We're moving on to the magical Magnetic Lasso Tool. One such tool is Magnetic Lasso. In this article I will tell you about the settings of the Magnetic Lasso, show you how to use it to select an object and describe various pitfalls and working situations.
Tool Magnetic lasso tries to guess and recognize the contours in the photograph. Having recognized them, the magnetic lasso clings to the contour with tenacious paws, leaving special anchors. If a regular lasso has to be drawn by eye, then the Magnetic Lasso tries to find the outline of the object and create a selection line automatically. All that remains is to move the mouse close to the edges of the object and set the correct parameters in the tool settings. That's what we'll talk about now.
Practice and Magnetic Tool
In this article we will highlight the Moomin house. Everything is quite simple. You select the object you want to select, select Magnetic Lasso, click on the edge and start dragging with the mouse. The quality of the selection depends on the correct settings and it is easy to get confused here, since these settings are not very intuitive.
I recommend using Magnetic Lasso to select objects with a fairly clear contrasting edge. When selecting an object with soft blurry edges Magnetic Tool almost useless. The magnetic lasso is also not useful in the case of an object buried up to its neck in various motley contours. For example, a man in the grass. In this case Magnetic Tool He just won’t understand what to grab onto and will constantly cling to everything.
Width, Contrast and Frequency
Width— is the width of the Magnetic Lasso or its radius of action. In this area Magnetic Tool looks for contours to snap to. If in Width given 10px, That Magnetic Tool searches for contours in a radius 10px around you. You can clearly see how this happens by pressing the key Caps Lock while working with Magnetic Tool. The cursor will turn into something like a brush.
Personally, I would advise you to choose a very small value Width, as little as your hand shakes to minimize the natural curvature of a normal Lasso. Place 3-5 px and that will be enough. In extreme cases, you can put a little more. You will still have to keep the cursor exactly along the path line, but you won't have to do it too carefully.
Contrast— the contrast level at which Photoshop recognizes an edge. If Width specifies the edge search width, then Contrast determines the difference in pixel brightness between the object and the background. If the degree of contrast difference is high, set the contrast value to high 40-60% If in some places the object blends into the background, set the contrast value to low 5-20% so that the Magnetic Lasso is able to catch on the edge.
Generally, Magnetic lasso clings perfectly to obvious edges under any parameters Contrast if a small width value is selected Width, and the lasso does not capture the details.
Frequency— frequency of installation of reference points for Magnetic Lasso. When you create a selection, Magnetic Lasso leaves anchor points. Great importance Frequency- many reference points, small value - few reference points. In general, you don’t need many points to select correctly. A low value is bad because Magnetic Lasso won't be able to accurately catch edges if the item has a lot of curves. If the magnetic lasso is not able to catch the edge of the object, and the support point is still far away, click and set the support point yourself.
A large value is bad because the Magnetic Lasso puts points every 3 pixels, and turns, roughly speaking, into a regular lasso. If the cursor moves a little away from the edge of the object, Magnetic Lasso will be forced to place an anchor point where the cursor is. The average frequency value works best for the Magnetic Lasso tool 40-60 .
Error correction
If the fulcrum turns in the wrong direction, what to do and what to do? In the case of a regular lasso and linear lasso, nothing. The only option is to carefully return along the same path and cut off the unnecessary piece of selection after finishing the work. WITH Magnetic Tool everything is much more convenient.
Click Backspace and the last support point will be removed. You can press as much as you like, deleting at least all the dots. Then carefully go back and start from the beginning, or from the middle. With a magnetic lasso this is possible. If the entire selection starts unsuccessfully, cancel it by pressing Esc
If you want to remove the selection, simply click anywhere else with the Lasso tool. More reliable way: learn combination Ctrl+D, which I use constantly. Or go to Select > Deselect
Switch Lasso
What is convenient about the magnetic lasso is that in this tool you can use all three selection tools Lasso. I mean of course the tools Lasso Tool And Polygonal Lasso Tool. You don’t even have to use the Magnetic Lasso, but start working with it; on straight contours, switch to Polygonal Lasso Tool, when rounded, return to Magnetic Tool, and for various unevenness use the usual Lasso.
