Forum Discussion
Size and position op lines
The minimum width and height of a line are restricted to 1 pixel. This means that I cannot draw a perfectly horizontal or vertical line, because this would require either the height or the width to be set to 0 pixels.
You can reproduce this by drawing a line across the full width of the slide and then setting its height to 1 pixel. The line is still slightly diagonal. The same issue occurs with a vertical line when its width is set to 1 pixel.
If you change the width or height one pixel at a time, you can see that one of the endpoints moves. It seems that the position of the endpoint is directly linked to the width and height values.
Was it previously possible to set the width or height of a line to 0 pixels? Is this a bug, or is there another way to create a perfectly horizontal or vertical line?
5 Replies
I've not tested this but could you use a rectangle with no outline, filled, set to 1px high? Alternatively import an SVG...
Thanks, DShawn, for your suggestions. I appreciate you taking the time to share these workarounds.
There seems to be a workaround for almost every issue in Storyline. However, drawing a simple, perfectly horizontal or vertical line is basic functionality and should be possible without a workaround. In my opinion, Storyline should either allow a line’s height or width to be set to 0 pixels or provide another built-in way to make a line exactly horizontal or vertical.
Agreed!
Hello ChrisDorna
At first, I was surprised by your comment (but then again, there are plenty of silly little bugs in SL...) because I thought I’d managed to draw a horizontal line at least once in my life 😁. In fact, YOU CAN draw a perfectly horizontal or vertical line: when you start drawing your line, pink guides appear (vertical and horizontal), and you can align with them using dynamic alignment. If not, press the Shift key on your keyboard and draw the line: it will automatically align horizontally, vertically, or at a 45-degree angle. And these are truly perfectly horizontal or vertical lines without a single pixel of deviation, which you can move and resize (preferably using numerical values).
However, if you move just one end and then try to restore the perfect horizontal or vertical alignment, you’ll be stuck with that inescapable 1-pixel offset you described. In that case, delete it and start over.
Does that help?
Hi Thierry,
Of all the silly bugs, this is probably the silliest. Lines are perfectly horizontal or vertical when you hold down Shift while drawing them. However, the values under Size and Position do not match what is shown on the canvas: the height is listed as 1 px, while the actual height is 0 px (as shown during the drawing of the line).
I think Storyline is mixing up the line’s height, width and weight.
