Antialias edges suggestions?

[qwerty123]

Dear Gurus, aliased edges is very common problem with graphics and Photoshop is #1 graphic editor. How do you approach the problem? I am aware of the following strategies:
For pure black and white artwork - blur + contrast (Levels, Curves, etc)
For full color - up-sample + filter>diffuse>anisotropic + down-sample
For edges against plain background - mask background and use first of the above approaches on the mask
Different manual combination of Smudge tool, edge masks from Glowing Edges filter and blurs can repair almost any edge but may take forever...
... but I am sure there are many more strategies and looking forward for your replies

[$1r_M4x1mu$]

Hi qwerty123

You've listed pretty much, the most known techniques, that i use most of the time in PS.

But when working basically whit logo or vector design, for much needed antialiased and crispy edges, i rather use a proper vector editing software.

[qwerty123]

Hmm... thank you of course... I am still hoping for some fresh ideas. You are right, Illustrator and InkScape do solve a lot of headaches with edges but even with them it is occasionally necessery to down-sample the output... following the same train of though it is possible to create vector masks for some images, use shapes and turn fonts to shapes right in Photoshop... but real headache comes when you have to deal with poor renders that some 3d programs and image generators produce. If Adobe can come up with content-aware scale they should produce content-aware anti-aliasing and more robust noise-reduction, something that can be much more useful for everyday work...

[Hoogle]

I actually read somewhere that it looks pixely and all vector based stuff pretty much does on the edges in photoshop but what you are seeing is wrong something to do with the way photoshop handles it but if you were to print then it would be smooth or if you were to transfer the image to a vector program like illustrator it would be smooth.
In fact i tell a lie i did not read it it came from a lynda.com tutorial on vector images and custom shapes.

[Hoogle]

Pixelated and jagged brushes and shapes tool in Photoshop? - Yahoo! Answers
Cant seem to find anything onmy post but here is a step you may want to take in the above link

[SCTRWD]

Looks like I'm the dumbest user in the forum today

Anyway
You get aliased edges(crisp ones) but you want anti-aliased ones(smooth)? Then how did they happen in the first place?

Or is it just the other way around?

P.S. Just one more usefull tip for PS users:

Say you want to select some object with paths in one image and place it in another. Quite common task, isn't it?

So the common workflow is: select object in source image, turn the paths to selection, cut the selection out and proceed to placing the object to target layer...

The better solution is to make the paths the vector mask in source image and place the layer with this vector mask to target document.

This way when you transform the placed image(and I bet you'll sure want it) the insides of the object will, of course, be transformed and resampled but the border of the object will retain the smooth edges and adapt to new resolution. Raster borders on the other hand may come out very ugly after resampling and are the ones that can easily give out your transform attempts to viewer.

[qwerty123]

The aliasing problem (sharp edges) frequently happen with 3rd party 3d rendering software output, when the developer did not bother to include antialiasing option, so the software simply never generated any blending and edge transitions... so I am looking for some way approach the problem... Thank you for the tip.

[SCTRWD]

Oh, now I see

But, like you said, there are lots of solutions. Never ran across this particular problem, but just from the top of the head:

Play with selections: Select object, Select->Modify->Smouth.., Select->Modify->Border..., Blur or Filter->Other->Minimum or Maximum or some combinations.

Or make smooth path from selection and use it as a mask, or stroke it with Blur tool...

Or use Filter->Noise->Median...

Or the combinations of the above.

Some approaches may prove better then the others. It all depends...

One of the problems that may arise is the need to expand the border of the object with similiar pixels. For object on trasparent background this could be solved with Filter->Other->Minimum. Just select the object, inverse selection and apply Filter->Other->Minimum.

Or just try Content-Aware fill: select the object, Select->Modify->Border..., Edit->Fill->Content-Aware...

[qwerty123]

Thank you as always... It is frequently helpful to hear suggestions of other users for pure brainstorming effect - gives me new perspective on familiar things - I'll have to revisit Minimum / Maximum filters, they may be promising in some circumstances and need to look deeper into capabilities of content-aware filter - since I have never bothered to spent enough time with it...

[SCTRWD]

Just don't expect too much. It's highly circumstantial and may require some additional efforts, tricks and pesky manual job

Funny, but now that you raised the subject I do recall fighting the same problem at my work: some homemade 3d visualisation programs with low res output, crisp edges and other ugly artifacts...