Specific Selection

[Rickey]

Hey Group,

 

I'm in Designer and can't figure out how to make a specific sized selection. For example, I need to make a 3"x3" square selection. Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Rickey

[Alfred]

Welcome to the Serif Affinity Forums, Rickey. :)

 

Draw a square with the Rectangle Tool [M], using the W and H controls in the Transform panel to set its size accurately. Go to the Layers panel and Cmd-click (on a Mac) or Ctrl-click (on Windows) the rectangle layer's thumbnail to create a "marching ants" selection around the rectangle, and then delete the rectangle layer.

[Guest]

Hello Alfred,

Does not work for me: nothing happens with "Ctrl + click" on the layer.

[toltec]

Hello Alfred,

 

Does not work for me: nothing happens with "Ctrl + click" on the layer.

 

I don't have Designer, just Photo, but if they both work the same you need to Ctrl Click on the rectangle layers thumbnail icon. Not on the layer itself. 

 

In Photo, you can also go Select > Selection from Layer

[Guest]

I don't have Designer, just Photo, but if they both work the same you need to Ctrl Click on the rectangle layers thumbnail icon. Not on the layer itself. 

 

In Photo, you can also go Select > Selection from Layer

Hello toltec,

 

Thanks for the info, I tried yesterday to click left, right and on the thumbnail and nothing worked. Maybe it was because I clicked the wrong place the first time (left).

 

Following your message I tried again directly on the thumbnail and it worked.

 

Have a good day and thanks again.

[R C-R]

Thanks for the info, I tried yesterday to click left, right and on the thumbnail and nothing worked. Maybe it was because I clicked the wrong place the first time (left).

As you discovered, there are indeed three different places you can click on a layer, each of which has a different effect, but some of them have obscure differences when used with the modifier key:

 

Left of the thumbnail is reserved for the triangle-in-a circle icon that shows or hides child layers, so if a layer has no children clicking there will just select an unselected layer (& Cmd clicking on it will toggle between selecting & unselecting it).

 

The area to the right of the thumbnail displays the layer name (if it has one) & its type. Like with the thumbnail, single -clicking on it selects the layer. Double-clicking on it allows adding or editing the name. Cmd single clicking on an already selected layer's name both deselects it & enters naming edit mode (who knew?) but if it is an unselected layer, Cmd clicking is the same as regular clicking on it -- it just selects the layer.

 

Double-clicking on a layer's thumbnail zooms the canvas to its extent (same as the View menu "Zoom to selection" item). As you discovered, Cmd clicking on it creates the "marching ants" selection around its extent. For an unfilled shape I just noticed this will be just its stroke, equivalent to an outline selection, & it works for both open & closed shapes & even honors the 'align' & 'cap' stroke settings where applicable, which could be very useful in some situations.

 

Add the Cmd key & once again the effect varies: double-clicking when the layer is not currently selected in the Layers panel is the same as doing that without the key, but if it is already selected Cmd double-clicking both creates the "marching ants" selection around its extent and zooms to its extent.

 

(I assume this is the same for Windows if you use the Ctrl key -- I just have a Mac so I can't test that myself.)

 

Anyway, there is a lot of non-obvious functionality built into the app, considerably more than I thought until I started playing with it while writing this reply. So thanks to all for inspiring me to do that! Now, I just need to remember it all ....  :lol:

[Guest]

Hello R C-R,

Thank you for the detailed explanations, I just reproduce everything you quoted (with "Ctrl" on Windows) and actually there are many possible combinations!

I will have trouble remembering all this, so I will take notes because your explanations will certainly save me time in some cases. :)

Thank you for taking your time to explain all these behaviors! :) 

[toltec]

 

Anyway, there is a lot of non-obvious functionality built into the app, considerably more than I thought until I started playing with it while writing this reply. So thanks to all for inspiring me to do that! Now, I just need to remember it all ....  :lol:

 

Have you tried Option clicking or Option double clicking yet ?

[Rickey]

Welcome to the Serif Affinity Forums, Rickey. :)

 

Draw a square with the Rectangle Tool [M], using the W and H controls in the Transform panel to set its size accurately. Go to the Layers panel and Cmd-click (on a Mac) or Ctrl-click (on Windows) the rectangle layer's thumbnail to create a "marching ants" selection around the rectangle, and then delete the rectangle layer.

 

Thank you, Alfred! Glad to be a part of the community!

 

I followed your instructions and it worked perfectly, so thank you for that! Another question for you - is there any way to save that selection and load it for later use?

 

Cheers,

Rickey

[Alfred]

I followed your instructions and it worked perfectly, so thank you for that!

You're very welcome, Rickey! :)

 

Another question for you - is there any way to save that selection and load it for later use?

Not that I know of. :(