Selection tools question

I'm fairly new to Photoshop Elements, so hope fully this is a simple question.
I've used the selction tools, magic wand, lassos, etc, to trace out areas of a photo that I want to eliminate and fill with another layer. I only have my background layer, a color fill layer, and a gradient layer. Problem is, when I go back to my background layer, my selections that I traced out are no longer accessible, and it seems like I have to redo all my selctions again. There's got to be a way to keep and access my selections, but I'm unsure how to do this. Any suggestions? Thanks!
Nate

nateu,
Have a look at this print screen of a selection of the swan and the layer structure:
http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1usGtChF3D8cfv7mPcaCKt7Lw9IsG1
I duplicated the background layer, then shut off the visibility of the background layer by clicking on its eye icon, worked on the background copy layer. I do this routinely, since the background layer is a locked layer, and also if I wish to start over again, I just delete the newly generated layers and am back to square one. The academic purists may not agree with this work-flow, but so be it.
Next, I selected the swan - used the magnetic lasso tool here, but any of the selection tools will work. You should see "marching ants" around the selection, indicating that it is active.
Then, I went to Layer>new>layer via copy. This put the swan on its own layer. Note the checkerboard pattern around the swan selection - indicating transparency
You can put a blank layer between the swan layer (Layer 1) and the background copy layer, fill it with color, or a gradient, or texture, etc. for a new background
If you want to save the selection as per Ken's post, Press CTRL+left click the swan thumbnail on Layer 1 to make it active, then go to Select>save selection

Similar Messages

Basic Quick Selection Tool Question

Is this just a newer way to do the same thing the other selections tools have been doing for years OR is there a benefit to this tool over the other selection tools?

The Quick Selection Tool does indeed operate differently from the Magic Wand Tool.
But it’s been introduced at least with CS3, so why the question now?

Help...Stupid Selection Tool Question

I'm not seeing the dots when using the selection tool and am unable to select sections of objects. I don't know what to do.

I figured it out myself. I was in "Object Drawing Mode" rather than "Merge Drawing Mode". A simple CTRL + B solved my issue.
Hope this helps anyone who has a similar issue...

Pen Tool Question...

The Pen Tool is my favorite / go to selection tool. But can it do the following...
I've made a path and converted it to a selection, then filled the area with a color or texture (on it's own layer).
Now I find that I need to adjust (fine tune) the shape I've created / filled with color or texture to better fit how / where it's being used. Is is possible to invoke the path handles and get it to adjust the filled area as you move / adjust the path. (This is not a shape, not using the shape tool.)
I can select the filled path / layer and free transform but that does not give me a fine enough adjustment.
Puppet Warp doesn't really fit the bill either.
A good example of what I want to achieve is similar to when you put type on a path. When you adjust the path the type moves to conform to the changes in the path. I want to do the same thing with the area I filled using the path.
Possible??
If not, this would be a great feature request!!!
thanks folks for any input
JeffN

c.pfaffenbichler
Just to follow up on your answer....
Yes this works very well for what I'm trying to accomplish.
Thanks again.
Just an fyi, I'm also a NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals) member.
I posted my same question on the NAPP forum. I still haven't gotten a response for anyone over there.
I'm not knocking NAPP, it's a great organization and I've been a member since 2006.
But I'm pleased with how much faster answers to questions come from this Adobe Photoshop forum.
Keep up the good work!!
JeffN

