How do you type in the size of the selection?

DG
Posted By
David_Gurney
Oct 4, 2006
Views
1947
Replies
11
Status
Closed
Hi all.

I searched the Help for this, but no dice.

If you want to make a rectangular selection of specific dimensions, where do you enter those dimensions?

For example, if I want to chop 200×150-pixel chunks out of an image, how do I type in those dimensions for my selection?

Thanks.
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DM
Don_McCahill
Oct 4, 2006
Make guides?
P
Phosphor
Oct 4, 2006
With your Rectangular Marquee selected in the Toolbox, look up top at the Options Bar.

Drop the "Style" menu and select "Fixed Size."

Then, enter your width and height values in the fields right next to the Style drop-down menu.

Can you take it from there?

Explore and experiment with EVERYTHING!!!
DG
David_Gurney
Oct 4, 2006
Thanks Don, but nope. I found the answer in a general Web search:

You have to go to the "Style" listbox on the toolbar and change it to "fixed size." Why? Why ever disable the "width" and "height" fields for the selection?

Who knows.

And why isn’t this in the documentation if you search it for "selection"?

Who knows.
DG
David_Gurney
Oct 4, 2006
Thanks Phosphor; we were posting simultaneously.

"Explore and experiment with EVERYTHING!!!"

That’s a nice idea, but rarely practical when you have a task to accomplish. Users should be expected to check the documentation, but I did this time and it came up lacking.

And again, why are the width and height fields ever disabled?
P
Phosphor
Oct 4, 2006
"And why isn’t this in the documentation if you search it for "selection"? "

You just didn’t look hard enough, Dave.

From the help files:Using the marquee tools

The marquee tools let you select rectangles, ellipses, rounded rectangles (ImageReady), and 1-pixel rows and columns. By default, a selection border is dragged from its corner.

To use the marquee tools:

1. Select a marquee tool:
* Rectangle marquee Rectangle marquee to make a rectangular selection. * (ImageReady) Rounded rectangle marquee Rounded rectangle marquee to select a rounded rectangle such as a Web-page button.
* Elliptical marquee Elliptical marquee to make an elliptical selection. * Single row Single row or single column Single row or single column marquee to define the border as a 1-pixel-wide row or column.
2. In the options bar, specify whether to add a new selection Add a New Selection button, add to a selection Add to a Selection button, subtract from a selection Subtract from a Selection button, or select an area intersected by other selections Area Intersected by Other Selection button.
3. Specify a feathering setting in the options bar. Turn anti-aliasing on or off for the rounded rectangle or elliptical marquee. (See Softening the edges of a selection.)
4. For the rectangle, rounded rectangle, or elliptical marquee, choose a style in the options bar: * Normal to determine marquee proportions by dragging.
* Fixed Aspect Ratio to set a height-to-width ratio. Enter values (decimal values are valid) for the aspect ratio. For example, to draw a marquee twice as wide as it is high, enter 2 for the width and 1 for the height.
* Fixed Size to specify set values for the marquee’s height and width. Enter pixel values in whole numbers. Keep in mind that the number of pixels needed to create a 1-inch selection depends on the resolution of the image. (See About image size and resolution.)
DG
David_Gurney
Oct 4, 2006
Yes, this is buried in there. But it doesn’t come up when you search for "selection". And "selection" is the primary term used by Photoshop and its help file to refer to… the selection.
JJ
John Joslin
Oct 4, 2006
Sigh.
B
Bernie
Oct 4, 2006
And again, why are the width and height fields ever disabled?

Cause that’s the last thing some users (like me) want
P
Phosphor
Oct 4, 2006
"But it doesn’t come up when you search for "selection".

Umm..YES, it does.

Below is a screen shot of the results in the Help files, when I search for "Selection." Note the flow of information, which links to the text I pasted above.

I wouldn’t have replied at all if I was unsure of what I was saying, and hadn’t tested it.

(Click the small image for full-size)
< http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1lfq0A7HWlbVtaeJ11 Zgt9qKdpoj71>
Y
YrbkMgr
Oct 5, 2006
why are the width and height fields ever disabled?

Uhm, because you want to control the size of your selection using your eyeball?
C
chrisjbirchall
Oct 5, 2006
why are the width and height fields ever disabled?

I want to chop 200×150-pixel chunks out of an image

Reading between the lines here, David, I wonder if you might be confusing the functionality of the Marwee Tool with that of the Crop Tool.

True, the Marquee selection can be used to initiate a crop – but it is a convoluted method compared to the Crop Tool itself, which has all the settings necessary to do the job in one hit.

The marquee tool – like all the selection tools – has a whole raft of uses, of which cropping is the least useful.

Hope this helps.

Chirs.

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