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Rectangle Select Tool


Today, Feb 11,09 we will play with the rectangle select tool. I just notice for the first time, duh, that you can select with rounded corners! Notice the choices here: Antialiasing, Feather Edges, Rounded Corners, Expand from center, Fixed, Position and also there are those mode buttons on top. I plan on learning as much as I can about all of these today. Come join me, present info inside, tutorials, images you played with using this tool etc. Lets master this tool today!

This topic, new topics as well as the "Healing Tool" topic will be included in a menu for new comers to find later. Lets play!

To the right is an example of rounded corners with a fixed width of 100 and corner radius of 43.8. Interesting that my first rectangle select example is nearly a circle! ;-)
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posted by GaryJames
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This is my base image I will be using while playing with Rectangle Select:


Time for lunch, be back shortly.
GaryJames's profile
posted by GaryJames
over 2 years ago
Expand from the center
Lets start with some easy, expanding from the center:
 

Notice I chose rounded corners with a radius of 15.6 and I checked fixed width set to 100 pixels. I checked "Expand from center" and clicked on the kittens nose. From that center it expanded out till it reached the maximum of 100 pixels. This works great if I have specific width I am aiming for and if I want the nose to be the center of attention. ;-)
GaryJames's profile
posted by GaryJames
over 2 years ago
What the heck is Antialiasing???
Simple put by choosing it your selection will have cleaner lines as shown below, side "a" is without the feature selected and "b" is with it selected. Here is a page with more detailed information if you want to get deeper in to it. view link

Now I am trying to figure out when I would not choose it? Oh well will learn that on another day...onward......
GaryJames's profile
posted by GaryJames
over 2 years ago
Feather Edges   Feathering is particularly useful when you are cutting and pasting, in helping the pasted object to blend smoothly and unobtrusively with its surroundings.

Above is an example of feather edges, notice the bottom edge is straight line due to the fact it was at the bottom of the base image. I use this feature all of the time. Let see if I can come up with some expert info on this.....brb!

1.1. Feathering

With the default settings, the basic selection tools, such as the Rectangle Select tool, create sharp selections. Pixels inside the dashed line are fully selected, and pixels outside completely unselected. You can verify this by toggling QuickMask: you see a clear rectangle with sharp edges, surrounded by uniform red. In the Tool Options, however, is a checkbox called “Feather edges”. If you enable this, the tool will instead create graduated selections. The feather radius, which you can adjust, determines the distance over which the transition occurs.

If you are following along, try this out with the Rectangle Select tool, and then toggle QuickMask. You will now see that the clear rectangle has a fuzzy edge.

Feathering is particularly useful when you are cutting and pasting, in helping the pasted object to blend smoothly and unobtrusively with its surroundings.

Actually, it is possible to feather a selection at any time, even if it was originally created as a sharp selection. You can do this from the image menu, by choosing Select → Feather. This brings up a dialog that allows you to set the feather radius. You can do the opposite--sharpen a graduated selection into an all-or-nothing selection--by choosing Select → Sharpen.
GaryJames's profile
posted by GaryJames
over 2 years ago

Here I changed the 'Feather edges" radius setting from 10 to 30. This is a fun one to play with!
GaryJames's profile
posted by GaryJames
over 2 years ago
Fixed Size  
Wow. this is a neat feature. I selected fixed size and chose 100 by 100 pixels. I just started to click away and drag my selection box where I want them. Notice that you can overlap them. This is just one image, not four images.
GaryJames's profile
posted by GaryJames
over 2 years ago
Fixed Aspect Ratio  

Noticed I selected 4:3 by typing those figures in the window provided. This is handy for cropping photos for processing for prints. Today's 4:6 ratio also is a popular aspect ratio for prints.

The aspect ratio of a shape is the ratio of its longer dimension to its shorter dimension.
GaryJames's profile
posted by GaryJames
over 2 years ago
Position Tool
The red highlighter area in the Tools Options box show where you can move the selection you made by one pixel increments. Just click on the scroll arrows on the right side of the coordinates. BTW, the yellow highlighted area at the bottom left shows the cursor position window, check it out while moving your cursor around.
GaryJames's profile
posted by GaryJames
over 2 years ago
Save Options

The four icons on the bottom of the Tool Options window allow you to save all of the settings you made in the Tool Options box. This will be handy if you want to do precisely the same thing you did on the last image etc.let you
(1) Click here and chose to save your options under a name you provide.
(2) Click here to restore to previous saved options, there will be a list to chose from once you begin to save the options.
(3) This trash icon will delete a stored options file, a list will pop up.
(4) Resets to default values or if you hold the shift key down it will reset all tool options.
GaryJames's profile
posted by GaryJames
over 2 years ago
Modes ( Four Buttons on top)
The GIMP Select tools have several modes including an additive mode which allows you to add a selection area to your current selection area, a difference mode which allows you to select the difference of two selections or subtract an area from a current selection (which sounds kind of like what you want, and an intersection mode, which allows to to make one selection, then using the select tool, select an intersecting area and take the intersection of the two selections as the final selection (which also may be what you're looking for). Shorter explanation:
The Mode section of the Options Box that comes with this tool allows replacement of the current selection, add to the current selection, subtract from the current selection, or intersect with the current selection.

(1) Replaces the current selection. When you move your cursor over and click again your previous selection is lost.
(2) Add to the current selection. You can have selection overlapping selection etc, you can also get this effect by continually holding down the shift key while making a selection.
(3) Subtract from the current selection. Can also be accomplished by holding down the control key and making your selection.
(4) Intersect with the current selection. Shift plus control will do the same task.
Examples to follow!
GaryJames's profile
posted by GaryJames
over 2 years ago
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