Clone tool sampling

DM
Posted By
Dave_McElderry
Dec 19, 2003
Views
150
Replies
6
Status
Closed
The message by Travis James regarding the use of the clone tool to touch up the skin/shirt brings up a question that I have. I understand that the "aligned" option locks the selection point to the brush, and they move together as you click the mouse to apply the selection. However, I also find that if I leave the "aligned" option unchecked and hold the mouse button down while I move the brush, it acts as if the "aligned" has been turned on. I’m not sure I care for this because sometimes I would like to make a selection of one small area and then just brush a clone of that area onto a much larger area. Should I be using a different method for this?

Sorry for the convoluted description. I hope this makes sense. Thanks.

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NS
Nancy_S
Dec 20, 2003
Dave,

Imagine three one inch wide columns, several inches high…from left to right: red, green and blue.

Imagine a one inch brush, alt/click to sample at the base red column and move cursor far right. These are the outcomes;

If aligned is not checked…
Click once= red circle
Click and drag upwards = red column
Move mouse to the right one inch and click = red circle
Click and drag upwards = red column
Move mouse to the right another inch and click = red circle click and drag upwards = red column
—–wherever you click or click/drag on your image, the data layed down starts copying from the alt/click point

If aligned is checked…
click once = red circle
click and drag upwards = red column
move mouse to the right one inch and click = green circle click and drag upwards = green column
move mouse to right another inch and click = blue circle click and drag upwards = blue circle
—–when you click or click/drag the first time to lay down data, the copied material begins from the source point. Subsequent clicks or click/drags will begin copying data from the same distance/direction away from the start point as the second click is from the first. The positions are always relative.

edit—-you normally wouldn’t have a selection active to use the clone tool, however one could. Repeatedly just clicking, without dragging, Not-aligned, would lay down the same little area each time as you filled in an area.

If it is a colored area you wish to copy to a larger area on the image, sample with the eyedropper in the toolbox, choose a suitable brush and opacity and just paint that color onto a new blank layer above your image – don’t paint on the image directly. When satisfied with your painting, you can merge the painted layer with the one below. Always have your Layers Palette open along the side of your workarea.

If this doesn’t cover your questions, come back. There are always many ways to do things in the program and you didn’t give many specifics as to your intention.

Nancy
DM
Dave_McElderry
Dec 20, 2003
Okay, I’m with ya Nancy. I even created the RGB sample that you described and ran through the exercise. Everything works as you say. Now take this one step further. Leave aligned unchecked, sample in the red column, move the mouse to the right one inch, click/drag to the right on across the blue column and into the far right. Result: even though align is unchecked the brush changes to green and then to blue as you move further right. So with a click/drag I get aligned results that I really didn’t want. In other words, what I *expected* to happen was that once I had a red sample I could just click/drag red brush anywhere I wanted.

Obviously this isn’t the way it works, but hopefully you can see where I was headed. Carrying this on to the next level, I was hoping that I could clone a sample of something other than a solid color, say plaid or polka dots, and then brush them into another area. Sorry to not be more specific, but I don’t have a particular project for this at the moment. I’m a rank green novice and am trying to get a feel for things.

I understand what you’re saying about the eyedropper tool, and layers. That makes sense and I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.

I appreciate your help and trouble very much!
BB
Barbara_Brundage
Dec 20, 2003
Dave, even if aligned is unchecked you keep sampling while you drag if you drag. If you want to keep putting down the exact sample you alt/option clicked on, do it as lots of individual clicks instead of dragging.
DM
Dave_McElderry
Dec 20, 2003
Yeah, I guess I pretty well figured that out, but I didn’t state it as well as you did. Why use a dozen words when a thousand will do? That’s my motto! <G>
Thanks!
BH
Beth_Haney
Dec 20, 2003
Dave, there’s another way I’ve recreated a pattern, but it’s been so long since I’ve done it I bet I leave something out of the instructions. I’ll try, though. Choose one of the selection tools and outline a section of dress fabric or ? Do Edit>Copy. Set your cursor down in an area where you want the pattern and paste it. You can move your "paste" around, and, since it goes on its own new layer, you can even do a rotation of that layer to get the pattern aligned. The method is a little clunky, but I’ve used it successfully a couple of times when a photo had bad damage that obliterated a section of something patterned.

You will continue to get new layers with each paste, but once you’ve gotten the area filled in you can merge those out.
DM
Dave_McElderry
Dec 20, 2003
That makes sense Beth. I agree that it does sound a little clunky, but do-able. With the correct resize you could probably get a near perfect pattern match. Thanks!

MacBook Pro 16” Mockups 🔥

– in 4 materials (clay versions included)

– 12 scenes

– 48 MacBook Pro 16″ mockups

– 6000 x 4500 px

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