Teach me.. to Lasso!! Photoshop

Trev Rich

Trev Rich

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Trev
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I am absolutely poo at using the lasso tool in photoshop.
I fail to cut out an object without it looking like a kid did it with baby scissors.

If anyone can give good advice on the settings, techniques, it would be much appreciated :thumbs:
 
Trev

The lasso tool can be a real pain at times. I gave up and use the pen tool to draw a path and then make a selection. may seem more complicated, but like you I had the same problem, except my scissors were very blunt
 
Are you using the regular lasso or the magnetic lasso. I find it remarkably easy to make acurate selections with the magnetic lasso. If you do make any errors then you can go back over them to add or subtract from your selection to make it more accurate. Also, to avoid harsh lines when you make a selection you can feather the edges slightly.
 
Chappers said:
Trev

The lasso tool can be a real pain at times. I gave up and use the pen tool to draw a path and then make a selection. may seem more complicated, but like you I had the same problem, except my scissors were very blunt
Click to expand...

Thanks... Will give that a go... but no idea how to do what you just said :thumbs:

GarynLea said:
trev, try exploring the use of the extract tool ... much easier and adjustable ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y13QRSIyaJA
Click to expand...

Thanks bud, will take a peek at that when my boss has vacated my office :help:

-Rob- said:
Are you using the regular lasso or the magnetic lasso. I find it remarkably easy to make acurate selections with the magnetic lasso. If you do make any errors then you can go back over them to add or subtract from your selection to make it more accurate. Also, to avoid harsh lines when you make a selection you can feather the edges slightly.
Click to expand...

I used the magnetic one, and feathered edges.. still blunt scissors though.
 
have you tried zooming in very close to the area you want to select/lasso? i find that makes it more accurate and less harsh 'zig-zagging' around corners etc..
 
Trev

Using the pen tool does take a bit of practice. However this is the basic idea. select the pen tool ( Obvious) . now on part of the image you want to select, click to make a start point. now in small increments click on other parts. You'll see it start to draw line. Curves can very difficult, There are some techniques for this, but a lot of straight lines can give you a curved effect following the curve. ( I'm keeping it simple at the moment). Now when you get back to where you started, you need to turn this path into a selection. In CS4 you simply right click and select Make Selection. You also get an option to feather the edge of the selection. This depends on if you want a hard edge or a soft. If soft try between 5-8 pixels.

Now you can copy, invert, cut or whatever you want. Takes a bit of time to prefect but it is useful.

One advantage especially with complex shapes , i.e. the spokes of a wheel, you can make multiple selections and add them together to make one selection.

I've tried to find decent tutorials on the pen tool but not found anything that's anything more than basic. If you find any let me know

John C
 
It's not the easiest to get to grips with, but once you've mastered the pen tool, it's by far a better way to cut an object out. You've got complete control rather than expecting the lasso tool to behave exactly how you want it to! You can also tweak the path to refine it afterwards.
 
leftcurl said:
have you tried zooming in very close to the area you want to select/lasso? i find that makes it more accurate and less harsh 'zig-zagging' around corners etc..
Click to expand...

Yes tried that, still have massive scissors lol

Chappers said:
Trev

Using the pen tool does take a bit of practice. However this is the basic idea. select the pen tool ( Obvious) . now on part of the image you want to select, click to make a start point. now in small increments click on other parts. You'll see it start to draw line. Curves can very difficult, There are some techniques for this, but a lot of straight lines can give you a curved effect following the curve. ( I'm keeping it simple at the moment). Now when you get back to where you started, you need to turn this path into a selection. In CS4 you simply right click and select Make Selection. You also get an option to feather the edge of the selection. This depends on if you want a hard edge or a soft. If soft try between 5-8 pixels.

Now you can copy, invert, cut or whatever you want. Takes a bit of time to prefect but it is useful.

One advantage especially with complex shapes , i.e. the spokes of a wheel, you can make multiple selections and add them together to make one selection.

I've tried to find decent tutorials on the pen tool but not found anything that's anything more than basic. If you find any let me know

John C
Click to expand...

Thanks very much John. Will have a good go at this when I'm home later tonight.

Thanks for your in depth reply. Much appreciated.

SwissDot said:
It's not the easiest to get to grips with, but once you've mastered the pen tool, it's by far a better way to cut an object out. You've got complete control rather than expecting the lasso tool to behave exactly how you want it to! You can also tweak the path to refine it afterwards.
Click to expand...

Thanks SwissDot :thumbs:
Will have a real good go at this, not being able to cut objects out is really restricting my creative ideas :thumbs:
 
Don't forget Quick Mask: You can paint a mask which will effectively become a selection.

Keyboard short cut Q. Select brush (B) and start painting the area you are interested in. When finished press Q and the masked area becomes a selection. Might be quicker for larger areas.

Something about cats and skinning ( gets dirty look from mine)
 
another vote for the pen tool here...as chappers says,just click on your chosen path to make the selection.curves are easy with practice...just click to start your curve,click again to choose your next anchor point,but without releasing,drag the mouse away from the point and in a clockwise/anticlockwise direction to get your desired curve.as said,just practice and you will soon be getting to grips with it :thumbs:

oh,and don't forget to click "add to selection" if your cutting something out..
 
Have to say that I'm surprised that so many people prefer the pen tool - I'd go for quick mask in most circumstances. It's usually easy to make a rough selection with the wand, switch to quick mask and use a brush to tidy it up a bit.
 
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