What's up w/ Photoshop's eraser tool?

[jasonbar]

So, I'm doing a whole bunch o' artwork trimming/manipulating to fill in extra control panel images, marquee images, cab images, etc. for my FE, using flyer artwork or other found artwork: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=92510.0


I've started saving my cpanel images in .png format & I'm making any "background" pixels on the sides & such be transparent, so that my FE background will show through them.


On both my Photoshop Elements (2.0?) & Photoshop 7.0 installations, the eraser tool is difficult to wield carefully.

I'm using the "Eraser Tool" (not "Magic Eraser Tool" or "Background Eraser Tool") & I have it set to "Pencil mode" & a size of 1 pixel.  Yet, when I erase pixels, I sometimes pass over & over certain pixels & they won't erase, while others that are clearly a handful of pixels away from my eraser erase instead.  If I use the pencil tool with the same settings, it behaves quite nicely, so I know that I'm not a mouse spaz or anything...

My workaround is to drag a small marquee & hit the Del key to delete the pixels & expose the transparent background & then use the arrow keys or mouse drag to relocate it, hit Del again, etc. etc.  This is a bit tedious.


Any advice on smoother erasing?


Thanks,
-Jason

[Gatsu]

if you are working with layers, make sure the right layer is selected.

Or if the artwork you are using is flattened (that layer will have a lock icon on it) double click that layer, unlock it and you should be good to go with the eraser tool.

hope that helps

[jasonbar]

Thanks.

I am working w/ layers & have the right layer selected (only 1 layer in these pics).

The layer is unlocked & the eraser does produce the gray/white checkerboard pattern, signifying transparency, but the tool misses pixels here & there no matter how many times I pass over them, and it sometimes is clearly erasing a pixel several pixels away from my cursor.  Mysterious.

-Jason

[BASS!]

Make sure that fill and hardness are set to 100% and I really wouldn't recommend the pencil tool. Just use the standard brush mode, and set the pixel width to 1px. Then if you want to blend areas you can increase the size and set the hardness lower to smooth out what you are erasing.

[jasonbar]

Thanks, but I'm still not getting exactly what I want.

When in brush mode, even at 1px size, there's still some "bleed" to adjacent pixels & even with 100% flow & 100% opacity on the tool & 100% Opacity & 100% Fill on the layer, 1 click doesn't make the pixel go straight from painted to transparent--many pixels are partially transparent until I wipe over them again w/ the brush.

I found a workaround.  Use the pencil tool, on 1 px, & paint everything I want transparent.  Then, use the magic eraser tool with tolerance of 1 & "fill" that penciled area w/ transparent pixels.  Sort of like a green screen for the weather man.


Took me a while to find Hardness, but it too was set to 100%.

Thanks,
-Jason

[Chris]

In Corel you would need to disable antialiasing...  isn't this what the pencil tool (or pen tool?) are for in Photoshop?

[jasonbar]

Yah, the pencil tool normally does pixel by pixel coloring when I'm using the pencil to paint, but when I set the eraser to pencil mode, it seems to be finicky sometimes with its accuracy of erasing the pixels under my cursor...

In any case, I finished the set of pictures I was working on, so I'm set.   

-Jason

[thatitalian]

It is funny because I always have that problem too! I have just dealt with it though, although we shouldn't have to! There must be a solution.

Have you looked on Google?

[jasonbar]

OK, I feel much better now--I'm not a total spaz or crazy man after all.  Phew!

I did a little Google searching & didn't find any answers...

-Jason