Using the Magic Wand Tool

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With the Magic Wand tool, you can select neighboring pixels of the same or similar color. The level of similarity depends on the tolerance level you set in the Property inspector. The lowest level, zero, selects one color; you pick the exact color with the tip of the tool. The highest setting, 255, allows the greatest range of colors to be selected. For example, if the tolerance is set to 50 and the RGB value of the color selected is R = 100, G = 100, and B = 100, then colors from 50, 50, 50 to 150, 150, 150 are within the 50 tolerance range and thus are selected.

To understand this better, look at the shades of gray in the background of the bitmap image you have open. You've already seen that the background includes a variety of shades of gray. If you use a low tolerance level, for example 10, then the gray pixels selected are limited to those in a small area around the pixel you clicked with the tool. To select the entire gray background, you need to continue to click to add pixels to the selection. If you use a large tolerance number, for example 255, then you will also select colors outside the gray color range.

1.

Select the Magic Wand tool on the Tools panel.

The Property inspector displays three options you can set for the Magic Wand tool: Tolerance, Edge, and Live Marquee.

2.

Type a number in the Tolerance text box in the Property inspector or use the slider to change the value.

The tolerance level controls the number of pixels selected adjacent to the pixel you select with the tip of the Magic Wand tool. The lowest tolerance level, zero, selects only the exact pixel you selected. Increasing the tolerance level increases the number of colors in your selection. Experiment with changing the tolerance level number to see the differences in the selected area.

For this exercise, start with a tolerance of 100.

3.

From the Edge pop-up menu, select Hard, Anti-alias, or Feather.

The Edge menu controls the appearance of the edges of the selected pixels. For this exercise, use an anti-alias edge for your selection.

Note

You can change the appearance of the edge of the selection by picking Hard, Anti-alias, or Feather from the Edge menu of the Property inspector. A hard edge on any shape that is not a horizontal or vertical edge creates a stair-step effect. This is the result of trying to create a curved or diagonal line from square pixels: It can't be done. Anti-aliasing makes the edges appear smooth by blending the foreground and background pixels on the edges. The lighter or darker pixels trick the eye into seeing a smooth edge. Feathering applies a blend between the edge color and the background color. If you choose Feather, set the amount of the blend with the Feather slider control. For other ways to modify your selection, see the section "Additional Selection Options," later in this lesson.

4.

Select Live Marquee if it is not already selected.

The Live Marquee option allows you to change the Magic Wand settings once a selection has been made. The selection area is dynamically updated as you change the settings.

5.

Click the area of the image you want to select.

Click the gray background in the image. All neighboring pixels within the specified tolerance level are selected. You should now see the "marching ants" marquee around the gray background and part of the candy. This indicates that the tolerance was set too high.

6.

Change the Tolerance amount to 35.

Your selection should now show the gray backgound and not the candy. Notice your selection was updated with the new tolerance automatically.

7.

If you need more of the background selected, hold down Shift and click outside the boundaries of your selection with the Magic Wand to add more pixels to your selection.

Continue to hold down Shift and click until all of the background area is selected.

Tip

You can also choose Select > Select Similar to select more pixels.

8.

Press Delete to delete the gray background.

Once the background is deleted, you'll see the white background of the canvas.

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    Macromedia Fireworks 8(c) Training from the Source
    Macromedia Fireworks 8: Training from the Source
    ISBN: 0321335910
    EAN: 2147483647
    Year: 2005
    Pages: 239
    Authors: Patti Schulze

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