the palette window. Your palette should look rough when working with a pencil tool. We'll look at the blurred edge versions later ...

You can now see the brush settings. An important change to make the dotted line effect. For the simple dashed line I created above, just changed Spacing, choosing 250% ... You can change this in any way up to 999.

Now just draw with your pencil and you will have your own dotted line! To keep your line straight, hold Shift pressed when you draw a line. Another way is to click at the starting point and then, while holding Shift, click on the end point; PhotoShop will make a dotted line between two points!


For practice, try playing with the brush size and dot spacing settings. Also you can download square brushes at Adobe Photoshop\u003e Goodies\u003e Brushes & Patterns\u003e Square Brushes, this will give you square dots, use the same settings. Take the Brush ( Paintbrush) and see what effect it will give, the same thing, only with blurred dots. Apply the same settings to the Spray tool ( Airbrush tool).

Along with the size and distance between the points, if you need to make oblong dotted lines that are on a line at an angle, just change the angle of the brush. You can change the angle of your brush, in which case the direction of the point on your line changes. You are now an expert on dotted lines in PhotoShop!

Photoshop is not a program for creating drawings, but still sometimes it becomes necessary to depict drawing elements.

In this tutorial I will show you how to make a dotted line in Photoshop.

There is no special tool for creating dotted lines in the program, so we will create it ourselves. This tool will be a brush.

First you need to create one element, that is, a dotted line.

Create a new document of any size, preferably smaller, and fill the background with white. This is important, otherwise nothing will work.

We take the tool "Rectangle" and set it up as shown in the pictures below:



Choose the size of the dotted line according to your needs.

Then we click anywhere on the white canvas and, in the opened dialog box, click OK.

Our figure will appear on the canvas. Don't worry if it comes out very small in relation to the canvas - it doesn't matter at all.

Give a name to the brush and click OK.

The tool is ready, let's take a test drive.

Choosing a tool "Brush" and in the palette of brushes we are looking for our dotted line.


Then press F5 and in the window that opens, set up the brush.

We are primarily interested in intervals. Grab the corresponding slider and drag to the right until gaps appear between the strokes.

Let's try to draw a line.

Since we most likely need a straight line, we will extend a guide from the ruler (horizontal or vertical, whichever you want).

Then we place the first point on the guide with the brush and, without releasing the mouse button, hold down SHIFT and put the second point.

You can hide and show the guides with the keys CTRL + H.

If you have a firm hand, then the line can be drawn without the key SHIFT.

To draw vertical lines, you need to make one more setting.

Press the key again F5 and we see such a tool:

With it, we can rotate the dotted line to any angle. For a vertical line, this will be 90 degrees. It is not difficult to guess that in this way you can draw dotted lines in any direction.



Here, in a simple way, we have learned how to draw dotted lines in Photoshop.

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Good day, dear readers of my blog. It would seem, what is it worth to draw a straight line in Photoshop? Hold down Shift and here you are. Nevertheless, this can be done in three ways. The result of each will be different.

This article will show you three ways to draw a straight line in Photoshop. Which filter to apply to create the wave. How to do it with another interesting tool. I will show you how to achieve a dotted line and draw at a specific angle.

Lots of information awaits you. Let's get started?

Line tool

First, I'll show you how to use a tool that is designed to create straight lines. At this point, you can have a rectangle, oval, ellipse or polygon. Just hold down the left mouse button on the button for a few seconds to open a menu with additional tools.

First, the important thing. One of the most important parameters is thickness. Thanks to the line, you can even draw rectangles. You just need to make it fatter.

Next comes the Fill and Stroke. Click on the color plate to the left of the labels and choose a shade. If you want to stroke, fill in its width. Now, my screenshot shows a variant without it. The no color icon looks like this. Gray line crossed out in red.

You can see the settings and the result in this screenshot. Not very visible, but the thickness is 30 pixels. In a large picture, 30 pixels may look like a modest strip. Everything needs to be adjusted to your own dimensions.

This is what the line will look like if you choose red for the stroke.

The next button will allow you to draw a dotted stroke.

If you decrease the thickness and remove the fill, you just get a dotted line.

Here you can also align the stroke to the inner, outer or center of your path.

