Selection & Lasso

Pixel selections, free transform, marching ants.

Lasso selection and transform

Lasso#

Press L. Drag to draw a closed shape. Switch to rectangle mode in the toolbar for axis-aligned. Marching ants stay screen-sized as you zoom.

Selections are world-anchored. Move the Image node, the selection stays locked to the same canvas pixels.

Boolean Operations#

Modifier Operation
(none) Replace
Shift + drag Add
Ctrl + drag Subtract (literal Control on macOS too)
Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + I Invert
Cmd/Ctrl + D Clear

With a Selection Active#

Action Shortcut Effect
Erase Delete / Backspace Clears to transparent
Move pixels V, drag inside Lifts and moves selection
Clone pixels V + Alt/Option Move, leaves original
Free transform Cmd/Ctrl + T See below
Constrain paint (paint normally) Brush/eraser/smudge clip to selection

Brush clipping is per-fragment in the GPU shader. Sub-pixel-perfect on rotated or feathered selections.

Free Transform#

Cmd/Ctrl + T lifts pixels into a floating buffer with eight handles.

Drag Effect
Body Translate
Corner Scale per-axis
Corner + Shift Uniform scale
Corner + Alt/Option Scale from the pivot
Corner + Cmd/Ctrl Free-corner perspective
Edge midpoint 1-axis scale (opposite edge anchored)
Rotation handle (stem above the top edge) Rotate around the pivot. Shift snaps to 15 degrees
Pivot dot Drag to move the rotation / scale center

Marching ants and the lifted pixels follow the transform live. Enter (or clicking the Transform button) commits; Esc cancels and restores the source pixels. One undo step.

Need a repeatable or animated transform instead? Use a Transform node.

Scope#

There's one global selection in world space, not one per Image node. The same polygon stays visible as you switch Image nodes. When used for painting or lifting, it clips to each touched canvas's bounds automatically.

Next#