Photo: How do you constrain the selection marquee to a particular aspect ratio?

[Stokestack]

I'm not talking about simply shift-dragging. I'm talking about setting a fixed aspect ratio, like square or 16:9 or 2:1. I don't see this in the toolbar (or anywhere else) when using the rectangular-selection tool. I want to set the tool to 16:9 so I can select regions of the right shape for video.

Even worse: You can't even do it by drawing a marquee to the correct aspect ratio manually (and tediously) one pixel at a time and then Shift-resizing it... because apparently you can't transform a selection in this application. And after a search I've found that people have been calling Affinity out on this defect for at least four years.

Another day, another basic feature missing from Photo. Useless junk.

 

[Old Bruce]

1 hour ago, Stokestack said:

You can't even do it by drawing a marquee to the correct aspect ratio manually (and tediously) one pixel at a time and then Shift-resizing it... because apparently you can't transform a selection in this application. And after a search I've found that people have been calling Affinity out on this defect for at least four years.

Another day, another basic feature missing from Photo. Useless junk.

I just tested and yes I can do a marquee selection and then using the Transform Panel I can set a ratio (16 x 9) and then lock that and set a precise width or height while retaining the ratio.

[R C-R]

44 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

I just tested and yes I can do a marquee selection and then using the Transform Panel I can set a ratio (16 x 9) and then lock that and set a precise width or height while retaining the ratio.

You can also use an expression, for example w*9/16 in the height filed in the transform panel to get a 16:9 ratio without having to lock anything or change the width.

[Stokestack]

1 hour ago, Old Bruce said:

I just tested and yes I can do a marquee selection and then using the Transform Panel I can set a ratio (16 x 9) and then lock that and set a precise width or height while retaining the ratio.

There's no way to drag the marquee to resize it, regardless of the ratio being locked.

Quote

You can also use an expression, for example w*9/16 in the height filed in the transform panel to get a 16:9 ratio without having to lock anything or change the width.

Thanks, but that didn't work when I tried it. The field simply reverted to numbers when I pressed return, and the ratio is not enforced. Not to mention that this should not be necessary.

 

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, Stokestack said:

There's no way to drag the marquee to resize it, regardless of the ratio being locked.

There is using the Quick Mask method, as mentioned several times in the other topic.

1 hour ago, Stokestack said:

Thanks, but that didn't work when I tried it.

All I can tell you is it works for me.