Selection Tools Don't Work as Advertised

[FrankDK]

The only tools I've tried to use in Paint Shop Pro 2018 are the selection tools, and I can't get them to work as they do in the demos and tutorials. The autoselection tool gets some of the area I want selected, but not all, and selects random areas in the rest of the image. Same with the magic wand. I get more or less random areas selected. Using the add or remove selection option just changes what random objects are selected. I've watched the videos several times, and even copied the demo image they use in the video, but still get the same result.

I contacted Corel technical support, and they just sent me the link to the tutorial on selection tools, which I'd already seen.

(The text on the right side of this post might have errors, because there is a pop-up from ParticleShop covering that area, and I can't get rid of it.)

Any help would be appreciated.

[JoeB]

The only tools I've tried to use in Paint Shop Pro 2018 are the selection tools, and I can't get them to work as they do in the demos and tutorials. The autoselection tool gets some of the area I want selected, but not all, and selects random areas in the rest of the image. Same with the magic wand. I get more or less random areas selected. Using the add or remove selection option just changes what random objects are selected. I've watched the videos several times, and even copied the demo image they use in the video, but still get the same result.

I contacted Corel technical support, and they just sent me the link to the tutorial on selection tools, which I'd already seen.

(The text on the right side of this post might have errors, because there is a pop-up from ParticleShop covering that area, and I can't get rid of it.)

Any help would be appreciated.

I don't use Auto Selection because I don't think it works all that well either. However, I use Magic Wand quite a bit. It does not select random areas for me as long as I choose the proper setting in the Tool Options palette - i.e., Match Mode, Tolerance, Contiguous or not, all depending on what I'm trying to achieve and the composition of the image. We would need a lot more detail with specifics about the settings you are choosing for the Magic Wand, specifically what you are trying to select, and the parts that are being selected that you don't want to select that should not be selected if you have the proper settings.

[FrankDK]

That makes me feel a bit better. I thought I was just not doing it right. I'll try the magic wand tool.

Thanks.

[JoeB]

That makes me feel a bit better. I thought I was just not doing it right. I'll try the magic wand tool.

Thanks.

If you're not used to PSP's selection tools, you might also want to experiment with the Freehand Selection tool which, in the Tool Options palette under Selection Type has four different options. The Point to Point works well for some images, and Freehand for others. I haven't spent much time trying the other 2 options there. You'll also have to get familiar with how using the other items on the Tool Options bar help with making your selection look better - i.e., Smoothing, Feather, and checking the Anti-Alias (the latter almost always a good bet for anything except square/rectangular/all sharp edges and corners selections).

[wjb76]

Sort of related to this....how do you get the selection outline to go away????? After I select an area with any of the tools I can not get it to go away no matter what I press or click. Its maddening. It just sits there an taunts me.

[Kathy_9]

Sort of related to this....how do you get the selection outline to go away????? After I select an area with any of the tools I can not get it to go away no matter what I press or click. Its maddening. It just sits there an taunts me.

Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl+D

Menu Option: Selections -> Select None

[JoeB]

Sort of related to this....how do you get the selection outline to go away????? After I select an area with any of the tools I can not get it to go away no matter what I press or click. Its maddening. It just sits there an taunts me.

Or simply right click in an area outside of the selection.

[MarkZ]

Another option in menu/selections is to toggle the marquee on or off - but this is dangerous as you can turn off the marquee to see your image without the interference but the selection is still active. You may forget you have a selection on the go and wonder why something doesn't work; I've done this more than once.

[wjb76]

Or simply right click in an area outside of the selection.

Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl+D
Menu Option: Selections -> Select None

Another option in menu/selections is to toggle the marquee on or off - but this is dangerous as you can turn off the marquee to see your image without the interference but the selection is still active. You may forget you have a selection on the go and wonder why something doesn't work; I've done this more than once.

Thank you all!!! Very much appreciated!!