User Guide

Selecting pixels 11
Bitmap selection tool options
When you choose the Marquee, Oval Marquee, Lasso, Polygon Lasso, or Magic Wand tool, the
Property inspector displays three Edge options for the tool:
Hard creates a marquee selection with a defined edge.
Anti-alias prevents jagged edges in the marquee selection.
Feather lets you soften the edge of the pixel selection.
You must set the Feather option before creating a feathered selection using a selection tool. You
can feather existing selections using the Feather command in the Select menu. For more
information, see “Feathering a pixel selection” on page 16.
When you choose the Marquee or Oval Marquee, the Property inspector also displays three
style options:
Normal lets you create a marquee in which the height and width are independent of each other.
Fixed Ratio constrains the height and width to defined ratios.
Fixed Size sets the height and width to a defined dimension.
Note: The Magic Wand tool also has a Tolerance setting. For more information, see “Selecting areas
of similar color” on page 12.
Creating pixel selection marquees
The Marquee, Oval Marquee, and Lasso tools in the Bitmap section of the Tools panel allow you
to select specific pixel areas of a bitmap image by drawing a marquee around them.
To select a rectangular or elliptical area of pixels:
1 Choose the Marquee or Oval Marquee tool.
2 Set the Style and Edge options in the Property inspector. For more information, see “Bitmap
selection tool options” on page 11.
3 Drag to draw a selection marquee, which defines the pixel selection.
Hold down Shift as you drag the Marquee or Oval Marquee tool to draw square or circular
marquees. To draw a marquee from a center point, deselect any other active marquees, and
then hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Macintosh) while you draw.
To select a freeform area of pixels:
1 Choose the Lasso tool.
2 Choose an Edge option in the Property inspector. For more information, see “Bitmap selection
tool options” on page 11.
3 Drag the pointer around the pixels you want to select.