Corel Painter Help | Getting started with selections

Some features described in the Help are available only in Corel Painter 2020, and are not included in Painter Essentials 7. For more information about Corel Painter 2020, visit http://www.painterartist.com/. To get started with Painter Essentials 7, see the Painter Essentials 7 Quick Start Guide.

Getting started with selections

You can use selections to isolate an area of the canvas to apply effects or transformations, while protecting the unselected areas from the changes.

Selection types

Corel Painter supports two types of selections: path-based and pixel-based. The method that you use to create a selection determines its type.

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Path-based selections are defined by a closed path, for example a circle or a square. You can make path-based selections by using the Rectangular Selection, Oval Selection, Lasso tool, or by converting a shape. Path-based selections support many transformations that pixel-based selections do not. In addition, it’s the only type of selection that you can store in the Selection Portfolio.

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Pixel-based selections are defined at the pixel level. You can create a pixel-based selection by using the Magic Wand tool. Corel Painter also includes options for auto-generating selections based on various image or clone characteristics.

You can covert a pixel-based selection to a path-based selection. For more information, see To convert a pixel-based selection to a path-based selection.

Selection methods

The following table describes the various methods for using selections.

To	Description
Constrain brushstrokes	Protects the area inside or outside the selection from painting
Transform	Moves, scales, rotates, skews, or distorts an area
Apply an image effect	Applies an effect to only an isolated area. You can also set different levels of protection within a selection to create partial intensity of the effect.
Cut or copy	Removes, moves, or duplicates an area
Copy to a new layer	Copies or moves an area to a new layer
Stroke the selection	Applies a brushstroke along a selection’s border
Create a channel	Saves a selection to a channel

Selection tools

The following table describes all of the available selections tools.

Tool		Description
Rectangular Selection		Creates rectangular and square selections (path-based). For more information, see To make a rectangular or square selection.
Oval Selection		Creates oval selections (path-based). For more information, see To make an oval or a circular selection.
Lasso tool		Creates freehand selections (path-based). For more information, see Make a freehand selection.
Polygonal Selection tool		Selects an area based on different points set in an image which are anchored by straight line segments (path-based). For more information, see Make a freehand selection with straight-edged segments.
Magic Wand tool		Selects pixels of similar color by clicking or dragging in an image (pixel-based). For more information, see To select an area by using the Magic Wand tool.
Selection Brush tool		Lets you create a freehand selection by painting. For more information, see To make a freehand selection by painting.
Transform tool		Modifies path-based selections by using different transformation modes
Selection Adjuster tool		Selects, moves, and manipulates path-based selections

Selection brushes

Selection brushes let you create freehand selections by painting. Explore the collection of Selection brush variants in Corel Painter to find some useful brushes or create your own custom variants. For more information, see Selecting areas by painting and Selection brushes.

Selection storage

In Corel Painter, each new selection automatically replaces the current selection, therefore, you need to store a selection in order to reuse it. Corel Painter includes two options for storing the selections that you want to reuse.

Option	Description
Alpha channels	Stores both path-based and pixel-based selections for the current document. You can modify alpha channels by combining them with the current selection.
Selection Portfolio	Stores path-based selections in a library to make them accessible from any document

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