Object selector tool

[JoeB]

Has anyone found a use for the object selector tool? I just started looking at it and read the help file on it and from what I've read it doesn't seem to do anything that can't be done in the Edit window using one of the selection tools along with the various copy/paste options.

[LeviFiction]

The object Selector tool was a separate tool for moving, transforming, and aligning vector objects in the early days of vectors inside PSP. It was more or less replaced with the pick tool. That's why it's in the unused category.

Or are you talking about something else? Like the Object remover tool?

[JoeB]

The object Selector tool was a separate tool for moving, transforming, and aligning vector objects in the early days of vectors inside PSP. It was more or less replaced with the pick tool. That's why it's in the unused category.

Or are you talking about something else? Like the Object remover tool?

Ooops! I meant the Object Extractor under Smart Carver in the Image menu dropdown.

And while I'm at it, Corel should stop using the same term to mean two different things. If "object" is meant to mean vector object, the something meant to extract or select something in a raster image should be named something like "element extractor" or "subject extractor" or something that differentiates if from tools to be used with vector objects..

[LeviFiction]

So the first thing, as you know, there is always a long way to do something that a single tool does quickly.

The Object Extractor attempts to be a quick, quality, way to select and remove a subject from its background. In many ways it's just the opposite of the background eraser tool. If it dos well it could easily do better than the selection tools. Especially with finer objects like hair. But sadly it doesn't do hair well because it doesn't de-mux or de-fringe colors. For stuff like that the best option is still only just masking. This tool is just one of many options you can try for a good quality result.

Also, what's really nice about it is that it doesn't actually delete data it just sets the alpha value of all pixels to zero. So you can use the eraser tool with the right-mouse button to reveal areas where the Object Extractor went a bit overboard. Making touch ups a breeze.

[JoeB]

So the first thing, as you know, there is always a long way to do something that a single tool does quickly.

The Object Extractor attempts to be a quick, quality, way to select and remove a subject from its background. In many ways it's just the opposite of the background eraser tool. If it dos well it could easily do better than the selection tools. Especially with finer objects like hair. But sadly it doesn't do hair well because it doesn't de-mux or de-fringe colors. For stuff like that the best option is still only just masking. This tool is just one of many options you can try for a good quality result.

Also, what's really nice about it is that it doesn't actually delete data it just sets the alpha value of all pixels to zero. So you can use the eraser tool with the right-mouse button to reveal areas where the Object Extractor went a bit overboard. Making touch ups a breeze.

Thanks for the explanation! It seems like some of the other tools in that it works better on some images than others and takes experimentation to decide when it's best used and when not. I moved from Jasc's PSP 9 to X7 so I'm just learning about the newer tools and experimenting with them.

Thanks again.