And round off the corners. True, this will not be so noticeable.

If at the moment when you are drawing a line, press Shift, then Photoshop will automatically create a straight line. Horizontal or vertical. Depending on where you are taking her.

If you need a line at a certain angle, then the easiest way is to look at what the information window shows and correct it manually, pointing in a certain direction.

Well, now I'll show you another one.

Brush tool

I drew these rectangles using brush lines.

Choose the type and size appropriate for the brush line.

Place a point at the estimated beginning of the line, hold down Shift and left-click where the strip should end.

There are two lines in front of you. The yellow one painted with the Line tool, purple brush.

How to make a wave

No matter what tool you use, the easiest way to make a wavy line is with a filter. Go into this category, find "Distort" and select "Wave".

Guided by the picture with a preview, you will quickly understand what is what and how to set it up. The amplitude should be approximately the same. If it doesn't work, you can just click on "Randomize" until a suitable one appears.

The last filter you apply is always quick to access. Apply it to the yellow stripe layer painted with the tool.

This is the result I got. As you can see, it is different.

Pen tool

To be honest, I still can't use the pen professionally. I know that they can draw anything they want: smooth, fast, fun and cool, but it takes me a lot of time and the result is not always at the level that I expected. Nevertheless, I can even draw straight lines with a pen. Curves are worse, but I'll try. I choose "Pen".

I put a point, then a second. Until I release the mouse button I adjust the smoothness.

I do the same with every new point.

After all the manipulations are completed, right-click and select "Stroke the path" in the menu that appears.

Several tools can be selected: pencil, brush, stamp, pattern, and so on. Now let this be a brush.

Click on the right mouse button again and select "Delete outline".

Here is the result I got.

Well, don't forget that you can always use your collage skills. Read the article about how, and you can take a line from any picture and insert it into your image.

If you want to learn how to professionally use the pen and other tools that are in Photoshop. I can offer you the course " Photoshop for beginners in video format ».

Professionally created tutorials will teach you everything you need to know about this program. You will save a lot of time looking for answers to this or that question. Ideas on how to complete the task will spontaneously appear in your head.


By the way, do you know how to make sure that you always have interesting needs related to Photoshop? It can take your relationship with this program to the next level. All you need is a passion for web design. People in this profession never sit around. There are always clients, projects and new tasks.

There is work for everyone, and you can do what you really like and bring good money. Read the article about, or. Stop inventing tasks for yourself, let someone else pay money for your time.

Not sure where to start? Take the course “ The Basics of Commercial Web Design ". Try some free lessons, this will help you understand yourself and understand if you are ready to master new horizons.


An online course with the support of the author is a reliable investment in your future profession.

That's it. It remains for you to decide. Decide when you are ready and start conquering new heights. If you liked this article - subscribe to the newsletter and every day one step closer to the cherished goal.

Learn as much as you can about the internet, write your success story, and stop waiting. Take action. Others make your dream come true every day. Today they are doing what you have been wanting for so long. Do they think about being ready? The moment is right now. Don't miss it. You have the strength to do it.

I wish you good luck. Until next time.

Adobe Photoshop has a wide range of capabilities, thanks to which you can solve some applied problems, as well as fully work in one environment without switching to another. The program is intended mainly for raster graphics, but working with vector graphics is also possible. Just one of the interesting questions is the construction of the dotted line in "Photoshop SS". The task is not at all difficult, just follow the steps that will be described below. In practice, it is often possible to use more than one construction method, but several.

Construction methods

Not every method will be appropriate for a specific situation. But on the other hand, there is a universal approach that can create a dotted line of any geometric complexity. For all methods, you need to go through an intermediate stage - brush settings. In these settings, there are some parameters that can change the spacing and change the thickness of the dotted line.

Customizing brushes

Every user of this graphical environment has used the Brush tool at least once. But not everyone set it up for different situations in which different settings were needed.

So, before creating a dotted line, you need to select the Brush tool and call the settings context menu. Here you should set the required stiffness and line thickness. After the procedure, go to the brushes panel, where the interval option is located. The slider of the interval can be moved to the desired value, the optimal solution is 150%.

