User Guide

Canvas 12 User Guide
To modify an active selection:
Choose Image | Select | Modify | Contract. Type a value in the text box and then click OK. Canvas
subtracts the specified area from the selection and the dashed border contracts.
Smoothing a selection
The Smooth command is useful after you have made a color-based selection that has left stray pixels
inside or outside of the selected area. The Smooth command includes or eliminates the stray pixels to
even out the selection. The value you type in the text box determines which pixels will be included or
excluded in the selection at the border.
To modify an active selection:
Choose Image | Select | Modify | Smooth. Type a value in the text box and then click OK. Canvas
adds or subtracts pixels to the perimeter of the selection based on the radius number of pixels
you specified.
Bordering a selection
After you define a selection, you can select the area at the border of the selection by specifying an
offset in pixels from the selection edge.
To modify an active selection:
Choose Image | Select | Modify | Border. Type a value in the text box and click OK. Two dashed
borders indicate the selected border.
Once you make a selection, you can use the Grow command or the Similar command to expand the
selection to include similar colors.
Creating objects from selections
You can make new paint objects from image selections with the New Image from Selection command.
This command converts a selection in an image into a new paint object in the same position on the
image you are editing. This can be useful for “layering” image compositions.
The result of New Image from Selection is similar to moving a selection to a transparent “layer,” a
procedure used in some image editing programs. In Canvas you can use separate transparent paint
objects to create “layered” image compositions.
This operation doesn’t affect the Clipboard contents.
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