Marquee questions

[mark5171]

Hi, I've been using Affinity products for a while but only an occasional user so learing not so simple.

I always struggle with the marquee tool when all I'm trying to achieve is something that seems like it should be very simple indeed. In essence, I have a circular shape which I'm trying to draw  a marquee circle around, invert the selection and erase everything else. Getting the marquee path to neatly go around the circle completely defeats me and I have to use trial and error every time. Surely it is possible to click on the circumference and drag to the centre or the other side - but no, wherever I put the cursor, the marquee starts elsewhere.

I'm certain this must be possible and it's just user stupidity but can anyone put this poor sole out of their misery?

In passing and in case you think I haven't tried looking searching for the answer, I found something in the Affinity documentation (Marquee Selection Tools) which talks about Freehand, Polygonal and Magnetic but it doesnt seem to say where or how these are set. I certainly cant find how to do it, even if that would solve my issue.

Thanks for all your help.

Cheers - Mark

[GarryP]

One alternative to the many suggestions by Hens above would be that in my attached video where I un-tick the “From Centre” check-box and use guides (via the Move Tool) to line-up the start of the select-drag. It’s not pretty but it might come in useful somewhere.

It might be nice if there was an option to create a circular marquee by specifying the diameter of the circle – click to set one end of the diameter line and then drag to the other end of the diameter line, like CAD applications let you draw circles – rather than the ‘corners’ of the drag area. (Might be nice if we could also draw circle shapes like that too, but that’s for a different thread and has probably already been requested.)

I don’t think this would work with general ellipses but I’m not a mathematician so would welcome being wrong about that.

[mark5171]

A big thank you to both of you. In some ways I'm pleased there's no obvious answer.

I found the second suggestion just perfect. What I perhaps didnt explain as clearly as I could regarding my issue is that the circular shape is on a background and the contrast between the circle and the background is very low so flood erase is awkward - imagine a poor scan of a pale coloured round beer mat on a flat bed scanner. Because of this the second solution works perfectly.

Thanks both!

I still really don't quite understand why you can't draw the circle/ellipse starting from where you click.

Hey ho... Thanks again.

Cheers - Mark

[mark5171]

Hens, there were several learniings for me in your animation. Thanks so much

Cheers - Mark