Using Guides - Images: Japanese

As a kid, I spotted a piece of software at a relative's place with a pair of eyes on the packaging — and I was completely convinced it was a horror game.

When I got a bit older and finally realized it was Photoshop, the shock was something else. The early Photoshop packaging still gives me slight chills to this day.

Anyway, hey everyone!

Next, let's try using 'Guides'.

'Guides' are reference lines you can place anywhere on the canvas to help align and position layers precisely. They're incredibly useful for keeping elements lined up.

First, let's learn how to place a guide. To use guides, you'll also need 'Rulers' enabled. Go to 'View' in the menu bar and check 'Rulers'. The canvas, which normally looks like this:

will now have rulers along the top and left edges:

With the rulers showing, hover your cursor over one of them, then drag onto the canvas. A colored line should appear:

That colored line is a 'Guide'. Drag from the ruler to place guides anywhere you need them. To change the guide color, go to 'Preferences' > 'Guides, Grid & Slices'.

Another way to place a guide is via 'View' > 'New Guide'. Clicking it opens this dialog:

Here you choose a direction ('Horizontal' or 'Vertical') and specify a position to place the guide precisely. 'Horizontal' creates a horizontal line, and 'Vertical' creates a vertical line. The 'Position' field uses the canvas as the reference. For example, to place a horizontal guide 10px from the top of the canvas, select 'Horizontal' and enter '10px'. This method is great when you need a guide at an exact pixel value. Negative values are also accepted.

To move a guide, select the Move Tool and drag the guide to a new position:

To delete guides, go to 'View' > 'Clear Guides'. You can also drag a guide off the canvas (off the edge of the working area) while the Move Tool is active to remove it.

To lock the current guides in place, go to 'View' and check 'Lock Guides'. To unlock, click 'Lock Guides' again to uncheck it.

Now that you know how to place, move, and delete guides, let's see how to use them in practice. Guides let you snap layers to precise positions as you drag.

To demonstrate, let's say you have a canvas with a few smaller layers placed on it, like this:

Place a few guides at roughly 100px intervals:

Now select a layer and drag it toward a guide. You should feel it "snap" to the guide as it gets close:

Using this snapping behavior, you can align all your layers precisely to the guide positions.

Guides are a powerful tool for layout precision. Make the most of them.

That wraps up guides. In the next article, we'll work with selections. Keep it up — see you there!

This article was written by Sakurama.

Author's beloved small mammal

桜舞 春人 Sakurama Haruto A Tokyo-based programmer who has been creating various content since the ISDN era, with a bit of concern about his hair. A true long sleeper who generally feels unwell without at least 10 hours of sleep. His dream is to live a life where he can sleep as much as he wants. Loves games, sports, and music. Please share some hair with him.

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