Pen tool

After all the transformations with the brush, you can proceed directly to drawing the dotted line. We will create our object using the Pen tool located on the main quick access panel. The user can get a dotted line using the transformed contour.

  1. Activate "Pen" and set the first one - the beginning of the line.
  2. We put the second point in the desired place where the geometric object will end.
  3. The next step is to create a new layer, which can be added using hot keys or on the layers control panel.
  4. Now you should click on the resulting contour with the right mouse button and select the "Stroke the contour" item in the window that appears.
  5. Another window will pop up, displaying the stroke method. The default value is "Brush" - we confirm.

Any version of the program, for example "Photoshop CS6", supports the dotted line. After all the steps passed above, we get a straight line, but, in addition to it, you can create a curve with a dotted line.

The operation for drawing a curve is no different from drawing a straight line. The only step that will be changed is creating and extruding anchor points. Below are some additions:

  1. Create an anchor point with the same Pen tool.
  2. Find the right place on the canvas and hold down the left mouse button - trying to transform the radius of curvature to the desired value.
  3. You can continue creating the curve with new arcs, which are made in the same way as in step 2.

The subsequent stages remain unchanged - the general picture of the operations does not change, and everything is done exactly as in the case of the straight dotted line in Photoshop.

Other tools

With the help of graphic objects, it is possible to create geometric border of figures in the form of lines with a dotted line. All these charting tools are located in one cell on the main panel. With their help, you can create the same as the most primitive shapes: line, polygon, ellipse; and arbitrary, which were loaded automatically into the editor: arrow, star, dialog cloud and others. Whichever tool you choose, each has its own settings and parameters, which are displayed at the top of the program in its header. You can stroke any shape in much the same way as with the Pen tool:

  1. Select the desired tool and recreate the object. Important note - the created shapes automatically have their own layer, which can be rasterized later.
  2. We manage the settings and set the optimal ones that the user will need.

Right-click on the object and select "Stroke the path". A familiar dialog box will pop up where you need to select the "Brush" option.

The shape will now appear on the screen, edged with a dotted line along the contour. You can continue editing the new object as you see fit.

As a reminder, the brush or pencil must already be set up. After selecting the tool, click OK, and points will appear on the path. The points made with the brush are slightly blurred, so after applying the points it does not hurt to apply the Sharpen Edges filter, select the settings individually.

Here is an example of a drawing obtained using the above gestures:

The following brush settings were applied:
Text: type - pencil size 3 px, hardness 100%, spacing 180%
Underline: type - brush, size 3 px, hardness 100%, spacing 205%
Frame: Pencil type, Size 6 px, Hardness 100%, Spacing 180%

Well, the dotted frames seem to be sorted out.

Create frames from dotted lines

Rectangular frames, i.e. consisting of vertical and horizontal lines do not cause any problems.
You can draw them using a rectangular brush from the default Photoshop set. Open the brushes control panel and load them as shown in the picture:

You can draw a horizontal line with such a brush. But vertical will not work anymore, or rather, it will work, but ugly:

To create a vertical dashed line, rotate the brushprint 90 or 270 degrees:

Now you can safely add a vertical dashed line:

But if I need a dotted line in a circle or along any curve, then this method is no longer suitable. If you ask the world mind, then he, the mind, will advise you not to do nonsense with the dotted line in Photoshop, but to use Adobe Illustrator, create a layer with the desired line in it, and transfer it to Photoshop. I don't use Illustrator, and I need to create a circular dotted line in Photoshop. It turned out that there is a way, and quite simple. It took me ten minutes to invent it.

Choose a round brush, set the print diameter to 9 pixels, spacing 170%. Create a path, stroke the path, as in the case of the points.
Next, right-click on the path, select the "Make Selection" item with a feathering radius of 0. Here is an enlarged fragment of the picture:

Then go to the tab Selection -\u003e Modification -\u003e Border (Select -\u003e Modify -\u003e Border), set the width to one or two pixels.

Now we need to invert the selection by pressing the Ctrl + Shift + I key combination. Remove unnecessary items by pressing the Delete key.
I got a nice dotted circle like this:

In some places, there are, of course, small artifacts, but you can fix them in a few clicks with an eraser.
Thus, the dotted line can be drawn on any contour, for example, circle