- Select a tool Magnetic Tool and start selecting.
- Click Alt during selection and right-click. Holding Alt move the cursor. You have switched to Linear Lasso.
- Don't let go Alt and click on the right mouse button. While holding it, move the cursor as if you were selecting with a regular lasso. The linear lasso has been converted to a regular lasso.
- Now let go Alt and you have a magnetic lasso again.
Using Add, Subtract and Intersect from Selection
How to cut holes from a created selection? You can read more about this in my articles about the mode and about these same modes with, since they work the same everywhere. In short, the mode:
- Add from selection adds a new selection to the created one
- Subtract— cuts the selection from the created selection
- Intersect- this mode is used quite rarely, and its meaning is that it is able to create a selection area based on the intersection of two selection areas. Read more about this in the article about.
Feather
Feather- a very old setting for selection tools. Feather measured in pixels. Its task is to cling to the surrounding selections of the area creating a soft transition. This may come in handy in some situations. For example, when selecting clouds in the sky, to transfer them to another picture, it’s a good idea to create a transition area around the cloud, and the wider it is, the better. Important Note - Parameter Feather must be set before creating a selection. The setting is old and not interactive.
Anti-alias and Magnetic Lasso
Anti-alias creates soft semi-transparent pixels along the edges of the selection so that the object does not appear torn out when cut and copied to another environment. If this checkbox is absent Magnetic Tool Selects the full 100% visible pixels and does not use the alpha channel. Selection without Anti-alias looks tattered. Always keep this checkbox enabled unless you are pursuing specific goals.
Tool Presets in the settings panel for magnetic lasso
Tool Presets is a built-in manager of templates and settings. For example, with one photo you need Width 10px and on the other 20px. Why constantly change numbers if you can create prepared settings? Click on the small icon with a piece of paper and write down your settings in . On this site I wrote a detailed article about all its possibilities.
Tablet and Refine Edge
And the last settings for the Magnetic Lasso on its panel Options are buttons Use tablet And Refine Edge. Use tablet used in conjunction with a tablet, so if you have a tablet, you can press it, and if not, you can also leave it pressed, in which case it does nothing. And when pressed, this option allows you to change the width Width by pressing the pen on the tablet with different forces.
Refine Edge- After you've created a selection, you'll most likely want to tidy up the edges of the selection area. You can do this in the window Refine Edge. How? I wrote about this in detail in a post dedicated only to this dialog box, since to the instrument Magnetic lasso All these auxiliary options are indirectly related.
This concludes my review. Follow the articles, connect to
Last time we talked to you about the band's instruments Rectangular Marquee Tool, which included a rectangle, a circle and vertical and horizontal stripes of 1 pixel. All of these tools are designed for simple and straightforward selection of an area. Today we'll talk about more advanced Lasso group selection tools. It includes 3 types of tools. It's myself Lasso Tool, Polygonal Lasso And Magnetic Lasso Tool. From the names of the tools it is not difficult to guess that the first lasso is free, the second selects with straight lines, and the third magnetizes the selection lines. We will not talk about the magnetic lasso in this article, but we will decompose the first two into atoms.
Lasso Tool in Photoshop
The purpose of this tool is to create a selection area. The selection area is the reference point when working in Photoshop. And not only in it. The selection area itself is useless. The question is, what do we do next with this area? Select a tool Lasso Tool from the toolbar. Click on the work area, without releasing the click, drag across the canvas, as if painting with a brush. A line will follow the cursor. Draw a circle, and before reaching the end, release the mouse. The circle will close on its own, and the selection area is ready. I'll show you some examples proper operation with the Lasso tool in Photoshop here and now, on the website www.site.
Polygonal Lasso Tool
It differs from a regular lasso in that it creates selections in straight lines, which is much cooler. It turns out as if you are cutting paper with scissors, and the smaller the cuts you make and the smoother you move, the better result. Why do you need a regular lasso at all? There are such wonderful polygonal lasso scissors? What is the point of selecting an object with a regular lasso if, by definition, it cannot be selected? The hand trembles and slips, a lot of debris gets in, and so on. And not for what, I never stated that Lasso is used for cutting objects. For this we use Polygonal Lasso Tool. Carefully selecting, piece by piece. The regular Lasso is made for quick, messy highlights that are then transformed into a mask. The edges of the mask are shaded and most often such a mask is used in color correction layers. In my subsequent articles, I will definitely talk about how to correctly select objects, what tools to use, what and where is best suited. But for now let's move on to the settings. There are not many of them, almost all duplicate my other article about, but what can you do?
