Using the Selection Tools
This in-depth video tutorial will give you a look at the selection tools in PaintShop Pro: what are the different types of selection tools, what are the different options and modes available for each selection tool, and how to use them.
The different selection tools we’ll cover in this tutorial include:
- Selection Tool: lets you create a selection of a specific shape, such as a rectangle, square, ellipse, circle, or star.
- Auto-selection Tool: lets you create a smart selection by enclosing an image area in a rectangle that automatically snaps to the edges it detects.
- Smart Selection Brush: lets you create a selection by brushing over a sample area. The selection expands automatically to the edges based on the information that is sampled by the brush.
- Freehand Selection Tool: lets you create a selection around the edges of an object, such as petals of a flower or fingers on a hand, using 4 different types of selection (Edge Seeker, Freehand, Point to Point or Smart Edge).
- Magic Wand: lets you make a selection based on the color, hue, brightness, or opacity of an object. This tool is designed to select an area that has distinctly different pixels than those in other areas of an image — for example, a pink rose surrounded by green leaves, or a dark area in an otherwise bright image.
Thanks for watching! We hope you found this tutorial helpful and we would love to hear your feedback in the Comments section below. And don’t forget to visit our social media pages and show us what you’ve learned by sharing your photos, videos and creative projects with us.
Related Tutorials
Tools You Need
PaintShop Pro 2019
PaintShop® Pro 2019 is your affordable, professional photo editor designed by passionate photo enthusiasts.
Comic Book Word Art
Make yourself and your friends the superheroes (or villains) in a comic book with collection of 80 word art images.
PaintShop Pro 2019 Ultimate
Get the full photo-editing power of PaintShop Pro 2019 plus an exclusive bonus collection of premium photo software.
Vivid Color Scripts
Make the colors in your photos come to life with the Vivid Color Script Bundle. Includes red, green and blue versions.
Comments (13)
What is the difference between a vector and a raster layer???
Hi Pete,
This tutorial on layers provides an explanation of vector and raster layers https://learn.corel.com/tutorials/part-2-of-6-background-raster-vector-and-art-media-layers/
Hope this helps!
The Discovery Center team
I cannot quite selection tool. After identifying area and working with it, I cannot close selection tool to move on to other adjustments.
Hello John,
Does the program give an error message or prompt when you select a different tool? What version of PaintShop are you using? We can certainly look into this with you!
Discovery Center Team
Help please! After using the quick selection tool, where it hasn’t gone round my image properly…. is there any way to push and pull the dotted line to fit the shape of the image or is the only way to do it with the paint brush thing?? Wish it was easier to use, so frustrating!
Hello Louise,
Did you mean the Smart Selection brush? If so, you can fine tune the brush’s edge detection by changing the Tolerance value at the top of the screen. A higher tolerance value will allow a wider range of variation to be included, broadening your selection, while a lower tolerance will restrict the acceptable range, tightening the selection.
Hope this helps!
Discovery Center Team
Really great article. Thanks for taking the time to explain things in such great detail in a way that is easy to understand.
Hello
I am suddenly not able to use selection tools? I was working in Layers and don’t know what I turned on or shut off. I put a new pic in Edit and it now won’t allow me to do anything with it. What do I need to turn off in the layers section? Appreciate any help you can offer to this newbie. bill
Hello Bill,
Have you created a new layer on this image? A common mistake is to accidentally switch to a new blank layer right before using the selection tool, which means you are trying to select a part of your image within a blank layer.
Alternately, depending on which selection tool you are using, make sure the tolerance is not too low! A low tolerance avoids accidentally having your selection expand across more than what you want, but if it is too low, sometimes you will barely select anything at all.
Hope this helps! Let us know if you keep having trouble.
Discovery Center Team
How do you auto-select the non-transparent parts of a vector/raster layer? Trying to click on the layer simply selects the entire layer, which defeats the point if you are trying to do detail work. And there has to be a faster way than going through and clicking every single thing in a layer.
Hello Allison,
There are a few selection tools you could use to help with this! Here are two that come to mind immediately:
Magic Wand Selection. This tool lets you choose a point in your image and then adjust the sensitivity bar at the top of the screen. This controls how much of the surrounding area is selected based on similarity to the selected location. This is great for removing or adjusting large areas of the same or similar colours, or a portion of a gradient.
Lasso Selection. This tool lets you draw around the area in question with your mouse, letting you edit or remove exactly what you want in a layer!
Hope this helps,
Discovery Center Team
un grand regret que les tutos nr soit pas traduit en français
Thank you for the feedback! We are always looking for ways to improve our training materials, and feedback like this is important for us to learn what languages are most in demand. We have passed your comment on to our tutorial team for their consideration!
All the best,
Corel Discovery Center Team