Ulead VIDEOGRAPHICS LAB Manual page 37

VIDEO PAINT: CHAPTER TWO 33
Selecting in the Composite and Paint Layer modes
If you are in Composite mode, any selection area you create selects
elements of the actual image. Moving this selection or manipulating it in any
way makes it a floating selection and moves it to the paint layer. Every
time you create a new floating selection, any pre-existing floating selec-
tions are merged with the paint layer. In Paint Layer mode, the selection
tools behave similarly to the way they do in Composite mode, except that
they allow you to select the content of the paint layer only. In this way,
you can more easily distinguish your edits from the underlying image and
then select them for copying to another frame for further editing.
Note: To make selection areas smoother, click the Anti-alias button on the
Attribute toolbar. The next time you make a selection area, the edges blend in
slightly with the surrounding background.
An added feature of selecting in the paint layer is the Shrink button on the
Attribute toolbar. When you select this button, any selection you make
'snaps to' the edges of your edits (as long as the edits are included in the
selection).
Selecting regularly shaped areas
The Shape tool allows you to select areas of an image based on a preset
size and/or shape, such as a square, rectangle, circle or an ellipse. To
determine the shape, click either the Rectangle or Ellipse buttons on the
Attribute toolbar. (To create a square or circular selection, make sure that
the Constraint button is selected.) To create a selection, drag your mouse
over the image. If you want the selection to always appear the same size,
click the Fixed Size button and enter the appropriate values in the neigh-
boring spin boxes. The next time you click the image, a selection is made
based on the size you defined. Using a fixed size is useful when you need
to select same-size areas of an image, such as for a credit or title.