The Freehand Selection tool needs attention

[ehume]

I have had reason to work with the Freehand Selection tool lately (the lasso). The images that come from my camera are 3968x2232px (8 million pixels), which is not large as cameras go today. I discovered some things:

1. The "edge seeker" does a poor job of seeking edges, even with a highly contrasting object/background. Worse, it is inconsistent. If I don't enlarge the image and put the dot on the point exactly where the object ends, the edge seeker does not catch it a lot of the time; sometimes it does. Given that the maximum reach for the edge-seeking behavior is 40px, you can see that I must enlarge my image to get close. You can also see that a modern camera, with 30 million pixels, will have trouble.

2. On some images that have been enlarged (see above), the area I want to select extends beyond my preview screen. Now, I could reduce the enlargement, but my mousewheel does not respond to enlargement/reduction signals. Also, the cursor does not touch the scrollbars, so you cannot move the screen that way. I discovered by accident if your image extends beyond your screen, and you move your mouse to the edge of the screen, the picture will move. Only with this workaround does the Freehand Selection tool become semi-useful.

You might suggest that I use the Smart Selection Brush or the Auto-Selection tool, but those two do not select as much as I need, or they select too much. Or I can use both tools, but I still must add/subtract from the main selection using the lasso.