How to use the Pen tool to make precise selections. Pen Tool in Photoshop: object selection

The graphics editor Adobe Photoshop contains powerful tools for selecting fragments of an image. The Pen Tool is one of them. With sufficient skill, it can be used to handle objects of very complex shapes.

Instructions

Open the image and create a copy of it using the Duplicate Layer command from the Layer menu. All changes must be made on a new layer so as not to damage the main image.

On the toolbar, select the Brush Tool ("Brush") and set its parameters on the property bar: size 3 pixels, hardness 100. Press the P key to activate the Pen Tool ("Pen"). It will have the properties you specified for the brush.

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To smoothly bend straight lines, use the Direct Selection Tool ("Arrow"). It can be activated by pressing the A key in the English layout. The white arrow changes the selected path. The black arrow is used to move the selection.

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A tangent segment passes through this point, with which you can change the shape and length of the selection area. To do this, grab the end of the control segment with the mouse and drag. Give the selection the desired curve. To delete an unnecessary anchor point, right-click on it and select Delete Anchor Point.

When you have neatly traced the object, right-click inside the selection and check the Make Selection command. In the new window, set the value to Feather Radius ("Feather Radius"). The higher the value, the more blurred the edges of the selection.

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Advice added on July 27, 2011 Advice 2: How to cut with a pen Photoshop presents a fairly wide range of tools and the possibility of its multifaceted customization, it allows you to quickly and efficiently perform operations for editing and improving images, to embody the most daring ideas and creative ideas.

Instructions

When drawing vector elements or creating complex selections, you will need to work with vector tools. Even complex operations take little time when you own them. Photoshop has several tools for working with paths, including the Pen toolkit for drawing and editing paths.

Indeed, cutting out an object in Photoshop is required quite often. This is also called clipping, in the process of which one of the elements is separated from the image.

There are several methods for clipping in Photoshop, one of which is the Pen Tool. With its help, simple objects with a perfectly even contour are cut out. Use it instead of the usual Lasso Tool (Lasso), and you will get a high quality clipping. Of course, at first, the process of using the Pen Tool (Pen) may seem long and inconvenient, but do not be too lazy to master this tool, and you will not regret it.

So, in order to cut, you need to learn how to draw a contour. First select the Pen Tool on the toolbar, then switch the mode to "Contour" and start mastering the pen.

It is enough to click at the desired points to draw a polyline. To create smooth lines, you need to start by holding down the mouse button and dragging the line in a certain direction. A point will appear on the screen, from which the line will move in opposite directions, which will be the control one. The contour will be constructed in relation to this line. After clicking elsewhere and drawing the line again, both points will connect, and you will get a smooth outline.

In addition to smooth lines, you may need to make a sharp transition. Set a point again, hold down the "Alt" key and set a line at any angle. By connecting the path to the first point, you will close it.

To make adjustments to the already finished contour, hold down the "Ctrl" key, in this case the pen takes the form of an arrow. Now you can select the desired points of the contour separately and change the size and direction of the components.

Try to click on the path with the right mouse button, and you will see a menu from which you can select "create a selection", "outline the path", "fill the path with color". Now the image that remains inside the selection can be easily copied to a new layer, and then change the background under it using the key combination "Ctrl + J" or successively "Ctrl + C" and "Ctrl + V".

How to cut with a pen - printable version

Pen Tool in Photoshop: object selection

Very often I hear from Photoshop lovers (that and other graphic editors) what is Pen Tool... So what is it and what is it eaten with? I will try to answer this question fully enough (as it seems to me).

Object Selection in Photoshop - Pen Tool

The Pen Tool in Photoshop is the most accurate instrument of the general background, albeit the most complex. I would even say not in a difficult, but in a boring way. After all, not everyone is able to sit out for so long to select a large object. The main advantage in comparison with other options for separating the object is that with the help of the tool Pen Tool it is possible to cut out with less than a pixel precision.

Let's try from a general background. For this I will use a photo that I took quite recently.

Select the Pen Tool, which is in the right column of Tools and for this tool, select the Paths parameter, which is located in the upper left panel.

Now, carefully begin to outline our object, which we are going to separate, if we need to correct the created selection, we can do this with the Direct Selection Tool, which is located next to the Pen Tool. If you need to add several nodes, then for this you use the Add Anchor Point Tool (it is located in the same place as Pen Tool). To remove nodes use the Delete Anchor Point Tool.

Now right-click on the image or go to the Window -> Paths menu and right-click and select Make Selection.

Now we see a window in which we need to specify the Feather Radius of the corners in pixels. If we leave this parameter equal to zero, then the corners will be sharp. For small objects it is enough to set the radius equal to 1 px, but for us 2-3 pixels of feathering will be enough.

Now press Ctrl + C to copy the image to the clipboard and paste it wherever we want.

Very often, when working with Photoshop, you need to cut out an object from the original image. It can be either a piece of furniture or a part of the landscape, or living objects - a person or an animal.
In this tutorial, we will introduce you to the cutting tools and practice a bit.

There are several tools suitable for cutting an image in Photoshop along a contour.

1. Fast selection.

This tool is great for selecting objects with clear boundaries, that is, the tone on the borders does not blend with the tone of the background.

2. Magic wand.

The magic wand is used to select pixels of the same color. If you want, if you have a solid background, for example white, you can remove it using this tool.

