Create Rounded Interior and Exterior Corners in Photoshop

vootie · Senior Site Admin Joined: Nov 12, 2001 Posts: 2253

In this detailed Graphics.com tutorial, David Macdonald provides three techniques for creating rounded corners in Photoshop and other image-editing applications.
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Eftelibra · Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 3:04 pm Post subject:

David, thank you.

Interesting effect, and a clear, easy to follow tutorial. I haven't had time to try it as we are going away tomorrow, but it is easy to understand what you mean just by reading through it.
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DavidMac · Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2009 7:16 am Post subject:

This post will only be meaningful if you have looked at the tutorial to which this thread refers.

I had a response to my tutorial pointing out that the same rounding may be achieved far, far more easily by simply using the Median filter. One simple single step.

I am well aware that the median filter can be used in this way, and it is absolutely true that it is fast and simple. I did not, however, include it in the tutorial because I don't believe the results are as satisfactory and the tutorial had the secondary purpose of introducing less experienced users to different ways of manipulating masks.

However for sake of completeness I should perhaps have, nonetheless, included it.

So to make up for this I will show it here since it is so quick to show.

So as to make fair comparison I shall use the same letter E at the same size and resolution as I did for the tutorial.

The tutorial showed how to round off both the internal and external corners. The method is a little too complicated to paraphrase here. You will need to check the tutorial.

The quick and simple alternative, which is far simpler than the method in the tutorial, is to select the letter or shape (it should be rasterised first) and quite simply apply Filter > Noise > Median. Like this:

MEDIAN ROUNDING

The results to my mind are a bit pointy at the junctions to the straight edges and the rounding is pointed rather than semicircular.

Here is a similar rounding produced by the tutorial method which requires several extra steps.

TUTORIAL ROUNDING

I personally find this a better result, both smoother and rounder. Whether you feel the extra smoothness and roundness is worth the extra steps required to achieve it will depend on the circumstances of your own particular usage and requirements.

The Median method is definitely more satisfactory when only small degrees of rounding are needed:

LIGHT MEDIAN ROUNDING

This still has slight 'corners' and is definitely not as smooth as the results from the tutorial method shown directly below, but the difference between the two methods is quite evidently less significant where small degrees of rounding are involved.

LIGHT TUTORIAL ROUNDING

Personally I have always preferred the method given in the tutorial. Although not single step it is still very quick and simple, and to my mind superior in its results.

Either way I hope that I have now made up for my omission. Since one member has taken the effort to bring it to my attention it would be churlish of me not to include his or her preferred method as well as my own.

10thWay · Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2009 1:01 am Post subject:

Thanks David, great post.
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