Essential Masking Techniques #5 - Magnetic Lasso Tool

This is part 5 of a series of 10 masking techniques that I will be explaining. The magnet lasso tool is a great tool for making near perfect selections while just having to loosely hover around the object you want to select.  This post will show you the ins and outs of this handy tool. Make sure to check out the video as well!



Good for: Objects, Simple hair.

Settings

• Feather: Creates a feather around the selection you finalize
• Anti-alias: Makes sure that the lines are smooth
• Width: specified how close to the edge (1-256) the tool must be before it detects the edge
• Contrast: Specifies how much contrast (0-100)must be between pixels for the tool to see the edge you want
• Frequency: Specifies the rate (0-100) at which the tool lays down anchor points
• Tablet Pressure: Use this option for pen tablets, pressure will dictate the width.

Technique

1. Click a point on the canvas to activate the magnetic lasso tool, typically i will start on a corner of the object i want to mask. 
2. From there simply drag along the edges of your selection, modify the width and contrast as needed for best results
3. Continue around the object until you reach the start of the path. 
4. Either double click or click on the first point in order to close the path. A selection will be made.
5. To subract from your selection (ie. get rid of holes in a selection) hold the ALT key, this brings up the spring loaded subtract from selection magnetic lasso tool, then click on your starting point and let go of ALT, it will stay on this tool until you close the selection. simply use the tool the same way the remove the parts you dont want

Tips

• Press CAPS LOCK in order to get a brush icon that will show you the radius in which the tool is trying to detect edges. This makes the tool much easier to use.
• Press SPACEBAR to select the spring loaded hand tool in order to move around the canvas
• press [ and ] in order to increase and decrease the width of the tool
• press BACKSPACE to remove the last point that was made in the path

Sample

So there you have it. If I was not clear enough or I missed something let me know in the comments below!

Do you have any questions? comments? tips? I would be happy to hear from you! Get in touch through michaeljphotography.ca contact form. I would appreciate your follow @Jonssononline

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