First of all, let's put a bold point on four options Add to Selection, Subtract from Selection, Intersect width Selection. I have already analyzed these icons in detail, but alas, and this was confusing. The functions are the same, they constantly migrate to all panels, and are constantly encountered. From now on I will describe their work, and will always refer to this article.
Add to Selection, Subtract from Selection, Intersect width Selection
The essence of these settings is as follows. The selection area does not always end with one shape. Sometimes you need to create a complex selection that includes many islands, circles, or shapes. Sometimes a selection area has been created, but it needs to be corrected, a part of it needs to be cut off, and what to do? Select everything again? We already had some complex selection area, and we need to create another selection area, which partially, but only partially, repeats what we need. In this case, we need to create a selection area based on the other two areas. Yes? Invented for all these tasks Add to Selection,Subtract from Selection and Intersect width Selection. Which in my free translation will mean: add to the selection area, subtract, and intersect. If the Russian localization is translated smarter, correct me in the comments.
Add to Selection
Add to Selection— adds a selection area. For example, you made a selection of a tree, and then you wanted to add a selection of another tree, and then also select the moon. Add to Selection adds both to the already made area and creates remote areas of the selection. For example, I opened a photo with an armful of leaves and selected the middle petal. To do this I simply clicked on the edge of the leaf and then carefully traced its outline.
Now it occurred to us great idea. It was necessary to select 2 leaves and not 1. Everything fell into place, but how? Do you really have to do it all over again? No, everything is under control. On the opium panel Options, click the icon Add to Selection. A plus sign will appear on the cursor, which means you can add any others to the created selection. If you don't have a panel Options, turn it on Windows > Options
You don't have to keep poking at this settings menu and switching these icons. There is an excellent shortcut - key SHIFT. Create a selection and click, then click SHIFT, the cursor will have a plus sign, it is ready to add areas.
Subtract from Selection
Removing unnecessary parts of a selection is a good thing. What if the selection didn’t work, your hand trembled, or another idea came to mind? How to delete part of a selected area? Exactly the same as adding. Click on the options panel Subtract from Selection. The cursor will have a minus sign. This means it is set to be deleted. And again there is an excellent shortcut - the key ALT. Select lasso and click ALT, the cursor will have a minus sign. Of course, when constantly working with graphics, I use shortcuts rather than clicking on panels, and I advise you to remember these two keys. As you can see, I not only removed the previously selected leaves, but also cut holes with a tool Elliptical Marquee Tool.
Intersect width Selection
An extremely rare feature, the meaning of which is to create a selection area based on two already created selections. Well, imagine, you have a selection that you have already created, and it’s really not simple. We did our best, we sat for about 5 minutes. And then you needed to select only some elements from this selection, and cut off all the unnecessary ones. At the same time, there is no point in selecting a new one, because part of it has already been allocated.
You choose the mode Intersect width Selection and simply cut that area out of your selection. The advantages of this mode are not obvious. After all, you can cut off all unnecessary using Subtract from Selection. The advantages appear when working with correct geometric shapes, when you need to get not a crescent from a circle, but another part, what remains of the circle when the crescent is cut off. Here Intersect width Selection irreplaceable. In the bottom picture I showed which route I took with the lasso tool.
Now you are well aware of how to make selections, adjust them, add and subtract them, and create other selections based on the created ones. I can, with a clear conscience, refer to this article in my other lessons on website and we move on to the settings.
Lasso and Preset Tool settings
Feather
Feather smoothes edges. Accordingly, the indicator Feather determines how many pixels the edges will be blurred. In fact it's Blur or even Gaussian Blur, but only along the edges and not inside. Important detail: meaning Feather needs to be adjusted before you make a selection. First we set up Feather, then select it. When the selection is ready, you will not see anything other than the usual selection, but if, for example, you copy the selection onto a white background, the result will not be long in coming. 