PPro CC crashes when using Track Select tool

This is probaby the most bizzare bug i have encountered so far - everythig works - i can scub, play and adjust footage, apply effects, titles and time remapping, but when i select Treack Select tool and click on the timeline, Premiere Pro crashes.
This is a new develpment as well - i was able to use PPro CC just fine since i installed it (trial version), until yesterday.
No new applications or updates for Windows, Nvidia card or Adobe were installed lately, but all drivers are up to date (according to various update managers)
Premiere CS6 works fine with the same sequence (mixed RED and DSLR footage)
Problem signature:
Problem Event Name:    APPCRASH
Application Name:    Adobe Premiere Pro.exe
Application Version:    7.0.0.342
Application Timestamp:    5176598d
Fault Module Name:    ntdll.dll
Fault Module Version:    6.1.7601.17725
Fault Module Timestamp:    4ec4aa8e
Exception Code:    c0000005
Exception Offset:    0000000000052fc6
OS Version:    6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.1
Locale ID:    1033
Additional Information 1:    1ce0
Additional Information 2:    1ce04770b02f823ff20b7f82076eba51
Additional Information 3:    c192
Additional Information 4:    c19212ee5e1e8407cb093e848f6cb5d8
System specs:
Creative Suite CS6 subscription
Creative Cloud trial
Windows 7 x64, SP1
Nvidia Quadro 4000 GPU
i7-3039k CPU
32Gb of RAM
thank you

Yep, buggy project..
New project with same and different footage works fine
Other project created in CC works fine
Imported sequence from CS6 works fine
Imported sequence from a buggy CC project into a new project causes crash on using Track Select tool
I was able to revert the project in question to CS6 via Final Cut Pro XML, also works fine (for now, at least), just have to redo some time remapping which didn't come through with XML translation, small loss
I guess i'll wait few more months before switching to PPro CC, maybe mysterious bugs will be worked out by then
Thank you for your replies!

Quick selection tool,How to programme the function of this tool?

Recently, I intend to extract from a picture on the edge of oil tank。I found that this quick selection tool can meet my
requirement。 But I do not know how to achieve it in VC ++ 。I would like to ask somebody who knows it???thanks~~~~~

The question doesn't make sense in the SDK forum either.
Why are you trying to control the tool programmatically?
And I don't think you really can control that tool programatically - it's meant to be interactive.

Quick selection tool always contains minus sign

I am obviously not a very experienced Photoshop user and I have a question about the Quick Selection tool. I am using CS6 on a Mac with OS X 10.9 Mavericks.
I watched a couple tutorials and my system is behaving differently. In the tutorials I watched, when the quick selection tool is chosen the "brush" contains a plus sign. If too much area is selected, that can be corrected by holding the option/alt key and this changes the brush to a minus sign. On my computer, when I select the tool the brush always contains a minus sign. I think the tool is working OK but I wonder why I never see the plus sign inside the brush.
Please advise.
Thank you.

Be sure the tool isn't set to subtract in the options bar. Otherwise, try resetting the tool by right- or control-clicking the blue arrow just to the right of the tool preset (under the blue PS icon in the below screenshot) to reset the tool.

How do I specify exact corners with the rectangular selection tool?

Suppose I have an image 2000 pixels wide by 1000 pixels high. Pixel (0,0) is at the top left as you view the image. Using the rectangular selection tool, how can I specify an exact area to select? Say, for example, I want to select the area defined by (0,0), (100,0), (100,100) & (0,100), how would I do this?
I'm using Photoshop CS6 on a Mac with OSX 10.8.3.
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
Kevin H.

Mylenium,
33,406 posts! That's amazing. Thanks for your technique for specifying an exact selection size. I tried it out and it works, but is there a way to get the marquee to snap to the guides, as opposed to snapping to pixels. I can't quite get the marquee to fall exactly where I place the guides, at least not easily.
Here's a method I've come up with since posting my question. (I guess I should have tried harder to figure this out before asking the question.)
Figure out beforehand where you want the corners of the selection marquee to be.
Activate the rulers: View>Rulers or (Cmd-R.)
Set rulers to pixels: Photoshop>Preferences>Units&Rulers>Rulers>Pixels
Select the rectangular selection tool.
In the menu bar for the selection tool choose Style>Fixed Size. Then in the dimension boxes to the right of the Style button, type in the width and height you want for your selection, e.g. 200 by 100 pixels.
Zoom in on where you want the top left pixel of your selection to be. Zoom in enough to clearly see the pixel.
With the selection tool active, click-and-release on the pixel you have zoomed in on.
Go back to normal view (Cmd-0) and you should see your entire selection.
This answers my own question, and with your method I now have two ways to do this.
Thanks,
Kevin H.

