Selecting a trapezoidal area, then distorting it to fill a rectangular shape

LC
Posted By
LA_Coleman
Jul 7, 2004
Views
4485
Replies
6
Status
Closed
I want to select a trapezoidal area in an image, crop to that area, then stretch the short side to fill the rectangle defined by the long side and the width of the trapezoid. In other words, distort a trapezoidal area into a rectangular area. Will Photoshop Elements do this? Will Photoshop Pro do this? This seems pretty basic to me.

Thanks in advance.
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BG
Byron Gale
Jul 7, 2004
LA,

I don’t know ALL of the capabilities of Elements, as I’ve only used it for about 18 months…. but I think you could obtain the desired result, but not with the particular order of steps you describe.

I think you could first make a rectangular selection, then use the Free Transform tool to stretch the appropriate end, then crop to your desired rectangle.

Neat question!! I’ll be interested in seeing the other ideas that are posted.

Byron
JD
Juergen_D
Jul 7, 2004
Well, this is interesting. I’ve been trying to pull two corners of the shorter side and can only distort one of them. Trying to drag at the other corner pulls the first one back. The other way around, pushing the corners at the longer side inward, works fine.

Juergen
JH
Jim_Hess
Jul 7, 2004
Use the Polygonal Lasso Tool to select the area that you want to distort. After you have selected that area, copy it and then paste it so that it is on its own layer. Now, with the new layer active, use Image/Transform/Free Transform to distort the image as desired. Then, if the area that you want to fill is in another file, open that file and just drag the layer with the distorted image to the other file. If the size doesn’t match perfectly, just use the Transform command to adjust it.
BG
Byron Gale
Jul 7, 2004
wrote
…I’ve been trying to pull two corners of the shorter side and can only
distort one of them.

Juergen,

That’s what I get for giving advice without testing it, first… I should have added that if you hold CTRL-ALT-SHIFT while dragging a corner in Free Transform, the distortion is applied symmetrically.

Byron
JD
Juergen_D
Jul 7, 2004
Byron,
No problem. I still don’t seem to get it right, but then, I don’t think I really need this particular distortion any time soon ;)… Thanks.

Juergen
CS
Chuck_Snyder
Jul 8, 2004
Somewhat of a hybrid of the suggestions made so far:

1. Create layer>New Layer
2. On the new layer, make a rectangular selection, then do an Edit>Stroke of about 5 pixels (so you can see it).
3. Use the Image>Transform>Skew or Perspective to turn the rectangle into a trapezoid.
4. Use Magic Wand in Contiguous Mode, All Layers unchecked to select inside of trapezoid (still pointing at new layer)
5. Turn off visibility of new layer, switch to original picture layer and now you have a trapezoidal selection
6. Do a Layer>New Layer>Layer via Selection. Now you have the trapezoidal piece on its own layer where you can skew and distort to your heart’s content.

Hmmm….sure seems complicated….upon further review I think I would use Jim’s….

🙂

Chuck

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