Anti-alias
Anti-alias, and I’ve already written about it 3 times in various articles, it doesn’t smear but smoothes out. This checkbox must always be always always always always checked. Unless, of course, you are pursuing some specific goals that are only known to you. Without this setting, the lasso only cuts out pixels. What does it mean? This is how you cut out the pixels that will be taken out of the environment, namely those pixels that are in the selection area. Alas, modern monitor resolution, which varies around 100-120 pixels per inch, is not yet enough for torn edges to become invisible. Cutting without Anti-alias wouldn't matter much if you were cutting for printing at 300 dpi. In other words, always keep an eye on this checkbox. For printing, not for printing, it doesn’t matter. Anti-alias creates a kind of transition pixels around the cut area. Due to this effect, the cut out object seems to be smoothly integrated into the environment. But it’s easier to show than to tell a hundred times. 
Drop-down menu
If you create a selection and then click while selected Lasso left mouse button on the work area, a drop-down menu will appear. This drop-down menu completely duplicates the tool menu Rectangle And Elliptical Marquee Tools. As well as the menu of all selection tools in general. I described it in detail in the article, so I won’t dwell on it here. By the way, if you do not create a selection and again call up the menu with the left button, another menu will appear, but it is of no interest at all since it does not contain any original options. For the most part, this is a list of shortcuts for the most necessary functions.
Photoshop provides users with three types of lasso for a comfortable editing process. We will consider one of these methods in our article.
The Lasso toolkit will be the subject of our close attention; it can be found by simply clicking on the corresponding part of the panel. It looks like a cowboy's lasso, hence the name.
To quickly jump to the toolkit Lasso (Lasso), just click on the key L on your device. There are two other types of lasso, these include Polygonal Lasso ( Rectangular lasso) And Magnetic Lasso, both of these types are hidden inside the usual Lasso (Lasso) on the panel.
They will also not go unnoticed, however, we will dwell on them in more detail in other classes; now you can select them by simply clicking on the lasso button. You will get a list of tools.
All these three types of lasso are similar, to select them you need to click on the button L, also such actions depend on the installed settings Preferences, because the user has the opportunity to switch between these types of lasso in two ways: simply by clicking and holding L again, or using Shift +L.
Of all the rich functionality of the Photoshop program, Lasso is one of the most understandable and easy to learn, since the user only has to select one or another part of the surface at will (this is very similar to real drawing and tracing an object with a pencil).
When lasso mode is activated, the arrow on your mouse turns into a cowboy lasso, you click on a point on the screen and begin the process of tracing a picture or object by simply holding down the mouse button.
To finish the process of selecting an object, you need to get back to the part of the screen where the movement began. If you don’t finish this way, the program will finish the whole process for you, simply creating a line from the point where the user released the mouse button.
You need to know that Lasso mode is functionality Photoshop programs are among the most accurate tools, especially with the development of the software itself.
This is explained by the fact that the add to and subtract from functions have been added to the program, which greatly facilitate the entire work process.
We recommend that you work with the lasso mode according to the following simple algorithm: we make a selection near the desired object that needs to be selected, skipping all the inaccuracies of the process, then we move in the opposite direction, simultaneously removing the wrong parts using the add and remove functions, so we arrive at the desired result.
Before us are photographs of two people that are visible on a computer monitor. I begin the process of selecting their hands and moving that part into a completely different photo.
To select an object, the first step is to focus on the tools Lasso, which we have already shown to your attention.
Then I click on the top left side of the hand to make a selection, although it really doesn't matter which part of the object you start with using the Lasso function. After I clicked on the point, I did not release the mouse button and began to draw a line around the object that I needed. You may notice some errors and inaccuracies, but let’s not focus our attention on them, we’ll just move on.
If you want to scroll the photo in the window area while making a selection, hold down the spacebar button on your device, which will take you to the program's toolbox Hand. There you can scroll the object in the required plane, then release the spacebar and return to our selection.
If you want to see if all the pixels are in the selection area around the edges of the image, just hold down the button F on the device, you will be transferred to full screen with a line from the menu, then I will begin to drag the selection to the area that surrounds the picture itself. Don't worry about highlighting the gray part, since Photoshop only cares about the photo itself, not the gray part.
