User Guide

Canvas 12 User Guide
The accuracy of a path made from a selection depends on the settings you specify and the complexity
of the selection border. A very complex selection border can result in a path with hundreds of anchor
points, which can cause problems in printing and other operations.
Paths created from selections have no fill ink, black pen ink, and the current stroke setting.
To convert a selection to a path:
1. Make a selection in an image.
2. Choose Image | Selection to Path.
3. Choose the settings you want and click OK (see "Selection to Path options" on page 500). The
selection in the image is deselected and a new vector object (or group of vector objects)
appears in front of the paint object.
Selection to Path options
Mask Set Threshold If a selection edge is feathered, this value defines the edge of the
selection for tracing based on selection mask opacity. Enter a value from
1 (nearly transparent) to 255 (opaque). These values correspond to the
lightness of pixels for a selection saved as a mask in a channel.
Pixels in the selection mask that are more opaque (lighter) than the
threshold value are treated as opaque and part of the selection. Pixels
that are less opaque (darker) than the threshold value are treated as
transparent and outside the selection. At a threshold of 1, the entire
feathered edge will be part of the selection. At 255, only the completely
opaque part of the selection will be included.
If a selection is not feathered, this value has no effect.
Curves/Polygons Choose Curves to create paths with smooth anchor points and curve
segments as appropriate. Choose Polygons to create paths with straight
segments only. The Curves option can result in smoother paths with
fewer anchor points when the selection border has curves.
Loose /Tight Drag the slider to set the tolerance for tracing irregularities in the
selection border. Loose follows the selection border less precisely (more
smoothly) and creates fewer anchor points. Tight follows the selection
border more precisely (less smoothly) and creates more anchor points.
Round /Sharp Drag the slider to set the tolerance for tracing corners in the selection
border. Round creates rounder corners, Sharp creates sharper corners.
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