Selecting items in PSCS2 vs PSE4

ballentphoto

In PSE4 they have the "magic selection" basically you draw a squiggly line over say a flower and it does a pretty good job of just selecting the flower. I have played around in PSCS2 but did not see this functionality in there... did I miss it or is the magic wand better than it used to be?

jfriend

Magnetic Lasso Tool?

ballentphoto wrote:

In PSE4 they have the "magic selection" basically you draw a squiggly line over say a flower and it does a pretty good job of just selecting the flower. I have played around in PSCS2 but did not see this functionality in there... did I miss it or is the magic wand better than it used to be?

Are you speaking of the "magnetic lasso tool"? If so, press and hold the mouse on the 2nd tool down from the top on the left hand side of the tool palette (by default, it's the polygon tool) and when the menu pops up choose the "Magnetic Lasso Tool".

ballentphoto

jfriend wrote:

Are you speaking of the "magnetic lasso tool"? If so, press and hold the mouse on the 2nd tool down from the top on the left hand side of the tool palette (by default, it's the polygon tool) and when the menu pops up choose the "Magnetic Lasso Tool".

Now that I am home I can look at the name. It's called "magic selection brush tool" (F)

Here is the description:
The Magic Selection Brush tool makes a selection based on color and texture similarity when you draw, scribble, or click the area you want to select. The mark you make doesn’t need to be precise, because when you release the mouse, Photoshop Elements draws the selection border.

Its extremely handy, just can't find it in PSCS2

jfriend

No magic selection brush in CS2

ballentphoto wrote:

Now that I am home I can look at the name. It's called "magic selection brush tool" (F)

Here is the description:
The Magic Selection Brush tool makes a selection based on color and texture similarity when you draw, scribble, or click the area you want to select. The mark you make doesn’t need to be precise, because when you release the mouse, Photoshop Elements draws the selection border.

Its extremely handy, just can't find it in PSCS2

I don't think CS2 has that specific tool. I think that tool was added in PSE4 which shipped after CS2. CS2 doesn't have the selection brush either, though there are other ways in CS2 to accomplish both. My guess is that a combination of the magnetic lasso tool and the magic wand tool can ultimately accomplish the same thing as the magic selection brush tool.

ballentphoto

jfriend wrote:

I don't think CS2 has that specific tool. I think that tool was added in PSE4 which shipped after CS2. CS2 doesn't have the selection brush either, though there are other ways in CS2 to accomplish both. My guess is that a combination of the magnetic lasso tool and the magic wand tool can ultimately accomplish the same thing as the magic selection brush tool.

Well that stinks... but I guess it makes sense. I was surprised by how well it worked. I have not used the magnetic lasso tool, how does that work?

jfriend

Drag along an edge and it will snap to the edge

ballentphoto wrote:

Well that stinks... but I guess it makes sense. I was surprised by how well it worked. I have not used the magnetic lasso tool, how does that work?

You just drag the tool along an edge and the magnetic lasso line jumps over to the nearest edge. I'm pretty sure it uses similar logic to what you were used to, you just have to give it a little more of a hint where the edge is. It's easy to experiment with. Here's one one tutorial on the tool and here's a second.