To get back into viewing mode, click the button several times F, this is how the transition between viewing types occurs in this editing program. However, I will continue the process of outlining the part that I need. This is done until we return to the original point of our route; now we can release the pressed mouse button. Based on the results of the work, we observe a line that has an animated character; it is also called “running ants”.
Since, in fact, the Lasso toolkit is a mode for selecting an object manually, the user relies only on his talent and the work of the mouse, so if you do something a little wrong, don’t get discouraged ahead of time. You can simply come back and correct all the erroneous parts of the selection. This is the process we will now engage in.
Addition to the original selection
When we observe the erroneous parts when selecting objects, we begin to increase the dimensions of the drawing.
To make the size larger, press and hold the buttons on the keyboard Ctrl + space to switch to the toolkit Zoom, the next step is to click on our photo several times to make the object approach (to reduce the size of the picture, on the contrary, you need to hold down and not release Alt+space).
After increasing the size of the image, hold down the spacebar to switch to the Hand toolkit, the next step is to click and begin moving our image in the selection area to find and remove incorrect parts.
Here I found a part where a piece of a man’s hand was missing.
There is absolutely no need to start all over again. All problems disappear very simply, we add a part to the already selected object. Make sure that the lasso tool is turned on, then we will activate the selection by first holding Shift.
Now we will see a small plus icon, which is located on the right side of the cursor arrow, this is done so that we can identify our location.
First hold down the button Shift, click on a part of the image inside the selected area, then go beyond the edge of the selected one and go near the edges that we plan to attach. Once the process of adding new parts is completed, we come back to the original selection.
We finish by selecting the point where we started at the very beginning, then stop holding the mouse button. The missing part of the hand has been successfully added to the selection area.
You don't need to constantly hold down the button Shift in the process of adding new areas to our selection. This is because you are already located in the toolkit Add to Selection. The mode lasts until you stop holding the mouse button.
How to remove an area from the original selection
We continue our process among the selected part in search of various errors and inaccuracies, but difficulties of a different kind await us in our work; they are not similar to the previous ones. Now we have selected the extra parts of the object, namely the parts of the picture near the fingers.
There is no need to panic ahead of time, since we will correct all our flaws as quickly and easily as the previous time. To correct errors in the form of extra parts of the selected image, simply hold down the button Alt on keyboard.
This manipulation sends us to where we notice a minus icon at the bottom near the cursor arrow.
If the button is pressed Alt, click on the area of the selected object to select the initial point, then move inside the selected part and outline what you need to get rid of. In our version, we outline the edges of the fingers. Once the process is completed, we return back to the edge of the selected object.
We go again to the starting point of the selection process, simply ceasing to hold the mouse button to finish the work. Now we have cleaned up all our mistakes and flaws.
Just as it was written above, there is no need to constantly hold the button Alt squeezed. We calmly release it immediately after the start of the object selection process. After all, you are still in functionality Subtract from Selection, it stops only after you release the mouse button.
After tracing the selection lines, removing all inaccuracies and errors by deleting them or, conversely, creating new areas, our entire editing process using the Lasso toolkit came to its logical conclusion.
Now we have a fully formed highlight on the handshake. Next, I hold down a set of buttons Ctrl +C, in order to quickly make a copy of this section that we worked on above. The next step is to take the next picture in the program and press the combination of buttons Ctrl +V. Now our handshake has successfully moved to a new picture. We arrange it as needed and conveniently.
How to get rid of discharge
Once we've finished working with the selection itself created by using Lasso, we can safely delete it. Moving to the menu Select and press Deselect. Similarly you can use Ctrl +D.
As you may have noticed, the Lasso toolkit is very easy to understand for the user. Although it doesn't yet compare to more advanced modes, it can greatly help your work!
The Lasso tool in Photoshop: capabilities, principles of operation, settings, subtleties of use.
The Lasso group continues the theme Adobe Photoshop. This set allows you to create outlines free form to select objects.
