Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
to all of Elements' custom shapes, but pay special attention to the Crop Shapes cat-
egory.
3.
If necessary, adjust the other Tool Options settings
.
You have the same shape-drawing options as for the Custom Shape tool (
The Custom
Shape Tool
)
, so you can set a fixed size or constrain proportions, if you want. Click
the Unconstrained button to see your choices.
You can also feather the shape's edges. Just drag the Feather slider, or click the num-
ber to the right of the slider and then enter an amount (in pixels). See
Controlling the
Selection Tools
for more about feathering.
Turn on the Crop checkbox to crop the edges of your photo so they're just large
enough to contain the shape.
4.
Drag in your photo
.
Elements puts a mask over the photo, and you see only the area that will still be there
once you crop, surrounded by transparency. As you drag, you see a pop-up displaying
the size of the cropped area in inches or whatever measurement you've chosen in Ele-
ments' Units & Rulers preferences (the box on
Grids, Guides, and Rulers
explains
how to change this unit). This pop-up is new in Elements 13.
5.
If necessary, adjust the crop
.
You can reposition the shape mask or drag its corners to resize it. Although the
cropped areas disappear, they'll reappear as you reposition the mask if you move it so
that they're included again.
Once you've created the shape but before you've committed it (which you'll do in the
next step), you'll see the Transform options (
Transforming Images
)
in the Tool Op-
tions area, which means that you can skew or distort the shape, if you want. You can
drag the mask around to reposition it, or Shift-drag a corner to resize it without alter-
ing its proportions. It may take a little maneuvering to get exactly the parts of the
photo you want inside the shape.
6.
When you've got things lined up just right, click the Commit button (the green
checkmark) below the shape or press Enter/Return
.
If you don't like the results, click the Cancel button (the red circle) or press Esc in-
stead.