Why can't I make a selection with my path selection tool?

While following a tutorial, I am now unable to make a path selection. I know how to select a path, have done it before, but now my path selct tool does not select a path. Did I change settings or something else that I am not aware of? Any help would be appreciated.

A changed setting may not be your problem.
One pertinent question is: Can you SEE the path you are trying to select ? That is, do you see the thin line that Photoshop uses to show you the locus of points that define your path. This is distinct from the stroke that you may have applied to the path and distinct from the fill which you may have put within your path. The point being that if you cannot see the path you cannot select it. If you cannot see the path go to the paths panel and left click on the path of interest. This will show you the path line and then with your path selection tool active clicking on any part ofthe path line will select the path.
By the way, depending on path fills and path strokes that may be present it may be difficult to see the path line.
Paulo

My selection tool don't work normally !

My selection tool won't select swatch colours and I can’t move easily text boxes.
I "trash" my InDesign preferences. I follow Peter Spier’s advice. I put the line in my terminal : rm /Users/petitspaspourlhomme/Library/Caches/Adobe InDesign/Version 8.0/fr_FR/*
But it’s change nothing !
What can I do ?

Quelle version de système ? Quelle version d'InDesign ? La vidéo n'est pas nette et j'hésite entre CS6 et CC.
pour répondre à tes questions : j'ai bien effectué le raccourci clavier et j'ai bien eu la question posée.
mais rien ne change !
dois-je recommencer à nouveau ?
Non, ça ne servirait à rien…
toujours impossible de changer la couleur des textes via le nuancier
Il se passe quoi ? Pardonne-moi, mais es-tu une débutante dans InDesign ?
double-cliquer sur la toolbar sur le T
Tu veux parler du panneau de contrôle, en haut de la fenêtre ?
pas possible de bouger normalement les blocs !
Il se passe quoi ?
est-ce qu'il existe des assistants technique à Adobe pouvant aider des personnes dans mon cas
Oui, bien sûr
http://helpx.adobe.com/fr/contact.html?product=indesign&topic=using-my-product-or-service
Tu trouveras les contacts en bas de cette page, si tu es en France, Belgique ou Suisse.
Je renouvelle ma proposition de regarder tes fichiers…

Preview "select" tool

Hello all.
The question I have is regarding using the select tool in preview.
When I open my image in preview, when I use the rectangular option in select, I copy it and then paste it in powerpoint or word and it's just fine. When I use the elliptical or even lasso option, when I do the copy and then paste, it comes into the application with black around the part of the image I selected so that it still forms a square.
I just want the area I selected...is there a way around this?
Thanks much!
Mike

Have you looked to see if the outline color is set to black? By default my Word 08 doesn't add one at all, and it works fine, but check to see if it's different for you. Make sure you click on "no line". I hope this works.

Scripting the path in Quick Selection Tool

Hi,
I'm trying to build a JS script which:
1. opens an image
2. selects the quick selection tool
3. does the selection following a pre-defined path
4. puts the unselected area to white
5. saves the image
The problem is in step 3. All the other steps can be recorded with ScriptListener, but the path is not. So the question is:
How can I tell to my script a path to follow while using Quick Selection?
How can I do it, for example, with a very simple path, say a line from pixel (50,50) to (50,200)?
Many thanks!