Lasso Tool
The lasso is convenient to use if you are a master of the mouse, and in a graphics tablet you can use it to draw with your finger on the monitor, like a pencil on paper. From this it follows that using a lasso on a computer or laptop you can make rough selections for subsequent correction. And in a tablet it is one of the most convenient.
It is activated by clicking on the icon on the toolbar or using the hot key L. Then, at the starting point of the selection, hold down the left mouse button and trace the object around the perimeter, moving the cursor around the picture. Having finished the path at the same starting point, release the mouse button. The selection will be indicated by a flickering dotted line.
If you release the mouse before the line reaches the starting point, the editor will connect the selection with a straight line:
When you need to combine curves and straight lines with the classic lasso tool, do this:
1. Draw a curved line as described above (points A – B).
2. While holding the mouse, press the Alt key (the tool is automatically converted to a straight-line one), then release the mouse. Hold down the Alt key until the end of the work.
3. Click the mouse at the end point of the segment (point B). Do not release the Alt key.
4. Click the mouse at the end point of the second segment (point D). Now you can release Alt, and the selection will connect to point A with a straight line. But you can, without releasing Alt, click the mouse at the starting point A.
The selection is complete.
Polygonal Lasso
For images consisting of straight segments, it is convenient to use the Straight Line Lasso tool. They use it to outline straight sections in Photoshop.
Activate the tool and click it at the starting point of the picture (1). Let go of the mouse. A line will follow the cursor. Fix this line with a mouse click at the next corner point (2) and so alternately go through all the bend points. Finish the selection by clicking on the starting point (1) at the time when moving the cursor to it, a circle will appear next to it, indicating the starting point.
The second, no less simple way to connect the selected area is to double-click in the last paragraph (12). The program will connect it to the starting point (1) with a straight line.
Third method: before clicking in step 12, hold down the Ctrl key. While holding down Ctrl, clicking the mouse in the last point (12) also commands the program to connect the selection to the first point (1) with a straight line.
Attention! Strictly horizontal and vertical lines tool straight lasso in Photoshop forms when holding down the keyShift.
With a rectilinear lasso, you can not only draw straight segments, but also outline areas of any shape in short steps. The smaller the distance between the clicks, the smoother the bend will be.
To visually indicate the click points, the Pen tool was used in this picture. The lasso does not leave visible anchor points, but the principle of tracing is the same.
You can remove a started (unfinished) selection by pressing the Esc key.
To temporarily convert the tool into a regular (classic, free) lasso, you must press and hold Alt while holding the mouse. At this time, you can draw arbitrary shapes.
Tool Settings
When you activate the tool, a line of values appears in the options bar:
1. The mode buttons are described in detail in the article about. Below we talk about these parameters in relation to the Lasso tools in Photoshop.
2. Feather with a value of zero leaves the borders of the selected area clear. As the number in this window increases, the width of the edge blur will increase. This effect will become noticeable only after the selected part is cut out or transferred to another background.
The shading is adjusted before the stroke is performed.
3. Anti-aliasing. If this value is checked, this mode softens the sharp corners of the selection. That is, if you uncheck the box, the program will clearly select the pixels that fall into the selection area. If the monitor resolution is high, the edges of the cut-out picture will look jagged. The anti-aliasing mode somewhat eliminates this drawback.
Mode buttons. Work on mistakes
Let's return to the mode buttons in the options bar. They determine how each subsequent selection will be made in relation to the one already created.
Button 1 – New selected area.
When button 1 is active, work on outlining the area should begin. But in this case it will not be possible to correct errors.
For example, the stroke is not done accurately and you need to add an area to the selection. In this mode, a new area will be created, and the existing selection will be removed:
To add an area to a selection, you need to change the mode. To do this, press and hold the Shift key or activate button 2.
Button 2 – Add to selected area.
In this mode, you can add another selection to it without removing the existing stroke. The function works when button 2 is active or with any other button while holding down the Shift key.
Let's say that part of the figure is not captured when tracing and the inaccuracy needs to be corrected. To do this, in the “Add to selected area” mode, make a new selection, grabbing the incorrect stroke and carefully moving along the desired path (Figure 1). This will determine the new border (Figure 2).
In the same mode you can circle new site beyond the boundary of the selection, and the existing selection will remain (Figure 3).
