Moving, clipping, and rotating selections


You can move, clip, or rotate a selection. If you want to change the selection area, you can also move the selection marquee.

When you move a selection, you can leave the space empty or you can move a copy of the selection and leave the original unchanged. When you move a selection, it becomes a floating selection. When you perform a new action, PaintShop Pro automatically promotes the floating selection to a new layer.

You can also float a selection, which creates a copy of the selection that you can move or modify without changing the original image. A floating selection temporarily rests above the image or layer on the Layers palette, and an icon indicates that the layer contains a floating selection. After you edit the floating selection, you can defloat it.

You can also move a selection to a separate layer. When you do this, the original selection contents are unchanged, and a copy of the selection becomes the new layer. You can edit this new layer without changing the original image.

Important! This command works on 16 million–color and grayscale images only. For more information about increasing the color depth of an image, see Working with colors and materials.

After making a selection, you can move the selection anywhere on the image, or off the canvas. If you expand the image window to show the off-canvas gray area, you can see the selection you moved. You can also clip a selection to remove the portion that is not within the image borders.

To move the selection marquee

Back to Top
Edit tab 
Using the Selection tool, right-click and drag the selection marquee to a new position.

*

You can also move the selection marquee by right-clicking and dragging with the Move tool .

To move a selected image area

Back to Top
Edit tab 
Perform a task from the following table.

 

To
Do the following
Move the selection any distance
In the Tool Options palette set Mode to Replace, and then drag the selection with one of the selection tools (Selection, Freehand, or Magic Wand tool).
Move the selection 1 pixel
Press an arrow key.
Move the selection 10 pixels
Hold down Ctrl, and press an arrow key.
Move the selection 50 pixels
Hold down Shift, and press an arrow key.
Move the selection 100 pixels
Hold down Shift and Ctrl, and press an arrow key.

To copy and move a selected image area

Back to Top
Edit tab 
With the Selection tool active, set the Mode control to Replace, hold down Alt, and drag the selection.

 

You can also
Copy and move the selection 1 pixel
Hold down Alt, and press an arrow key.
Copy and move the selection 10 pixels
Hold down Alt and Ctrl, and press an arrow key.
Copy and move the selection 50 pixels
Hold down Alt and Shift, and press an arrow key.
Copy and move the selection 100 pixels
Hold down Alt, Shift, and Ctrl, and press an arrow key.

To float a selection

Back to Top
Edit tab 
Choose Selections Float.

To defloat a selection

Back to Top
Edit tab 
Choose Selections Defloat.

To promote a selection to a layer

Back to Top
Edit tab 
1 Create a selection in the image.
2 Choose Selections Promote Selection to Layer.
The new Promoted Selection appears above the original layer.

*

To place a selection as a layer within another image, copy the selection, open the other image, and choose Edit Paste As New Layer.

To clip a selection to the canvas

Back to Top
Edit tab 
1 Move part of the selection off the image canvas.
If necessary, expand the image window to reveal the gray area that appears outside the image borders.
2 Choose Selections Defloat.
The selection is defloated, which makes more edit options available.
3 Choose Selections Clip to Canvas.
The selection area outside the image borders is removed.

To rotate a selection

Back to Top
Edit tab 
1 Choose Image Free Rotate.
The Free Rotate dialog box appears.
2 In the Direction group box, choose either Right or Left to specify the rotation direction.
3 In the Degrees group box, set the number of degrees to rotate.
If you want to type a value between 0.01 and 359.99, mark the Free option.
4 Unmark the All layers check box.
5 Click OK.

*

When you rotate a selection, the selection becomes a floating selection, and the original image remains unchanged.

*

You can also rotate a selection interactively by using the Pick tool . Before the rotation is applied, the selection is promoted to a layer.

Was this page helpful? Send feedback.