Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
ture, which are the same as those for the Transform tools (
Transforming Images
).
Most of the time, you won't need to worry about these settings.
3.
Drag the bounding box's square handles and adjust the area covered by your se-
lection
.
The different ways you can adjust a selection are explained after this list.
4.
When you get everything just right, click the green checkmark or press Enter/
Return to accept your changes
.
If you mess up or change your mind about the whole thing, click Cancel (the red No
symbol) or press Esc to revert to your original selection.
You can change your selection in most of the same ways you learned about back in the sec-
tion on cropping (
Cropping Pictures
):
▪
To make the selection wider or narrower
, drag one of the side handles.
▪
To make the selection taller or shorter
, drag a top or bottom handle.
▪
To make the selection larger or smaller
, drag a corner handle. Before you start, take a
quick look at the Tool Options: If you want the selection's shape to stay exactly the same,
then make sure the Constrain Proportions checkbox is turned on; if you want the shape to
change (get smooshed or stretched), then turn this checkbox off.
▪
To rotate the selection
, move your cursor near a corner handle till you see the curved ar-
rows, and then drag to spin the selection's outline to the angle you want.
Transform Selection is a great feature, but it only expands or contracts your selection in the
same ways the Transform tools can change things. In other words, you can change the selec-
tion's width, height, and proportions, but you can't change a star-shaped selection into a dog-
shaped one, for example. (In that situation, you should simply start a new selection from
scratch.) Elements gives you a number of other ways to adjust a selection's size, which may
work better for you in certain situations, although in most cases Transform Selection is prob-
ably the easiest.
But what do you do if you just want to enlarge the selection to include surrounding areas of
the same color? Elements has you covered. Figuring out which of the following commands
to use can be confusing because the two ways to enlarge a selection sound really similar:
