Change object edges

To feather the edges of an object
To defringe an object
To remove black or white edges from an object
To sharpen the edges of an object
To change the object marquee
To hide the object marquee

You can adjust the appearance of an object by changing the characteristics of its edges. You can blend the edges of an object with the background by feathering, defringing, and removing black and white edges. To emphasize a certain object in an image, you can sharpen its edges. You can also customize the object marquee.

Feathering

Feathering softens the edges of an object by gradually increasing the transparency of the edge pixels. You can specify the width of the feathered section of the object and the transparency gradient you want to use.

The object on the right has been feathered to soften its edges.

Defringing

An object created from an editable area sometimes includes stray pixels along its edges. This is apparent when the editable area is surrounded by pixels of a different brightness or color. Defringing replaces the color of the stray pixels with a color from the object so that the object blends with the background.

Removing black or white object edges

You can remove black or white edges from a feathered object by making pixels along the edges more transparent or more opaque.

Sharpening

Sharpening defines the edges of an object by making the edges crisp. You can do this by specifying the grayscale threshold for the pixels located along the object’s edges. The edges become sharper as the pixels below the threshold become transparent and the pixels within the threshold become opaque.

The object on the right has been sharpened to define its edges and make them more crisp.

Changing the appearance of the object marquee

You can customize the appearance of the object marquee by changing its color and threshold value. Changing the marquee threshold value modifies the location of the visual boundary of the active object. You can also change the color of the object marquee to make it more visible against the image background.

You can also hide the object marquee.

To feather the edges of an object

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1 Select an object.
2 Click Object Feather.
3 Type a value in the Width box.
4 Enable one of the following options to specify the transparency gradient you want to use:
• Linear — changes the edge transparency in even increments from the beginning to the end of the feathered section
• Curved — results in small transparency increments at the beginning of the feathered edge, larger transparency increments in the middle, and small transparency increments at the end
The effect is applied destructively.
If you want to preview the effect in the dialog box, click the Preview button.

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To feather the edges of an object non-destructively, select the object, click the Add Effect button in the Objects docker (Window Dockers Objects), click Blur, and then click Feather.

You can also feather the edges of an editable area by clicking the Feather mask button on the property bar.

To defringe an object

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1 Select an object.
2 Click Object Matting Defringe.
3 Type a value in the Width box.
Higher values create a more gradual transition between the edges of the object and the background.

To remove black or white edges from an object

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1 Select an object.
2 Click Object Matting, and click one of the following:
• Remove black matte — makes edge pixels more transparent
• Remove white matte — makes edge pixels more opaque

To sharpen the edges of an object

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1 Select an object.
2 Click Object Matting Threshold.
3 Type a value from 1 to 255 in the Level box.
Higher values include fewer semitransparent pixels.

To change the object marquee

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1 Click Tools Options Corel PHOTO-PAINT.
2 Click Display.
3 Type a value from 1 to 255 in the Object threshold box.
Lower values enclose more of the object's pixels.
4 Open the Object marquee color picker, and click a color.

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When you change the threshold value of the object marquee, the area enclosed by the marquee changes, but the object itself does not change. Pixels that are not completely opaque can lie outside the marquee even though they are still part of the object.

To hide the object marquee

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• Click Object Object Marquee.

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You can also hide or display the object marquee by clicking the Object marquee button on the standard toolbar. If the standard toolbar is not displayed, click Window Toolbars Standard.

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