One of the most inconvenient, in my opinion, tools for selecting and then cutting out elements. To use Lasso effectively, you need to have a (very) steady hand or a graphics tablet.

4. Straight lasso.

The straight lasso is suitable if you need to select and cut out an object that has straight lines (edges).

5. Magnetic lasso.

Another "smart" Photoshop tool. Reminds in its action "Quick Selection"... The difference is that the Magnetic Lasso creates a single line that sticks to the outline of the object. Conditions for successful application are the same as for "Quick selection".

The most flexible and easy-to-use tool. It is applied on any objects. When cutting out complex objects, it is recommended to use it.

Practice

Since the first five tools can be used intuitively and at random (it will not work), the Pen requires certain knowledge from the photographer.

That is why I decided to show you how to use this tool. This is the right decision, since you need to learn right away right away so that you do not retrain later.

So, open the photo of the model in the program. Now we are going to separate the girl from the background.

Create a copy of the original image layer and get to work.

We take the tool "Feather" and put an anchor point on the image. It will be both starting and ending. At this point we will close the path when the selection is complete.

Unfortunately, the cursor will not be visible in the screenshots, so I will try to describe everything in words as detailed as possible.

As you can see, we have fillets in both directions. Now let's learn how to get around them. "Pen"... Let's go right.

In order for the rounding to turn out as smooth as possible, you should not put many points. Set the next reference point at some distance. Here you yourself have to define where the radius ends approximately.

For example, here:

Now the resulting segment must be bent in the right direction. To do this, put another point in the middle of the segment.

This is a basic technique for highlighting complex areas of an image. In the same way we go around the whole object (girl).

If, as in our case, the object is cropped (from the bottom), then the outline can be taken out of the canvas.

Let's continue.

Upon completion of the selection, click inside the resulting contour with the right mouse button and select the context menu item "Form selection area".

Set the feathering radius to 0 pixels and click "OK".

We get a selection.

In this case, the background is highlighted and you can immediately delete it by pressing the key DEL, but we will continue to work - a lesson after all.

Invert the selection by pressing the keyboard shortcut CTRL + SHIFT + I, thereby transferring the selected area to the model.

Then select the tool "Rectangular area" and looking for a button Refine Edge on the top panel.

In the tool window that opens, let's smooth out our selection a little and shift the edge towards the model, since small areas of the background could get inside the contour. The values are selected individually. My settings are on the screen.

Set the output to selection and click "OK".

The preparatory work is completed, you can cut the girl out. Press the keyboard shortcut CTRL + J, thereby copying it to a new layer.

The result of our work:

In this (correct) way you can cut a person in Photoshop CS6.

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Unlike the Lasso, the Pen tool ignores the pixels below it, giving you full control over the selection. By creating a permanent selection instead of a temporary one. The pen lets you go back and change it. Although the use of and pen customization in photoshop is more time-consuming than other tools when it comes to neat selection, the Pen is stronger. Let's see how to work Pen tool in photoshop

Pen Tool: How to Use a Pen in Photoshop

The Pen tool creates paths in an image by connecting many points. From a photographers point of view, this tool is ideal as a way to cut out a variety of objects.

After selecting a pen on the toolbar on the left, a simple mouse click sets the first point. The second click adds another point, connecting it to the first. Full selection pen in photoshop is created by adding points around the object. The last click is made on the first point, and the line is closed.

Tip: You can select a pen by pressing the English letter P on your keyboard.

But what about objects with a curved path? Instead of clicking on the next point, pinch and drag on the point - this will create a curved line. Dragging the mouse cursor up and down will change the height of the curve. Dragging left or right will change the slope, from straight to sharply curved.

When you pinch and drag a point to create a curve, straight guide lines will appear. As you drag a point, they show the direction and degree of bend in the curve. To create a smooth curve, leave the guide points about 1/3 the length of the distance to the next point. If the length is too long, the curve will bend in the other direction.

Continue to place dots around the object. Set a new point every time you need to change direction. Click to get straight, pinch and drag to get curves. When you have traversed the entire object, close the path by clicking on the first point.

When the path is complete, go to the Paths panel ( this is a tab in the layers panel) and rename the path to keep it. If you don't, it will disappear as soon as you start creating a new one.

Modifying paths with the pen

The advantage of the pen is that you can go back and change the selection. That is, if you missed a section, you do not need to redo the entire selection, as is the case with Lasso.

Before changing the path, make sure the correct path is selected in the Paths panel. If you need to move a point to correct a straight or curved line, use the Node Selection tool — it's a white pointer, not a black mouse pointer. To fix a straight line, click and drag its point to a new location. And to reshape a curve, hold down one of the direction points or straight lines that originate from that curve.

To move the entire path, go back to the Pointer tool, but this time use the Outline selection". Pinch and drag the line to move the entire path.

How to create a selection from a path

So far we have created an invisible outline in the photo. Now we need to turn it into a selection.

Let's go back to the Paths panel. Right-click on the created path and select " Select area". In the pop-up window, set the feathering radius or how much you want to smooth the edge shapes with pen in Photoshop. How to crop an object whose edges are out of focus? Use the feather above.

The path will turn into a dashed line — the cut object is now selected. Now you can copy the selected area and paste it into another file or add a mask. To add a mask, the selected object must be highlighted. Click on the layer it is on, then click on the " Add layer mask"At the bottom of the Layers panel. It looks like a rectangle with a circle inside. The mask will be automatically applied to the selected layer.