Selection & Lasso
Isolate part of a canvas to move, erase, transform, or paint inside.
A selection fences off part of a canvas. Once you have one, you can move those pixels, erase them, transform them, or keep your brush neatly inside the lines.
Lasso#
Press L and drag to draw a closed shape. Switch to rectangle mode in the toolbar for straight edges. The marching ants stay the same size on screen as you zoom.
Selections are world-anchored: they stay put in world space. Move the Image node and its pixels slide out from under the selection, which holds its position.
Add, subtract, invert#
| Modifier | Does |
|---|---|
| (none) | Replace the selection |
| Shift + drag | Add to it |
| Ctrl + drag | Subtract from it (literal Control on macOS too) |
| Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + I | Invert |
| Cmd/Ctrl + D | Clear |
With a selection active#
| Action | How | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Erase | Delete / Backspace | Clears the area to transparent |
| Move pixels | V, drag inside | Lifts and moves the selected pixels |
| Clone pixels | V + Alt/Option | Moves a copy, leaves the original |
| Free transform | Cmd/Ctrl + T | See below |
| Paint inside | (just paint) | Brush, eraser, and smudge stay within the selection |
Painting stays cleanly inside the selection, crisp right to the edge.
Free transform#
Cmd/Ctrl + T lifts the selected pixels onto a floating layer with handles.
| Drag | Effect |
|---|---|
| Body | Move |
| Corner | Scale each side |
| Corner + Shift | Scale evenly |
| Edge midpoint | Scale one side (opposite edge stays put) |
| Rotation handle (stem above the top edge) | Rotate around the pivot. Shift snaps to 15 degrees |
| Pivot dot | Drag to move the rotation center |
The ants and the lifted pixels follow along live. Enter (or the Transform button) commits; Esc cancels and puts the pixels back. It is a single undo step.
Need a repeatable or animated move instead? Use a Transform node.
One selection, every canvas#
There is a single selection that lives in world space, not one per canvas. The same shape stays visible as you move between Image nodes, and clips to whichever canvas you paint or lift on.