Magic Wand Tool Settings?

[Linda Lou]

I must have clicked something to change settings for the Magic Wand. I cannot figure out what. Now when I try to select an area of an image on a layer, the entire layer is selected. As a result I cannot clear part of an image; the whole image ends up being removed. Tolerance is set at 15 so that is low and has not changed. What did I do and how do I fix it?

[LeviFiction]

What is the match mode set to?

[Linda Lou]

Opacity
Is that what needs to be changed? If so, to what? I've never intentionally changed those.

Change to Traditional?

[LeviFiction]

Color is the default mode.

Also, sorry I didn't bring this up originally, but if you ever find this again you can just reset the entire tool to default settings. You just need to click on the "Presets" button on the tool options bar (it's before the Actions section). Then click on the arrow that looks like "undo" on the flyout dialog.

I've included an image with those two buttons circled. Once you click on this reset button the entire tool will default to factory settings again.

[JoeB]

Opacity
Is that what needs to be changed? If so, to what? I've never intentionally changed those.

Change to Traditional?

You have to understand what each of the different modes actually do if you are going to be able to use the Magic Wand properly. If it is set to Opacity, for example, then that means the Magic Wand will select all pixels that match the opacity value of the pixel you click on. So if all pixels are completely opaque (i.e., don't have any transparent values at all) then all pixels in the image will be selected when you click on a pixel.

I suggest that you open the Help file and type the word selections in the search box. Then click on the third link/item in the search results page that appears (Working with Selections). Then click on the first item in that page (Creating Selections). You can scroll down on the page that opens to the Magic Want information to learn about the different modes and what they do. I suggest you also get familiar with how the other selection tools work if you do use them.

The Help file (Help Topics) has lots of useful information about basic tasks that we do with PSP. Also, in some cases, the User Guide PDF can be even more informative.

[Linda Lou]

Great info. Thanks, everyone! I just finished printing the Help topic. The screenshot helped, too. I did a lot better with research back when a hardcopy manual was included with the boxed versions. The online version isn't convenient when one is on a small laptop with images open in PSP at the same time.

[LeviFiction]

If you still have those manuals most of their information on individual tools is still valid from 8 or 9 on ward. Some things have changed but not to any huge extent. I still use the PSP9 manual I own when Corel's simplified help files aren't detailed enough.

[Linda Lou]

I'll take a look. I still have 7 and 8/8.1.

[nikkiS]

YIKES! I have lost all my magic wand settings except "preset." I did click on preset and clicked on the arrow to "reset" but to no effect. I have all my options on the smart selection brush. psp 2019; windows 10; 64 bit