Create a mask by selecting a region

Choose a Paint > Select > Marquee tool and drag over a region or choose Paint > Select > Magic Wand and click a colored region.

You can create a mask by selecting a rectangular, elliptical, polygonal or lasso region, or by selecting a consistently colored area of an image layer (magic wand). You can also add to or subtract from the selection.

When you select a region, the selected region is unmasked and all other regions are masked. You can then convert the selected region into a mask from the Canvas Layer Editor.

To select a rectangular, elliptical, polygonal, or lasso region

  1. Select the image layer from which you want to select a region.

    See Select an image layer.

  2. Choose one of the following Paint > Select > Marquee tools:

    The cursor becomes a knife.

  3. In the Marquee Options section of the Paint Panel, set Mode to one of the following:
    • New—to create a new selection area
    • Add—to add to the selection area
    • Subtract—to subtract from the selection area
  4. Drag the stylus to create a rectangular, elliptical, polygonal, or lasso region.

    For the Marquee (polyline) tool, you must click, drag, and release the mouse to create each segment. Double-click to close the selection.

    Tip:

    You can define your own hotkeys for the New, Add, and Subtract marquee operations. Choose Preferences > Interface > Hotkeys/Menus and open the Special : Paint section.

To select a consistently colored area of an image layer

  1. Select the image layer from which you want to select a colored area.

    See Select an image layer.

  2. Choose Paint > Select > Magic Wand.

    The cursor becomes a wand.

  3. Click the area or color of the image layer you want to select.

    To select a different colored area, click it.

  4. In the Magic Wand Options section of the Paint Panel adjust the Tolerance from 0 to 255. A low value selects pixels having a color very similar to the color you clicked. A high value selects pixels having a broader range of colors.
    Note:

    Alternately, you can set the Magic Wand Options before clicking the area or color of the image layer you want to fill.

    Note:

    If you want to set the Tolerance before selecting another area, without affecting the area you’ve already selected (for example, to add to the selection), click Accept or choose Paint > Select > Magic Wand again.

To convert the selection area to a mask

  1. Choose Windows > Editors > Canvas Layer Editor to open the Canvas Layer Editor.
  2. In the Editor’s menus, choose Convert > Marquee to Mask.

    A new mask layer called Marquee-# is created in the Editor. The selected region is unmasked and all other regions are masked.

    This mask can be applied to any image layer(s), just like any regular mask.