Photoshop

Measure in Vanishing Point

(Photoshop Extended only) Users ranging from architects and interior decorators to forensic scientists and woodworkers often need to know the size of objects in an image. In Vanishing Point, the Measure tool lets you draw a measurement line over an object in a perspective plane that you know the size of. The Measure tool has an option for entering a length for the measurement. The measurement line displays two text boxes: one for the length and one showing the angle that the line was drawn relative to the perspective plane. Once the measurement and its length have been set, all subsequent measurements correctly scale to your initial measurement.

For a video on using Vanishing Point, see www.adobe.com/go/vid0019.

There’s an option for linking the line’s measurement length with the grid spacing of the perspective plane. For example, a measurement length of 5 causes the grid to display 5 spaces, when the link option is selected. This might be useful for visualizing sizes in the image or for counting objects in an image. When unlinked, the grid spacing can be adjusted independent of the measurement. This option is useful in such instances where you find that the grid spacing is too small and visually confusing when linked to the measurement.

The measurements you create can be rendered so they appear in the image after you close the Vanishing Point dialog box. You can also export your measurements and geometric information to formats that can be read by CAD applications.

Measure objects in an image

  1. In Vanishing Point, select the Measure tool and then click and drag over an object in a plane.

    It’s best to make your initial measurement of an object that you know the size of.

    Note: Once you start creating a measurement from within a plane, it possible to continue drawing the measurement beyond the plane boundaries.
  2. With a measurement selected, enter a Length value to set its measured length.
  3. (Optional) Draw additional measurements.

    The size of these measurements are scaled to the size of your initial measurement.

  4. (Optional) Do one of the following:

    • If you want the size of the grid to be independent of the Length value you assigned to the initial measurement, make sure Link Measurements To Grid is deselected. This is the default setting.

    • If you want the size of the grid to adjust according to the Length value you assigned to the initial measurement, select Link Measurements To Grid.

    Vanishing Point measurements in an image are preserved after closing the dialog box. They appear when you launch Vanishing Point again.

Automatically drawing a measurement in Vanishing Point

The Measure tool can automatically draw the length and width measurements of a surface that’s defined by a perspective plane.

 Double-click the Measure tool in a perspective plane.

Move a measurement in Vanishing Point

In Vanishing Point, you can move a measurement line without changing its orientation (angle) or length.

  1. Select the Measure tool.
  2. Click anywhere along the length of an existing measurement and drag.

Change the length or orientation of a measurement

You can change the length or orientation (angle) of an existing measurement.

  1. Select the Measure tool and move it over the end point of an existing measurement line.
  2. Do any of the following:

    • To change the orientation and length of a measurement, drag an end point.

    • To change the length of a measurement and constrain its angle changes to 15 degree increments, Ctrl-drag (Windows) or Command-drag (Mac OS) an end point.

    • To change the length of a measurement without changing its orientation, Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Mac OS) an end point.

    • To change the orientation of a measurement without changing its length, Shift-drag an end point.

Delete a measurement in Vanishing Point

 Select a measurement and press Backspace (Windows only) or Delete.

Show or hide measurements in Vanishing Point

 Open the Vanishing Point menu and choose Show Measurements.

Render measurements in Photoshop

The Vanishing Point measurements are invisible when viewing an image in the Photoshop document window, even though the measurements are preserved in the image and appear whenever you launch Vanishing Point. Measurements can be rendered so when you finish working in Vanishing Point, they’re visible in the Photoshop document window. The rendered measurements are raster not vector.

 Open the Vanishing Point menu and choose Render Measurements To Photoshop.

The Render Measurements To Photoshop command must be chosen for each Vanishing Point session.

Create a new layer for your Vanishing Point results if you plan to render the measurements to Photoshop. This keeps the measurements on a separate layer from the main image.