HTML, XHTML and CSS All-In-One for Dummies - Andy Harris [352]
♦ Rectangle Select: The Rectangle Select tool is used to (wait for it . . .) select rectangles. Rectangle selections are easy, and they’re pretty common, so this is a good, basic selection tool.
♦ Ellipse Select: The Ellipse Select tool is like the Rectangle Select tool, but (you’re catching on here) it selects ellipses. You can set the aspect ratio to 1:1 to select perfect circles.
♦ Free Select: Also called the Lasso tool, the Free Select tool allows you to draw a selection by hand. It takes an incredibly steady hand to use well, so it’s usually only used for rough selections which are fine-tuned using other techniques.
♦ Magic Select: Also called the Fuzzy Select, the Magic Wand tool allows you to grab contiguous sections of similar colors. It’s handy when you have a large section of a single color that you want to select. (You might want to select a white background and replace it with a pattern, for example.) Hold down the Shift key and make further selections if you want to select more than one color.
♦ Select by Color: Similar to the Fuzzy Select tool, the Select by Color tool grabs all the pixels of a chosen color, whether they’re touching the selected pixel or not, and removes them. (It’s ideal for use with a green screen, for example.)
♦ Scissors Select: The Scissors Select tool uses image-processing techniques to automatically select part of an image. Click along the edge of an element you want to select, and (if you’re lucky) the selection will follow the edge. This works fine for high-contrast elements, but conditions have to be perfect.
♦ Foreground Select: The Foreground Select tool is a multipass tool that simplifies pulling part of an image from the rest. On the first pass, use the Lasso tool to choose the general part of the image you want to select. The image will show a selection mask with selected parts in white and nonselected parts blue. Click the colors you want to keep and then press Enter to commit the selection.
♦ Bezier Select: The Bezier Select tool is my favorite. Click an image to create a general outline of the selection. (You’re actually making a Bezier path, which uses math formulas to draw a curved shape.) Modify the path until it’s exactly how you want it and then you can convert it to a selection.
Figure 4-4: These tools are used for selecting parts of an image.
Modification tools
A number of tools are used to modify parts of an image. Figure 4-5 illustrates the main modification tools:
Figure 4-5: These tools modify the existing picture.
♦ Move: This tool allows you to move a selection, a layer, or some other element.
♦ Rotate, Scale, Shear, Perspective, and Flip: These tools all apply transformations to a selection. Use them to rotate or resize a part of your image, or to change the perspective of a section so it appears to be on an angled surface, for example.
♦ Heal: This tool takes a sample area and applies it to other parts of an image (much like the Clone tool). It is often used in photo retouching to give skin a clean, unblemished look. It’s great for fixing the rectangular artifacts that often appear in JPG images.
♦ Blur/Sharpen: This tool is used to blur (reduce contrast) or sharpen (increase contrast) a small part of the image selectively with the current pen. This tool is often used for quick touch-ups to remove scratches or other blemishes.
♦ Smudge: This allows you to push a color into adjacent pixels to clean up an image. I frequently use this tool when trying to build a tiled background to help line pixels up in a seamless way.
♦ Dodge/Burn: This tool is named after a photography darkroom tool. It’s used to darken or lighten parts of an image and to remove unwanted shadows.
Managing tool options
Most tools have options available. For example, when you choose the Pencil or Brush tool, you can select which brush tip to use. When you use the Fill tool, you can