resize crop area from center?

[ComputerCynthia]

I have just spent hours looking for this simple task so I must think it's a simple answer. Or, PSP X7 is not going to be much fun for me as a Photoshop convert-tee.
Is there a way to hold the center point still and make changes to the size of a crop with the crop tool? Or, any selection marque for that matter?
Thanks!

[LeviFiction]

Nope. You can do this with vector shapes but unless you're always using a rectangle that will start getting complicated. Also you don't have as much control over sizing with vectors.

The way the vectors would work is you create the vector shape, size it where you want it. Then use "Selections -> From Vector Object" to create a selection, then crop to selection. But it's not good for much else.

[photodrawken]

Is there a way to hold the center point still and make changes to the size of a crop with the crop tool? Or, any selection marque for that matter?

That's easy to do in PhotoLine, with either rectangular or elliptical (circular) or even freehand selections that can then be used to crop the image. I long ago switched to PhotoLine as my image editor of choice, and only keep PSP around for the sake of a couple of its minor features (like the KPT Collection plugins).

[ComputerCynthia]

Thank you for the idea of working from vectors. It seems also to be a way to save a crop in file, just turn off the layer. I have not heard of Photoline before. I keep looking for alternatives and there's always a catch to switching programs. I got in deep with Photoshop when I used it when employed. I enjoyed the Corel product as an affordable alternative but some days just butt up against the boundaries.

[photodrawken]

I keep looking for alternatives and there's always a catch to switching programs.

Very true. As with most software these days, the 30-day free trial period will allow you to explore at your own pace and see how well its features match up with what you're familiar with using in Photoshop.

[Jean-Luc]

I have just spent hours looking for this simple task so I must think it's a simple answer. Or, PSP X7 is not going to be much fun for me as a Photoshop convert-tee.
Is there a way to hold the center point still and make changes to the size of a crop with the crop tool? Or, any selection marque for that matter?
Thanks!

The only possibility I see is to make a Selection (not a Crop)
following by
-> Modify
-> Expand
-> Image
-> Crop to selection

This enlarge the selection maintaining the center point.
But border of the selection is altered : if you draw a square selection, after expanding it, the corners are rounded!
IMHO, we should have the choice : expanding with or without rounded corners but it is not possible actually.

[ComputerCynthia]

I'm back into trying to copy Photoshop tutorials and again this in ability to hold the center and symmetrically adjust scale in a raster layer is hindering me. I really can't go on with this program. At least not without tearing my hair out making work-arounds. I love the sheer, perspective and rotate. Just this peeve that's killing me in cropping images and now in transforming images in Pick and Crop tools. PaintShop had so much going for it I never questioned the lack of an alt key center transformation. I assumed that there was equal footing with other software and instead I have to drag twice to get the same adjustment.

Corel Painter 2015 has the feature I'm going on about. Why it made it into one program but not the other is perplexing. I already see Corel selling the repaired blending in Corel Painter 2016 as a feature and I'm starting to see that they'll do the same with stuff that's broken in PaintShop to keep us on a quasi-membership like Photoshop CC does. And that's what I wanted to get away from. Some jacked up monthly or yearly fee to have a decent image program.

I dearly enjoy the Topaz Labs partnership and the use of them through PaintShop. But this feature lack and the divide between Painter and PaintShop makes me less than happy. Corel products are not a suite of software that have multi-direction understanding of their native files. That sure was what I anticipated when as a Corel Painter X3 user I bought PaintShop as part of my workflow.