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 The
lasso tool is one of the most used once you get in to editing photographs
and stuff like that. There are several options to choose from when using
the Lasso tool. Open a new image 200 x 200, white bg, make sure it is
16 million in colors. Click on your lasso tool and then go to your control
palette. You will notice that it is similar to all the others you have
in PSP. (Fig.1) You have you antialias, which was covered on the
main selection page if you need to review it, it controls the edges
of the selection. Unchecked, you will get a more jaggie effect. You
also have your feather option which we covered on the main
selection page also if you need to review it. Click the arrow beside
where you see the word "freehand" and a drop down list will
appear.(Fig.2) You will see three (3) different options there, click
the freehand selection if it is not already selected. Then place a check
in the antialias box and set the feather to 0. Now go to your image,
freehand is just exactly that ! Click and hold down the mouse and draw
a shape of any kind, this is freehand so you can go left, right, up,
down, back, forward,whatever you like, just make sure that you bring
your ending point back to connect with the starting point and then release
the mouse to "set the selection". You should now see your
marching ants around the shape of the selection you drew. (Fig.3) I
drew a "hand" shape. LOL It is not easy to draw freehand so
don't laugh at my selection. I never claimed to be good with the freehand
tool and I don't use it alot but it does come in handy when you need
to make awkward selections. Click the flood fill tool and fill your
selection with a color so that it is a little easier to see. (Fig.4)
That is your basic Lasso selection tool. This can be used in photographs
in just making odd shapes as well. Choose SELECTIONS and then select
none to deselect the image. Optionally you can also RIGHT click to deselect
your selection.
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Working on the same open image with the lasso tool still, this time
set the feather to 10 and draw out another selection on your canvas,
leave enough space around the edges of it because remember, a feather
will expand your selection so you will need the space.(Fig.5) If you
make it to close to the edge it will flatten out to fit the edge (squared
off) portion of the canvas, see Fig.6 for an example thus defeating
the whole purpose of the softer edges that the feathering option creates
for you. Next, using the Lasso Tool still, change the feather number
back to 0 and remove the check mark from the antialias box. Draw out
another shape on your canvas. Flood fill it with a color also. I filled
mine with green so it might be easier for you to see. Notice when the
antialias (AA) is off that you get a much rougher, jaggied edge as we
did with the regular selection tool.
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The point to point selection tool is self explanatory I think but I
am going to have you do a short hands on tutorial so you can get the
feel of it. Personally, regardless of the simplicity I learn best by
doing and not just reading so open a new image 200 x 200, white bg and
16 million colors. Select the lasso tool again if it is not already
selected. Open the control palette and choose the point to point option,
make sure that AA(antialias) is checked and that the feather is set
to "0". (Fig. 1) Set the background color in your color palette
to something other than white. Don't worry about the foreground right
now. You will understand why in a minute. (Fig.2) Starting at the top
center of your image click once and release the mouse, then click again
at angle to your left from it, repeat this several times until you have
something that resembles a Christmas tree. You can see my click point
noted with the yellow dots. Each time you click that is an ending point.
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 This
is real nice for selection straight edges but have an odd shape. Another
thing about selections is that when you have created a selection you
then have the option to do several things to it. One being moving it
to another location on your image. First off make a duplicate copy of
the image you are working on, the "tree like thang" lol by
holding down the shift key and the "d" key. You should then
have two of the same images open on your canvas and they both should
contain the selection still. Note though that since we have two open
images in PSP, ONLY the active images selection will show. Click one
of the images title bars to make it the active image, notice you have
your selection and that you title bar is the color of your main Windows
theme, in my case teal. (Fig.4) WITHOUT clicking on the duplicated image,
look at it, the title bar is a different color than you windows them
color, indicating that it is NOT the currently active image. (Fig.5)
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Now on the active image I want you to grab the mover tool, it looks
like a fourheaded arrow. (Fig.6) Click and hold down the selection and
drag it to the right a little. (Fig.7) At this point you should see
your green tree moved to the right and the background color I had you
choose in the last step, for me it was (is) blue. (Fig.8) When you have
a selection and are not working on a transparent background when you
move that selection whatever color your background color is set to at
that time will be the color that shows in the area where the selection
was moved from. (Fig.8) Now click the other image and this time set
the bg color in your color palette to white. Click on the selection
and move it off to the right like you did the other one. See? Now it's
white. The first we had the bg color set to blue so that is what showed
when we moved the "tree thang" lol Since we already had a
white background when we set the bg color to white it didn't leave any
other color to contrast the image, it was (is) white like the page.
(Fig.9) Have I lost you yet? LOL If so please don't hesitate to email
me and I will do what I can do help.
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The next one in the control palette is
the smart edge tool. This is the biggie, lol. This is the one you will
probably use the most but it takes some getting used to. Head over to
the next page for the Smart Edge section.
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