How do i round corners

[m80erin27]

I tried to do it the way the tips say and i cant get it to work. i get up to the end and no good. I think im on the wright layer but not sure. i have elements 5.0. can anyone help. I also want to know if you can make your lettering into shapes. thanks erin

[peverill]

First you need to create a new layer of your picture. Take your marquee tool and go around your picture. Go Select modify - Border You have to select a few pixels to border your picture. I choose 5. Then you can go to select modify and smooth. Click how many pixels you want to round the corner. I choose 50. Then go to edit and cut. Move your picture to your paper and the corners have been rounded.

[m80erin27]

i did what u told me and it gave me a warning that i didnt put in the pixels when i did. i dont know what to do now i feel like a jerk that i cant get this right

[April]

I hope peverill's tip helps. I don't know about "border". Is that what had to happen to make it work?

Another idea might be to make sure the marquee tool is selected for all of the steps even at the end. We'll make this work for you just keep posting your questions.

[April]

Shoot. We were posting at the same time.

When did you put in the pixel number?

[peverill]

It wouldn't let me use the smooth tool untill I had a border on it.

[peverill]

You can do it. Just keep playing around!

[m80erin27]

I put in 5 for the border then 50 to smooth then it gave me a warning that i didn't put the pixels in and i did. Is there an other way to do it. i dont know what im doing wrong

[April]

By the way... things like this can be so frustrating but when you figure it out you will learn things that will help you solve future problems.


Here is another way to do it... completely different way...

1) Make a new layer (there is a new layer button in the layers palette or you can click Layer>new)
2) Find the rounded rectangle tool (if you press U on your keyboard it should select the shape tool for you) Look in the options bar of that tool and
3) Use the rounded rectangle tool to create the shape you want. Don't worry about the color. I usually create the rectangle really close to the size of the picture or paper I'm trying to round but you can make it much smaller too).
4) Simplify that shape by pressing the simplify button in the options bar (this works in Elements 2.0 but doesn't in the full version of Photoshop and I don't know if it will work in Elements 5.0 so tell me if it doesn't)
5) Put your picture or paper layer above the layer with the rounded rectangle shape and click Layer>group with previous (Layer>Create Cliping Mask for CS and other full versions).
6) Now you can use your move tool around to pull your picture on top into the right spot.

What I've taught you here follows the same principles of this tutorial if you want to read more. http://www.digitalscrapbookmemories.com/tips/clippingMasks.asp

Also, what did you mean when you said,
I also want to know if you can make your lettering into shapes. Would the group with previous trick work for what you want to do?

[April]

I put in 5 for the border then 50 to smooth then it gave me a warning that i didn't put the pixels in and i did. Is there an other way to do it. i dont know what im doing wrong

Did it say exactly that or did it say something about there weren't enough pixels? It might be that you are selecting too small of an area and need to choose a much smaller number of pixels. Try 10.

[peverill]

Look to see which setting your marquee tool is on. I had mine on the new selction botton.

[April]

Paula, you are the best helping so much!

[peverill]

Thanks April that way is easier than what I was trying to do. You are awsome.

[April]

Here is a third way...

Click on this weird black image, then save it on your computer (right click then save picture as).

240

Open this picture (aka weird black thing) in Photoshop and save it as a brush. The simple answer for how to do this is click edit then define brush but you could read this whole tutorial if you wanted. http://www.digitalscrapbookmemories.com/tips/customBrushes.asp

Because you saved it as a brush it will also be able to be used as an eraser. In your options bar for your eraser tool use the drop down arrow to scroll to the bottom of the list of erasers where you will find this.

Now use it to simply erase the corners of your picture.

[m80erin27]

Im lost i do not have a clue what im doing. I don't know enough about elements 5.0. This is all new to me but i won't give up.

[April]

but i won't give up Good for you!

Did you read all of the introduction lessons in our tips section?

[Alyson]

I'm so excited to try that brush as an eraser! That should work great for rounding corners. I usually do the process of creating a rounded box/rectangle and using a clipping mask. I've found so far that I like that technique best. When I use the marquee tool and modify it, the rounded corners are usually not as smooth as I like.

[Angela Spangler]

These are the instructions I was given, and I use this all the time.

Select your Rounded Rectangle Tool
Set Radius to desired pixels (larger number=rounder corners)
Draw Shape on top of original image (it will make a new "layer")
Simplify Shape
Select shape with magic wand tool, go to Selections---Inverse
Highlight original image layer, go to Edit--->Cut
Delete shape layer.

[Alyson]

Angela, that's sounds almost the same as the clipping mask way that I do it (I think the clipping mask is called "group with previous" in 5.0). It sounds like it would give the same effect. I may have to try your way as well, because it might be 1 or 2 steps shorter.