This would select the first path and stroke it with the Quick Selection Tool, for the second part it uses the Action Manager recorded with ScriptingListener.plugin.
app.activeDocument.pathItems[0].select();
// =======================================================
var idStrk = charIDToTypeID( "Strk" );
    var desc7 = new ActionDescriptor();
    var idnull = charIDToTypeID( "null" );
        var ref7 = new ActionReference();
        var idPath = charIDToTypeID( "Path" );
        var idOrdn = charIDToTypeID( "Ordn" );
        var idTrgt = charIDToTypeID( "Trgt" );
        ref7.putEnumerated( idPath, idOrdn, idTrgt );
    desc7.putReference( idnull, ref7 );
    var idUsng = charIDToTypeID( "Usng" );
    var idquickSelectTool = stringIDToTypeID( "quickSelectTool" );
    desc7.putClass( idUsng, idquickSelectTool );
    var idPrs = charIDToTypeID( "Prs " );
    desc7.putBoolean( idPrs, true );
executeAction( idStrk, desc7, DialogModes.NO );

Difficulty using Direct Selection tool to select a single vertex

I'm using Illustrator (CS2) and am having some trouble with the Direct Section tool.
Is there a way to select a single vertex of an object, if all the vertices of that object are selected?
For example, let's say I want to distort a rectangle by stretching one corner. if I select a rectangle by clicking on it, all four corners are selected. If I move the cursor (the Direct Selection white arrow) over one vertex, a small square appears immediately below the white arrow, suggesting that only the one corner will be selected. However, when I click, nothing happens - all four corners remain selected, and if I drag, the rectangle moves rather than distorts.
I can select a single corner if I click onto blank space on my drawing (thereby deselecting the rectangle) and then use the Direct Selection tool to click directly on the one corner in question. Alternatively, I can coose Object>Selection Handles from the Select Menu, or use Shift+Click to deselect the other three corners (leaving only the corner I want to move selected). However, those are awkward solutions.
Is there any better way to select a single vertex of an object that is already selected?

Joe & Jacob,
Thanks for your responses.
I thought, based on what I read in the Illustrator help files, that the technique Joe describes would work. However, it doesn't seem to. If I have the object selected and then use the Direct Selection Tool (either by holding down CTRL or by selecting the white pointer tool from the palette) to click on a single vertex, all the vertices remain selected. I tried both click-and-release and click-and-hold but the behavior is the same either way.
But clicking on the path with the Direct Selection tool does seem to work (provided that the object hasn't already been selected). In this case all the vertices appear but are hollow (unselected) and I can then select one of them.
Thanks again for the information, and if you or anyone else has any additional hints about the first technique, I would be interested to learn them!
- Eric

How do I turn off the curvature tool in CC, I chose the selection tool to create a box and the middle selector that allows you to adjust the size has disappeared?

How do I turn off the curvature tool in CC, I chose the selection tool to create a box and the middle selector that allows you to adjust the size has disappeared? My coworker discovered making ti a compound path by right clicking it and selecting it. All I want to do is adjust the size of a box. please advise.

You should post questions about using applications in the specific application's forum(s).
Here is a link to a page that has links to all Adobe forums...
Forum links page:
https://forums.adobe.com/welcome

Single key to deactivate Type tool and activate Selection tool ??

The set of keystroke shortcuts on the CD that comes with Deke McClelland's InDesign One-on-One books has a shortcut that deactivates the Type tool and activates the Selection tool by pressing Enter key on the keypad. I can't even imagine working with text in InDesign without that shortcut!
Question: Has anyone created a script to do the same thing in Illustrator? I don't know if Deke has included a similar shortcut for Illustrator because I as of CS3, the only Illustrator One-on-Ones from Deke are on CD ROMs that cost upwards of $150 on Amazon which I will not be purchasing (snarl).
Thanks in advance.
Toni

Hi Jacob,
Good to hear from you.
Actually, I want to activate the Selection tool outside the active text box, and often just deactivate the Type tool so I can get to another tool using it's keystroke short cut. For example, to go from the Type tool to the Frame tool without having to use the intermediate step of Command+click+V. Deke's shortcut allows me to keep one hand on the keyboard or the mouse and just perform a single action to deactivate the Type tool. The Enter key on the keypad is ideal for me because I mouse with my left hand.
Cheers, T

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