trimming shapes parallel to their contours

[pol]

What tool(s) should I use to trim a shape parallel to its contour. Specifically what I want to do is to create new font characters from existing ones by say, in the case of the letter "O," trimming the same amount from the outer and inner edge, ie reducing the width of the stroke. The new character would capable of being centrally placed over the existing one exposing the border of the existing one. Ideally, the tool would have a similar effect to the "offset" tool in Google's Sketchup

[Ego Eram Reputo]

Hello pol - welcome to the forum!

I think I've got what you're after. I'll assume that you have an image open of one character (let's use O from your example).

1. Activate the Magic Wand tool by clicking on the icon in the Tools Window.

2. Hold down Shift and click in the O layer anywhere that is not on the character itself. This operation selects the entire background - including the center of the closed O.

3. Press the M key twice or activate the Move Selection Tool by clicking the icon in the Tools Window.

4. Use the keyboard arrow keys to move the selection outline sideways. One key press for each pixel you want it moved.

5. Now press Delete on your keyboard.

Kind of like this:

[Red ochre]

Hello Pol,

I would suggest a different method which tends to produse less pixellated edges and will 'eat into' the outline from all directions.

1. put the letter on its own transparent layer - bigger the better.

2. run the standard built in Gaussian blur - here I used a radius of 53, but this depends upon the size of the letter. Experiment!

3. Run my 'Alpha threshold' plugin. Make sure that 'preserve ratio' is checked and experiment moving the 2 sliders. Can be found here http://forums.getpai...-16th-aug-2012/

4. Get told off by 'PDNnoob' for self-promotion

[pdnnoob]

well, if it works it works! ;D It's just amusing to me that you come up with a solution to everything that includes one of your plugins*

normally, I would use AA's Assistant a few times, but there are occasions where that doesn't work so well.

*Speaking of which...I still can't figure out how to use your "tweak transparency" plugin. Maybe you should write a tutorial on how to use it, or detailed explanations of all the sliders. pretty please?

[Djisves]

I understand you only want to trim the width, not the height.

If it's just the width you want to trim:

1. Ctrl+R (Image > Resize)

2. Un-tick the "Maintain aspect ratio" option.

3. Enter a new (lower) pixel number for "Width".

If you then need to restore the image width to the original size:

1. Select the Color Picker tool (eyedropper)

2. Right-click anywhere on the background (sets your secondary colour to match that of the background).

3. Ctrl+Shift+R (Image > Canvas Size), Anchor: Middle.

4. Enter the original pixel width size for "Width".