Making Freehand Selections in PhotoSuite

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Making Freehand Selections

The Freehand Mask/Cutout feature in Photosuite lets you isolate any part of an image and then apply effects only to that selected part.

Open an image in Photosuite, click on the Tools tab (in Creator 2009, click on the Change Objects tab) and then click on Freehand Mask/Cutout.

Increase Edge Fading to about .5 to give the selection a subtle edge. (Edge Fading can be adjusted later.)

Notice the pointer turns into a crosshair with a little plus sign next to it when you hover your pointer over the image.

There are different ways of selecting along the edges when using Freehand/Mask Cutout:

One is to repeatedly click and release along the edge: click and release, and then click on another part of the image, and release. This will make a straight line from one point to the next in your selection. Continue clicking and releasing to select the portion of the image that you want to work on.

Another method is to click and hold and drag along the edge of part of the image you want to work on.

If you make a mistake before you complete your selection, press the backspace key on the keyboard to go back and redo your points. (This is faster if you use the click-and-release method.)

You might find it useful to use the the click-and-release method for the straighter portions of your image, and the hold-and-drag method for more curved or intricate portions of your image.

You can take your crosshair off of the image as you work without losing your place, to use the Zoom controls or scroll bars to view different parts of the image.

Once you have selected all of the portion of the image and have worked your way back to the starting point, the plus sign turns into a circle. Click on the starting point to complete the selection.

Now everything except your selection should be grayed out. This that means whatever effects you apply at this point will only be applied to your selected part of the image. If you want to apply effects to everything except your selection, click on Invert selection in the Freehand Mask Cutout dialog box.

To apply the selection, click on the red X in the upper right-hand corner of the Freehand Mask Cutout dialog box.

To add to the selection, reopen the dialog box, make sure "Combine with current selection" is checked, and then use the crosshair to outline whatever else you want to be included in the selection. If you outline something that you don't want included in your selection, make sure that "Subtract from current" is selected and then select that portion for deletion.

When you close the Freehand/Mask Cutout dialog box, the selection is indicated by an outline instead of the gray area. Now you can apply effects to this outlined area without affecting any other portion of the image.

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