Grr...That damn one pixel!

Do you guys have any tricks you want to share when playing with 1 pixel? I made something on 512 and I know if it were on 1024, it would be easier, but I don't want to redo it if it can be avoided. I've tried using the brush or (eraser) with the shift key to draw a straight line from 1 point to another point and it gives me some shading which works in some areas, but not in this instance. It looks like "steps" from one point to another. Anything I can do?

I'm not sure I really understand what you're trying to ask. It sounds like you're trying to draw a line, one pixel wide, from point to point, and it's coming out jagged instead of smooth. What I can tell you is if absolutely must have it no more than one pixel wide, then it's going to be jagged. There's no way around that. It's just the nature of what it is to use rectangularly shaped dots (pixels) to construct an image.

Anti-aliasing will smooth the appearance of jags by combining the colors of the pixels surrounding the line with the color of the line itself. This may be the "shading" you referred to. At normal magnification, the illusion will be convincing as a a smooth line, but if you zoom in, then on close inspection, you can always tell what's really going on. That's just how digital imagery works.

The anti-alias blending will of course make parts of the line wider than just one pixel. Blended pixels immediately surrounding the line itself will end up becoming part of the line. The overall appearance though will be of uniform thickness. The softer colors in the blended areas won't make your eye think the line is any thicker, just smoother.

If you want to draw a straight line that has no anti-aliasing at all, the simplest thing to do is to use the line tool, set the mode to Fill Pixels, the weight to 1 px and make sure the Anti-alias toggle is unchecked. Just understand that turning off anti-aliasing will mean you'll have a jagged line. If you want the line to appear more smooth, turn anti-aliasing on, and resign yourself to the fact that it will have to be more than absolutely one pixel wide (unless the line is perfectly horizontal or perfectly vertical, of course).

If you want to draw more free-form, not just perfectly straight lines, then use the pencil for aliased lines, or the brush for anti-aliased lines.

Yes, I think you got the gist of what I was asking Chosen. I want to draw half pixels, and I guess thats not possible. *chuckles* What I want is a diagonal line from one point to a higher point, with some pixels cut in half diagonally if that makes sense. I'll try what you suggested though. And thanks so much for your input!