Constrained ellipses and "subtract from selection"

D
Posted By
dale303
Apr 15, 2006
Views
1025
Replies
6
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Closed
I’m learning Photoshop CS in Windows and have grasped most of how to use selections but can’t seem to work out how to knock a perfect circular hole in a selection.

I can’t seem to get the ellipse tool to stay constrained when in "subtract from selection" mode. For some reason the usual ‘shift-drag’ doesn’t keep the ellipse circular.

It seems that every time I press ‘shift’, the mode changes from ‘Subtract from selection’ to ‘add to selection’ instead of constraining the ellipse like I would expect it to..

Any ideas as to why and how to fix?
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Mike Russell
Apr 16, 2006
wrote in message
I’m learning Photoshop CS in Windows and have grasped most of how to use selections but can’t seem to work out how to knock a perfect circular hole in a selection.

I can’t seem to get the ellipse tool to stay constrained when in "subtract from selection" mode. For some reason the usual ‘shift-drag’ doesn’t keep the ellipse circular.

It seems that every time I press ‘shift’, the mode changes from ‘Subtract from selection’ to ‘add to selection’ instead of constraining the ellipse like I would expect it to..

Any ideas as to why and how to fix?

Press shift after you have started to drag, and you’ll get a subtracted circle. The same for alt – initially alt will set subtract from selection mode. Release it and press it again and your circle will stay centered, while retaining subtract mode.
—

Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com
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peter
Apr 16, 2006
How would I get the 2 circles to have the same center? I see that alt uses your starting point as the center, but how can I get it to use the exact center of the outer circle?

Thanks,

Peter
T
Tacit
Apr 16, 2006
In article ,
wrote:

I can’t seem to get the ellipse tool to stay constrained when in "subtract from selection" mode. For some reason the usual ‘shift-drag’ doesn’t keep the ellipse circular.

You have to do the "Photoshop finger hop."

Hold down ALT (Mac: Option) and begin to drag. After you have clicked the mouse button and begun to drag, THEN hold down Shift.

The selection tools all work that way; the keyboard keys to constrain can be pressed after the keyboard keys to add or subtract. Even the Lasso tool works this way. If you hold down ALT while using the Lasso, you can take your finger off the mouse button and the Lasso will not snap closed; but ALT also subtracts from a selection. So when using the Lasso to subtract from a selection, hold down ALT on the keyboard, press the mouse button, begin to drag, then lift your finger off the ALT key and press the ALT key again to keep the Lasso from closing if you take your finger off the mouse button.

—
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T
Tacit
Apr 16, 2006
In article ,
"peter" wrote:

How would I get the 2 circles to have the same center? I see that alt uses your starting point as the center, but how can I get it to use the exact center of the outer circle?

Create some guides first.

—
Art, photography, shareware, polyamory, literature, kink: all at http://www.xeromag.com/franklin.html
Nanohazard, Geek shirts, and more: http://www.villaintees.com
P
peter
Apr 16, 2006
Good idea, thanks!
D
dale303
Apr 24, 2006
Cheers.

I’d never have got that in a million years.

Is there somewhere in the help that mentions this? I couldn’t find anything.

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