Creating Selections

Creating Shaped Selections

You can create rectangular selections, oval selections, or freehand selections and you can also select the entire canvas.

To select an area

To select Do the following
An oval area Choose the Shape Selection tool Shape selection tool from the Tools palette and set the Shape to Oval Selection oval. Drag in the document window to select an area.
A rectangular area Choose the Shape Selection tool Shape selection tool from the Tools palette and set the Shape to Rectangular Selection rectangular. Drag in the document window to select an area.
A freehand area Choose the Lasso tool Lasso tool from the Tools palette. Draw a freehand border around the area you want to select in the document window.
The entire canvas Choose Main Window menu -> Select -> All.

Note When working with the Shape Selection tool, you can constrain your selection to a square or a circle by holding down Shift on the keyboard while making your selection.

Note If you draw an open path with the Lasso tool, Artweaver connects the endpoints with a straight line before creating the selection.

Creating Selections Automatically

The Magic Wand tool lets you create selections automatically. Groups of pixels are selected based on color. You can adjust settings to control the range of colors, and you can choose to include contiguous or noncontiguous pixels.

You can also use the Color Range command to create a noncontiguous selection based on a range of colors.

To select an area using the Magic Wand tool

  • In the Tools palette, click the Magic Wand tool Magic wand tool
  • On the property bar, adjust any of the following settings:
    • Tolerance controls the amount of variance allowed from the selected color. Higher values create a larger range of colors
    • Contiguous, when enabled, selects contiguous pixels
  • On the property bar, click on the following buttons:
    • Selection new button New Selection
    • Selection add button Add to Selection
    • Selection subtract button Subtract from Selection
    • Selection intersect button Intersect with Selection
  • In the document window, click to select the color to make the selection

Note You can restore the default settings by clicking the tool symbol on the property bar and choose Reset Tool.

To create a selection with the Color Range command

  • Choose Main Window menu -> Select -> Color Range
  • In the Color Range dialog box, click on the Preview window to select a color
  • Adjust the Tolerance slider to control the color range
  • Down the Preview window, enable the Selection box to show the selected area. Enable the Document box to show the source image

Creating Selections from Layers

You can create a selection from a layer. The new selection outlines the contents of the layer, without modifying the layer.

To create a selection from a layer

  • On the Layers palette, select a layer
  • Choose Main Window menu -> Select -> Layer Content