Button 3 – Subtract from the selected area.
This feature helps you remove parts of a selected area. It is activated by pressing button 3 on the options bar or with any other button while holding down the Alt key.
If the stroke covers an excess area, in the “Subtract from selected area” mode, use the Lasso tool to draw a line around the excess part, marking the desired outline (Figure 4). The boundary is determined (Figure 5).
In the same mode, you can circle a new area inside the selection, and the existing selection will be saved (Figure 6).
Button 4 – Intersect with the selected area.
Imagine that you need to leave some part of the selection and cut off the rest. Select button 4 on the parameters panel and outline the area, as shown in Figure 7. The intersection area will remain (Figure 8).
Attention! When working with the Lasso tool in Photoshop, the picture can be moved. This can be useful, for example, if the image is greatly enlarged and the outline extends beyond the editor's working area. You need to press and hold the spacebar. The lasso converts to the Hand tool. Don't release the mouse button! While the space bar is held down, the picture can be moved in any direction. Once the spacebar is released, you can continue selecting.
Read how to deselect.
In theory, everything is simple. The tool allows you to create lines of any shape, as if you were drawing with a pencil. Click at the point where the selection will begin, and then, without releasing the mouse button, drag the cursor along the selected area. You must return to the starting point.If you release the button earlier, the program will automatically complete the started selection with a straight line. But in practice, you are unlikely to be able to accurately trace a complex contour. The mouse is too crude a tool; using the Lasso is convenient if you use .
"Rectangular Lasso"
The tool differs from the previous one in that it only draws straight lines. The Rectangular Lasso is great if the outline of the selected object consists of corners and many straight lines (for example, a star).Click to set the starting point and move the cursor along the path until you reach the apex of the corner. At this point, click again to create an additional point and change the direction of the selection.
Repeat this action until you have selected the entire shape and returned to the starting point. When a small circle appears under the cursor, click to complete the selection.
"Magnetic Lasso"
When you use this tool, Photoshop analyzes the colors of the pixels under your cursor and determines which ones to highlight. Magnetic Lasso only works well on a simple, contrasting background.Click on the point where you want to start the selection and slowly move the cursor along the outline of the object. There is no need to hold down the mouse button. The program will automatically add attachment points on the contour line. To complete the selection, place the cursor at the starting point.
If part of the selection runs through areas of little contrast, or the object's outline has sharp corners, you'll need to add some anchor points of your own by clicking on the selection's outline. If the point is placed incorrectly, move the cursor over it and press the Backspice key.
If part of the path forms a straight line, you can temporarily switch to the Rectangular Lasso Tool. To do this, hold down the Alt key and click on the point from which the selection along the line should begin, and then on the point where it should end.
How to customize Lasso tools
All tool controls are located in the Options Bar. On its left side there are four buttons that allow you to select the operating mode of the tool: “Create a new selection”, “Add to the selected area”, “Subtract from the selected area” and “Intersection with the selected area”.“Feather” blurs the boundaries of the selection; its values are entered in pixels. The higher the number, the more blurred the selection outline is. If you leave the field blank, the edges of the selected area will be sharp.
If you check the Smooth option, the edges of the selection will be slightly softened to smooth out the color transition between the background and the selected object. The amount of smoothing is determined automatically by the program.
In addition to the options already listed, available for almost all selection tools, Magnetic Lasso also has additional settings. Using them correctly, you can greatly simplify your work with the tool and improve the quality of your selection.
The Width parameter specifies the distance at which the cursor should be from the edge of the object. The default value is 10 pixels, but it can be changed in the range from 1 to 256. If the outline of the object has many angles, the value should be reduced, and to highlight smooth objects, increase the value.
Contrast controls the difference in color between the background and the highlighted object. If the edges of the object differ little from the background, then try increasing the percentage, but it would be better to use another tool.
The value you specify for the Frequency parameter affects the number of anchor points the tool will create. If the selected fragment has a complex contour with many turns, corners, bends, the number of reference points will have to be increased. By default, this field is set to 57, which is optimal for most cases.
“Changing pen pressure changes pen width” - a function with this long name is intended for owners
